I attended the state law enforcement academy in 1979. There were large movable racks that we placed our service revolvers on as well as any off-duty guns. It was there I first saw a snubby 66.
Hanging upside down by the trigger guard it was a thing of beauty. It was love at first sight.
One evening when the indoor range was open for casual practice I saw an officer take it from the rack and head to one of the lanes. When he was done, I asked if I might look at it more closely. He graciously allowed me to and even insisted I fire it. The weight. The looks. The feel in your hands. The love quickly turned to full blown lust.
I graduated just before Christmas and the first weekend I was home I made a trip to the law enforcement supply dealer and told him I wanted to order a 66 2.5”. He said I could but that it might be a year or more before I receive it because S&W was shipping a lot of stainless production to the Middle East. I placed the order and headed home wondering how I could last a year or more without that beautiful hunk of stainless steel.
One week later on Saturday morning, I was home asleep having worked third the night before when the phone rang. The caller was the dealer to tell me my gun was in. Maybe it was because I was groggy, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. He proceeded to tell me that he didn’t know if someone made a mistake or I was just lucky but my 66 was sitting on his counter and it was drawing a crowd. He said he would hold it until noon but after that he might listen to some of the offers made by other customers.
I got up and drove the forty miles to the dealer and being a good newly minted law enforcement officer, I wrote a cold check for the revolver.
I carried it sometimes off duty but it served as a primary service revolver twice a week when I worked an unmarked car as backup for EMS. It looked really good in a pancake holster on a class b uniform.
For years there was a piece of paper that the dealer had taped to the bottom of the box with my name, my 1980 phone number and the price. It disappeared over the years and now I can’t remember what it cost but with the law enforcement discount it was probably reasonable.
A long story, but we all like stories about our Smith and Wessons right?
It’s absolutely my favorite gun of all.

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I have a similar story about getting my first 66-3 3inch in 1988.

This was the age of the Wonder-9, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon...... revolvers were falling out of style.........................

I was talking with a Local dealer/gunsmith who had just done some work on another Smith 19/66 for me. I told him I really wanted one of those 3" 66s that had been on the covers of all the "Gun Rags" the year before. He told me he knew where some had been sitting on a Distributors shelves for over a year ...... told me he could get me one..... I told him it had to be 3" I didn't need another 2 1/2" .357

A week later he called me with a "come get it" ..... it was a 3 inch and at $250 I had him get me a second!!!!!!

Should have had him get you a dozen. They are indeed great revolvers.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

Tell me about it............................

I decade later I found another , a -4, in a LGS ....tag said "S&W 66 .357".... priced like any other used 2 1/2" 66.... $325 IIRC