Had been watching a nice Model 18 on GB. TT/TH, Pinned barrel, box and papers. Placed a bid about 5 days ago. Got an e-mail last night notifying that the auction for my watch item was ending in less than an hour. Decided to place a spur of the moment bid which I thought would be competitive (and wondered how I would tell the wife if I got it.). The winning bid was $150 more than mine!!

My quest for the right Model 18 continues!

Happens to me all the time. It seems to me some folks just seem to love paying too much. Maybe I'm just cheap? Yeah, that's it.

Yours will come along one of these days.

Bob

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Wrangler of stray Chiefs
Bob

Plenty of people have more dollars than sense.

Me too!!! I would like to find one gun one time that everybody and their brother don't find after me and outbid the snot out of me. I also have had the heart racing- thinking oh boy she is gonna kill me!! Then it's actually a relief sometimes that I got outbid. Easy to get wrapped up in the whole auction thing. A member on here told me the secret. If you really want the gun then..........Hit the "BUY IT NOW" button. Then for sure the wife is gonna strangle you (lol) good luck!

most folks can blow 150 bucks on nothing tangible. i would not let a few hundred stop me from getting what i want.

The Gunbroker auctions that end on Sundays are especially brutal. Seems like everyone is watching.

Many of the best sellers time the auctions to end on Sunday night by design. That's when GB has the most 'eyes'

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Rick
SWCA #2396

I have seen two at the Salem show in the last year or so. Both were $850 with box, papers and tools. One was rough, the other was a nice one.

My recommendation is to bid the max amount you are willing to pay. The bid will only be advanced to the next level from where it was. Then if anyone bids again your bid will automatically be advanced to the next level above their bid up the the max you bid. Then you don't sit and watch the biding, just let it go and see where it winds up. You win some you lose some.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

A few years ago I was at the Louisville Show and saw at least four people walking around with Mod 18's for sale. My son paid $400 for a pre 18 in good shape w/o the box using his C&R. He still has it and shoots it. I've seen them on tables since for more money but nobody walking around with one...except that one last year in Tulsa for $650. A forum member bought it. There's a lot of them and 17's still out there. Patience will get you one for a reasonable price, or just go ahead and overpay a little. It will be worth what you paid in a year or two.

@ the OP, I hope you get one soon. The Model 18 was the first Smith I owned and started it all for me.

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Rather be outdoors

I list on GB sometimes. My auctions end Sunday 8pm EST. Gives the entire country time for dinner and then time to check in and bid.

Works for me.

What was the winning bid, please?

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Always Stay Strong!

Telling my wife used to be the hard part until I discovered that she can't tell the difference between my SP101 or my 686's so now I use the don't ask don't tell policy.

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Mike, AmVets Member, Navy Vet

How about a link? It is OK to link closed auctions.

Winning bid was $900. By the time you pay shipping and transfer fee you would be into it for at least $960.

GB Item Number 694353008

Wow! that's a lot for an 18. I see 17's for that, but never an 18.

I got to go get mine out and polish it. I had no idea.


Prescut

Have a 18-3 and a nickel 17-6 that I should sell. Both TH, TT, TS. Good to know what they have sold for. What is the best auction site to put them on?

I like to think about a cheap date when making a final decision to pay more than what I want to. "I'd like a couple of cheese Krystals."

Now I'm all confused. Will she cost me more or less later in years?

Then I ask myself if I really want her. Price goes out the window when I have the money. It will soon catch up. I sure hate missing the right gal.

Model 18s are very popular and don't come up for sale all that often. Those that have 'em tend to keep 'em. Those that want to sell one are very proud of 'em.
If you really want one, you just have to bite the bullet.

A model 18 just sold at the OGCA for $500.00.

OR,, you could just crank a model 18 barrel on to a 17 it's what I do. Lots of model 18 barrels on Ebay.

One thing is sure about every auction: on every lot every underbidder is sure the high bidder paid at least a little too much. Maybe they knew more about it than the lower bidders, maybe they knew they were paying too much, but wanted it and didn't care. I remember years ago I found myself in a circle of my fellow dealers lamenting about the prices at the auction a week earlier. One says "can you believe widget XYZ sold for such and such." It got a lot quieter when I pointed out that I was the one who bought widget XYZ, and I'd already resold it at a good profit.

They are still out there for a decent price, if you are patient. I just bought (end of September) a very nice Pre-18 4 screw made in 1957 off of GB and paid $535. It came with incorrect target stocks, but I did not really care. It should have had diamond center football relief cuts, but it had non-diamond center football relief cuts. I bought the gun, not the stocks. I wanted a nice shooter and that's what I got. And it does shoot very nicely!

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SWCA 3297 SWHF 583

You must live in a different universe than I do. If two models of the same vintage and comparable condition came up for sale together, the 18 would sell faster and for more money than the 17, almost without exception.

I’m right there behind ya , on the same quest. Good luck with the bidding.

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I reckon so

The Only time that I bid on a firearm that ends on a Sunday is if I’m already prepared to outbid the next guy, but I’m typically a cheap son of a gun so that hasn’t happened very often.

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I reckon so

IMHO the Model 18 is the best all around utility .22 revolver going.......ya the 4" 63 is a better carried a lot and shot a little "kit gun"; and the 17 is a better target and hunting gun..... but if you can have only one....... make mine an Model 18

I've got a spiffy safe queen 18 I got years ago and babied for years......last year was lucky enough to luck into a nice shooter grade gun at a friends and family price.

Folks who got them tend to keep them......they are on the short list to pass on to the boys.

So ... Model 18 no dash bought at a gun show in 2015 for $625


Edit to Add: The consensus on the Forum at the time was that the price was $100 or so too high. I was happy then and happier now.

Attached Images

M18 left.jpg (46.3 KB, 34 views)

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

That be me but I don't like it.

If I had overpaid by $150 for every Python I could have bought, I would have spent $15,000 on Pythons. Of course, they’d be worth about $50,000-$60,000 today.

I got both of my Model 18's right here on this forum. Both expensive but both nice and most important, both mine.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Bought a nice pre 18, 5 screw, at a Las Vegas gun show a few years back, $400. Sold it, and later at a Reno show, I bought another just like it for $400. 100% matching. My former BIL bought one much nicer than mine at a Reno show for around the same $$$. Just learn to keep your eyes open wide and not miss some of the great finds on someones table. Yes, auctions are terrible on Sundays, but some great stuff may come your way on a Sunday gun show. These three were all from Reno shows. Big Larry

Been looking for an 18 for years. Missed out on a 617 ND in like new condition and was upset, but not the end of the world. Really prefer an 18.

Found an 18-3 a few months back. It was a safe queen!

Paid $800 and was glad to do it.