I take pride in showing off(this model 520 NYSP revolver. And, I think it would have been nice if Smith-Wesson would have also produced this gun with the 3.5" barrel length!:

Let me be the first to say, "That is one Sweet Smith!"

Lucky man

I love 520's!!!

I would settle for a "version" of the 520 in the "Classic" line, if anything to take the "Classic" 58 and bore it to .357...........it wouldn't be the same as the old 520, but most of the "Classics" aren't the same as the original models........look at the new Model 15, it looks more like a 19 in .38 Special.

Thanks for posting. It's nice to see such a rare, beautiful gun.

I agree, a 3.5" would have been welcome...but then continuing production of the original for a while would have put more of them out there and they would be shootable instead of just collectable.

And, if they had offered a 3.5" it would have been even better in a round butt. A concealable 357 Magnum that can take a stead diet of full power magnums and be controllable. What a delight that would have been.

Dave

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RSVN '69-'71
PCSD (Ret)

The 520 is what the model 28 should have been. Wish I could find a shooter grade model instead of drooling but not usin my nib one.

Nice photos of a nice revolver, thanks for posting.

The 520 NYSP revolver is the next Smith on my buy list! Thanks for sharing the pics.

That is a nice looking revolver you scored there. Enjoy it!

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2 Timothy 1:7

Absolutely beautiful gun and I have owned two. But.... aside from the collector interest, I think that the 681 is a much better revolver for the intended purpose of a brute fixed sight duty gun.
A stainless fixed sight 8 shot N frame gun would be the bomb. As far as the barrel, I would suggest using a modified Model 58 contour.
But I guess this belongs in the wish column

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Forum consigliere

The M520's are great guns... I wish I had had one back when I carried a revolver every day for work.

These are both collectors... but I shoot one of 'em.






Hope that helps!

-TS

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That is a beautiful packege. I had a chance at one just like it at a live auction a while ago. NIB complete with everything. My max hammer price was $800, which would be $942 OTD. The bidding blew right past me. I can't remember what it sold for, but it was well North of a grand. Enjoy that great gun.

1)Yes, it helps me to wonder why I failed to buy two of these NYSP 520's whenever I had the chance!

2)Your two 520's are beautiful too! These revolvers are so nice that I don't think that I could ever part with mine!

Pairs are nice.
DW

Attached Images

HPIM0993.jpg (75.8 KB, 180 views)

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"NUTS"

Any of you that own these ever shoot one? All the ones I come across are NIB. I have never come across a shooter grade 520.

Of course, at that point, it's really just a 581 without a full lug barrel, right?

I bought my 520 NYSP in unfired condition but without the box. Paid $1000. Maybe a little too much but well worth it to me.

So... ya shoot it?

I haven't shot this one yet, added the Ahrend's wood because I intend to take her to the range!

I bought mine a few years before the "its collectible" rush drove the price up on these. I think I paid under $500.00 OTD. Mine was already fired with no box/papers. I shoot it now and then. It is a fine revolver. With the prices climbing I hesitate to shoot it, but I don't think I will ever sell it.

I wish I could post a photo of my 520. It has a 3.5''
model 27 barrel and round butt. I bought it from
Charlie and it's one of a kind. I call it my model 27 M&P. Very cool Smith. The front sight was milled down and a lower sight was doved tailed in. The work reportly done in AZ. and is first rate. Looks
like a factory gun. I don't know why someone did this to a collectable gun, but I'm glad that they did.
So, if you want a 3.5'' RB you can make one and turn a $1000 gun into a $600 gun. It shoots good too!

Gary

I bought mine in 1981. Actually, I traded an as-new Model 39-2, which I had $85.00 in, for the -520. The -520 was for sale in a local shop for $250.00, but as a newly married home owner, I was cash-poor. While eyeballing the 520, another customer asked the dealer if he had a Model 39, which the dealer didn't. I followed the customer out of the shop, proposed a trade, and we met back near there the next day and swapped.

It is interesting that when S&W released these for retail sale, they were slow movers, untill they were gone. Then, suddenly, everybody wanted one!

I have shot a few boxes through mine. It shoots like an N frame .357 Magnum. To me, it shoots like a Model 28 with lousy sights! I prefer the bigger, blockier, easier-to-see adjustable sights on a S&W of any substantial size. I like a 4 inch Model 57 more than my Model 58, as another example.

It's good S&W has made so much variety, because we all prefer different things.

I shoot my 520. It still looks great (I'd say 95%). No, it ain't just a 581...got a 581 that I shoot also.

Nope, the 520 is an N frame. 581 an L frame.

Like to have both!

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Memory of Randy Freas-Rimfired

I shoot mine with 148gr wadcutters. Tack driver.

What are these going for in the box new?

These have been shown before, but worth showing again.
Rear gun, a standard Model 520.
Front gun, a Model 520 special ordered with a .400 smooth combat trigger, .500 target hammer, smooth Rosewood service grips numbered to the gun and a yellow front sight insert. (Gun was purchase from a factory employee who ordered it this way)

The 520 is a very nice piece...

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Jorge

Asking prices I've seen this year for NIB 520's have been $1,000 to $1250 . Hope this helps .

I bought one without box and papers for $500.00 a few years back. I have shot it a few times. It is a nice N frame, but I have a Model 28-2 and a 681 that I put more rounds through.

NIB 520.
Had this for several years. Take it out of the safe now and then for "show and tell".

Not as good a picture as the others, but this is mine.

glad i found this thread...i just found a M520 at my LGS today so "reading up" on it is in order!

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

i recently came across one.my wifes father was a n.y.detective for @40 years and he has passed on,the guns were given to me since i collect.i think this will have to b one i let go of..i feel from past shows and auctions that $900 would be fair.. its not nib..but close..ill be putting it and pics on in auction form.

very nice.wish i had a box..mine is is excellent shape but everyones hung up on nib?

kind of in a pinch and need to sell it

I've read this several times and just don't get it. What should the model 28 have been?? I've shot my 28 some and just can't imagine what the 520 could possibly do better. Don't get me wrong it is definitely a way cool gun and has its place in S&W history, and if presented with the opportunity and the price was right, I'd have the 520. I have a friend who has one that's mint in the box, with extra goodies that he inherited from an uncle who died. He's not even a Smith collector but has this uncanny penchant for accumulating guns. People are always "giving" him guns. I should be so lucky. I've tried trading him out of the 520, but he said the only way I'll get it is in his will. I told him I didn't want it THAT bad.

I paid $425 15 years ago. It has sat in the safe ever since. My 520 is the ultimate safe queen. To pretty to shoot, too rare to sell.

I swapped a Dan Wesson .357 Magnum "Pistol Pak" plus some cash for a NIB Model 520 at a gun and bait shop in St. Charles Parish Louisiana. This was in August 1981, my son was born that same month. I had a NYSP off-duty badge I displayed with the 520 in a wood case with a glass cover. I swapped away a lot of nice handguns in my youth and this was one of them. As I recall, I traded it for a Model 19 with a 6" barrel at a little gun shop south of Deming, NM in 1983.

Sorry have to resize pics but the gun is a 520 Ser#N560713. I'll try to post pics after resizing. Or send me email address. Thanks

To me it's like a modern heavy duty,

very nice! Thanks for posting. I should get mine out and photograph it. Wish I had the box

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Cheers, Charles
SWCA #2442

I have the box and papers...somewhere.

Were the NYSP Model 520's ever stamped?

Were the 520's ever stamped NYSP?

Many FBI agents changed their orders for ".357" Magnum revolvers from 3 1/2 inch to 4 inch on advice of Frank Baughman, who was the firearms guy at the FBI academy (such as it was) back in the 1930s.

The 520 with 4 inch barrel would be the gun Frank Baughman would have specified, if he could have.

*
I don't think so. Among other reasons, NYSP never accepted delivery as far as I can recall.

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NHI, 10-8.

I agree. My letter as well as everything else I have read indicates that at some point after placing the order for the
520's the NYSP then changed their minds and ordered 28's. (not 100% sure but I did read it somewhere and I have seen marked 28's) After S&W filled that order
they completed the original order of 3000 (?) 520's and distributed them for retail.
Feel free to correct me If I have erred

The box (stick-on end label, anyways) is marked "NYSP" but the guns aren't.

How do you explain this?
I have had this revolver for a couple of years. It is an "L" frame with Titanium cylinder and a composite barrel and is marked Model 520:



I had it at the range, Saturday (along with my 625-8 JM Special) and it reminded me what a great revolver it is.

FWIW
Dale53

S&W ate a big bowl of stupid and issued the same model # for a second time. Considering that the 520 that is the topic of this string is the successor to the 38-44 heavy duty, which would become the M20, I'm going to go full reactionary and note that the N frame limited production .357 for NYSP is the real M520.

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NHI, 10-8.