I'm considering a 66-3 that's been hanging out at a local pawn shop, manager offered it at a discounted price of $799. Still a little too rich for my blood, but thinking about it anyway. I don't have an actual pic, but it looks just like the one in the borrowed pic below.

Question: What's up with those factory target stocks? They're rather dull but even in finish/gloss level, and the wood is darker than you typically see. The pic I borrowed is of a LEO trade in, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it. Just trying to get any info on what the color and finish of these stocks might mean.

Thanks.

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Looks like wood with a lot of oil in it, or could just be the natural color. Can't tell for sure from the picture.

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protocalldesign.com

look refinished with dark stain

The color density of GA wood in S&W grips is from one end of the spectrum to the other. Goncalo Alves color can be as dark as Rosewood.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

btw they don't look refinished, as those typically are (a) uneven and (b) too glossily laquered, and these otherwise don't have any real wear on the wood that would make you think someone refinished them. I just found the color and low gloss otherwise odd.

I have seen stocks of this era that looked exactly the same. The ding of the left panel of these also suggest they may have been exposed to the outdoors, by someone with fumble fingers too.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Goncalo Alves darken with age
Jime

Could be a combination of a darker Goncalo Alves plus gun oil.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Maybe the previous owner had one of those "dunk bucket" gun cleaning kits and never bothered to remove the stocks before tossing his gun in the bucket.

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

If they are GA, and they probably are ,the color can be anything. GA can produce the most beautiful wood, and some ugly stuff. I have some GA sets of targets that I would never consider selling. They are as good as the custom makers with fancy grade wood.

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Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

Finishes can dull with use and age, and woods can darken with use.

I have a pair of smooth targets that I bought out of a junk box a decade or so ago for like 10 bucks. The stocks were solid with no dents, chips, or cracks, but the finish turned dull and cruddy looking. There was no definable wood grain to see at all.

I stripped and refinished them and got a nice pair of grips out of it for 10 bucks and a few days of work.

I have also seen new in box guns with just plain ugly grips.


If that model 66 was in nice shape, it's well worth that price.

More important than the grips is the actual condition of the gun. I have seen 66s at shows that looked good to the eye, but were loosey-goosey from heavy use. You have your pick of after-market grips for a square-butt K-frame. Price is acceptable.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

Those got stripped and restrained with, what looks like, dark tung oil. Given the chip in the bottom of them, I’m guessing they had a tough life and someone tried to revitalize them.

That is the typical target grips found on M66 LEO turn ins. I would suggest you open the cylinder and look at the bottom of the opening for crudely etched numbers that are there or used to be there. Most likely a LEO gun. There was a huge batch of them 2 or 3 years ago going for around 400 dollars. A good deal now? I don't think so.

I think I'm going to pass. The actual gun (in my original post I noted that this was a borrowed pic of an almost identical gun, visually at least) is at a pawn shop that insists on trigger locks until after you've bought the gun and left the store, so unless the manager who offered a discount would also let me check the action, it would be out. BTW shops of any kind that insist on trigger locks on display guns ought to shampoo my crotch.

Again, for those who've pointed out the chip in the stocks, the ones on the actual gun are pretty much damage free except for a couple very small dings, but the color and finish level appear the same.

The gun in the pic- Looks ok to me. Grips do have a significant ding.
I would shop the gun and not the grips.
Grips shown are cause to get lower price. Maybe!
But in any case, Gun condition is primary.
But then I have a fair number of grips.
And I usually have Pachs on my shooters anyway!
When you Cherry Pick and keep some you like, they look like this.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Exactly. Sorry, but if I pick up a K/L/N frame with target stocks like that and one day decide to sell or trade the gun, the stocks stay with me. Yes, I'm a dick.

I know its probably in a bad part of town and a ton of knuckleheads go in there to fool around but if a salesman told me I had to buy the car before he unlocked the doors , I would never return.
Well maybe if they were going out of business and I was feeling like a vulture.

In case you haven’t noticed, I keep Good Grips!
The grips in the pic ain’t that great!
I wouldn’t hesitate to send them on down the trail.
Keepers look like this.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

olivehead1, Keep in mind the heartwood (center of the tree) is always going to be darker than the sapwood (outer new growth).

I prefer the look of the dark heartwood and some prefer the look of lighter sapwood.

sapwood to me looks like they went out on the loading dock and got some old pallets to make grips.

The grips have not been refinished. I have a 64 from 1973 and the grips darkens do to years of carry and sun exposure.