I'll keep this brief.

There isn't any such thing as a 28-3 is there?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Cheers.

Dumber because while a member with their SCSW close at hand can look it up I have to relay on memory of old threads.

The Model 28' dash number was increased to 3 when they stopped pinning barrels and recessing cylinders. Production did not continue much longer so 28-3s are not common.

Now start counting the minutes until I'm proven wrong.

The -3 came about in '82 and the 28 was discontinued in '86.
I had to look it up

Yep, they do exist. I've seen a few for sale on GB in the past. Like arjay and k22fan said, they were only made until 1986, so they are not too common.

EDIT: Personally, I think the -2 and older look better as the non-recessed cylinder shows a bigger crack between cylinder and recoil shield and to me that looks funky.

I agree with muddocktor - best not to show a big crack.

They shoot GREAT though. I bought mine new in 1988.

Nor "do" too much of it.

__________________
wanna do right-- not right now

Well, thanks for all the answers!

I have again learned something new by hanging out on this forum.

Guy's advertising one for sale...thing is, it has a 4-inch pinned barrel. So I'm thinking he just hit the wrong key when writing it up.

Or maybe it's another of those never-say-never things when it comes to Smith & Wesson. An anomaly. An exception. Or...something.

Thanks again.

Maybe.During the transition from -2 to -3 a number of models had pinned barrels and non recessed cylinders and vice versa.

A pinned barrel 28 with the shorter non-recessed cylinder might have needed different parts than a dash 2 if it was sent home for rework so it would have been stamped dash 3. Most models that did not get a shorter cylinder when S&W stopped pinning their barrels did not have their dash number increased. The old barrels fit newer frames that were not drilled for a pin. If old frames with a hole for the pin were still in inventory they'd get a pin. Apparently the 28-3 that is for sale is one of those.

Barrel pins always were a non-functional sales gimmick and, unless you are sensitive to seeing large cracks, recesses for centerfire cartridge rims add a cleaning chore with no offsetting benefit. However, my first 28 was a dash 2 so dash 2s look right to me.

Thanks again to everyone who's taken the time to reply.

My first gun was a new 28-3 with a 4 inch barrel.

Taking another look at the gun, it has a serial number of N219XXX, which places it somewhere between 1975-1977.

So I'm thinking it's gotta be a 28-2.

Not that I'm gonna buy it anyway...but that "28-3" thing just kept picking at me.