I'll be danged - there IS something to this karma stuff! **LAST UPDATE**

[357magster]

I recently held a "karma giveaway" for a J-frame Tyler T-grip. (Congrats again to the winner, jsfricks.)

He received the grip yesterday. And then yesterday, out of the blue, this beauty shows up on my LGS's used guns page ... a pre-war .38/44 Outdoorsman with box.

Now these things don't turn up around here very often (okay, this is the first one I've ever seen), so I took it as a sign ... a sign that I was about to be eating SpaghettiOs and Top Ramen for the next six months while I pay it off!

All matching numbers ... always a beautiful thing.

Anyway, without further ado, here she is:

[CZU]

Dang......

[harvester1]

Well worth it, the diet will pass.

[BigBill]

You do good for people and it comes back in someway as good karma. Your right we don’t see these often in the northeast.

We hunt bear and let so many sows go with cubs. I don’t care if we harvest one or not but we do hunt. We let another sow go with cubs and the following year we harvested one five minutes from my camp. We did everything you could do that’s wrong that morning. We got up late, out by 8am. While walking to our stands the fresh apple cider and spring water took its toll we were smoking and talking as we walked. . As we turned around the bear came close to us. Good karma.

[RKmesa]

B E A U T I F U L ! ! !

Wonderful package of one of my very very favorite S&Ws. That would make eating just about anything for six months taste delicious. With that said, I've eaten a lots of SpaghettiOs and Top Ramen over the years... and I still like both, especially if you dress them up with some chopped up hot dogs in the SpaghettiOs and a couple of sliced boiled eggs with the Ramen..."mmmmm mmmmm good".

Congrats and thanks for sharing,

[Shark Bait]

Amazing score, congratulations! Thanks for sharing.

[pharmer]

Somebody cared a great deal for that revolver, put it away and passed it on to someone who kept it the way he or she got it. They saved it for you, 3/4 of a century. Karma has been good to you indeed. The challenge is also yours, to keep it looking like that for the next 75 years. Joe

[mh51]

And you haven't bought a lottery ticket yet?? Beautiful score!
Mike

[kennethg]

That is one Magnificent revolver and with the box also!

[bob1956]

Not sure but I scoured the New England gun shops for years and have never seen a prize like that ever, go back there and twist their arm till they tell you who brought it in and beg for more. All kidding aside it’s way up on the karma scale near the top. Really great package. The price is right where it should be considering box value.

[Spleenless Dave]

Wow! You did luck out! That is nice! Congrats on getting it.

A note about the Ramen.... add a small can of chicken meat to it, it's cheap and helps the taste. I'm a single guy with lousy wages, I eat them quite a bit.

[357magster]

Originally Posted by bob1956

Not sure but I scoured the New England gun shops for years and have never seen a prize like that ever, go back there and twist their arm till they tell you who brought it in and beg for more. All kidding aside it’s way up on the karma scale near the top. Really great package. The price is right where it should be considering box value.

I hear you! Usually Model 36's, Model 10's, and the occasional 27 or 28 around here. That's why I'm stickin' with the karma reason. The timing was just too coincidental.

There was a homemade flyer in the box, advertising the gun for sale. Looks pretty recent. There is a name and email on there. I sent him an email, asking about the gun's history, but so far nothing. Hopefully he just hasn't seen the email yet. Googled him. He's 66 and a retired police officer. The owner of the shop where I bought it said when the guy brought it in he didn't say much, just that he had owned the gun for many years.

[crazyphil]

It always surprises me when someone else is surprised by finding out
that "karma works". "Give, and it shall be given unto you;..." Luke 7:38
I've known that for a long time. But then I'm old.

[JSR III]

"Cast your bread upon the waters and it shall be returned 7 fold"

[oysterer]

dang....as they said

[357magster]

OP here. I heard back from the previous owner and thought I'd share it with y'all:

"It was bought at an estate sale at least 30 years ago for $300 by my late dad. It sat in a gun locker all this time. I'm a retired cop and none of us ever fired it. I never realized the value of it until recently. Your letter from S&W hopefully will give you some good history. I just bought my first new car a Subaru Outback Touring 3.6. You helped me with the down payment. Thanks. It's a cool gun that will hold it's value. I was never a collector. Congrats on grabbing it quick. They're going to be hard to find soon."

[357magster]

OP here again.

Almost forgot to mention it ... there was something else in the box besides the Outdoorsman ...

A small envelope labeled "45 USA". It contains a firing pin:






Now I got to wondering who put that in there and when did they do it?

I now know the answer ...

It's been in there since 1933!




I think that's pretty dang cool ... but then again, I don't get out much.