Visited a local gun show today, only thing that really looked good were these three:

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Well the whole world wants to know, Did you buy them?

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Eccentric old coot

Yeah, Iggy's right. We wanna know. I have all three of those guns, but that 39-2 might have tempted me to get another!

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I'm gonna grow fins.

That is one dangerous gun shop. Three goodies on one visit?
I would have been talkin to the owner. Good snag if you got 2 out of 3.

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

Update:

Well, some things seem meant to be. I was checking my online bank balance yesterday, and saw an unexpected deposit from social security. Since I am still working and paying into SS, as well as drawing out, they periodically revise my benefits, and make a "catch up" deposit. This was for about $675.00. So I'm thinking this is "free money"!! I had no idea it was coming.

Today, as I posted earlier, I am at a local gun show, and about the only things in the show that caught my eye were the three Smiths shown above. And only one of those really attracted me, the 39-2. And guess what?? The guy was asking $675.00 for it.

Well, who am I to resist fate?

Just as they came from the box, I haven't wiped them down, or done any preparations....







By the way, these were on consignment, and were being sold with no tax or other fees, so that was the final, OTD price. These were being sold for an older guy who is selling off many of his collection, and has already sold quite a few. I understand there may be more forthcoming, but resisted the urge to inquire as to what....

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Outstanding, beautiful pistol. terry

Good on you!

Great find and excellent buy on the 39!! It's tough when you find a bunch of beauties together, I know it's happened to me. Like the smith and wesson fairy just dropped of a delivery and you stand there beholding the view and with good prices on them it really gets tough.

I've skipped quite a few of the most recent shows here, but for the last several shows I have been to, the only thing i seem to find is that I once again got suckered out of $10, to walk around and look at riduculous prices, and table after table of XD's and Glocks, or just plain junk.
Since I stumbled onto Armslist, and even better, TheOutdoorsTrader, I have almost no use for gunshows anymore. Ammo is cheaper and fresher at Sportsmanguide or Walmart. Accesories and parts are cheaper on Ebay. And, those greedy,hustling gunshow bandits have been alientating their customer base for years.
But, I have a couple things I might want to walk around a show and try to trade for ammo, so I did a search yesterday and found we'll have one here in 2 weeks. But, even though attendance on them has steadily dwindled, they're still charging a ridiculous $10 bucks to get in, and that doesn't even cover you for the next day !!
If I do go, I'm probably going to feel like an idiot for wasting the time and money, yet again.
(BTW, the above opinion is shared by virtually every gun owner I know.)

Well, Mark IV, ours are only $7, and it's good for both days. And they send out emails with coupons and print them in the newspapers, and so forth. This purchase was from a private seller, and that is where I have most often done well...these guys are not professionals, and are not usually hustlers.

I am often like you though, and don't find anything that I want. I did see BullsEye powder for $22 today, and usually buy some just to put back, as its one of my favorites, also, lots of primers and other powders...all with no tax, by private sellers.

I might go back tomorrow, just to look around, but I saw most everything today.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

My first centerfire was a new Model 39-2 purchased during the summer of 1973. I started loading for it with one of Lee's kits that you power with your own hammer. Ranges were not yet littered with free 9 mm brass. I rode the metro into Seattle to buy a 50 count box of virgin brass for $9.99 plus tax. (Remember those were 1973 dollars.) It was not long before I moved on to an RCBS Rockchucker, bullet lubricator sizer and Uniflow, an Ohaus scale and a Lyman bullet mold.

Along with my first two .22 automatics my 39-2 convinced me revolvers were the way to get better reliability and, from affordable centerfires, tighter groups. Let us now how yours shoots.

The serial number on the 39-2 alone makes it a must buy for me. Glad to see you grabbed that one. Keep me in mind when you get tired of looking at it.

Nice score Les !

I've got 2 I paid less for, but I've never seen one that clean and with all the goodies.

Congrats

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SWCA #2817

Gotta love a gun with a serial number that ends in triple 0's. And a "Liberty Model" at that! Looks like Nov 1976, or thereabouts!

Ours are $7 for one day too, just like Les's. $10 will get you a 2-day pass.
I go to just about every one in my area. I find something worth buying about 2 times out of 3.

Even when I don't I get a couple of hours worth of exercise (walking around) and a couple of hours worth of entertainment (looking at guns and talking to other gun junkies). Not a bad deal for 7 bucks.

Besides, I don't want to see the gun shows end. That would be a victory for the anti-2nd Amendment crowd, who absolutely HATE the very idea of gun shows. It is worth spending a few bucks to help keep them going just for that reason alone.

I view the gun shows the same way as the drive-ins. They disappeared due to the mega-plex movie theaters being so much "better". Now that they are gone we all nostalgically wish the drive-ins were still around. If we don't support the gun shows they'll be gone too - and we'll wish they were still around.

That's an excellent point!! I hadn't really thought of it like that, but I got to talk to at least half a dozen guys today that I hadn't seen since the last gun show.... Thanks for bringing that up. And you are right about keeping the gun show tradition going as well. We have a brand new Armory here, and it makes a great venue for our shows. Just completed a couple of years ago.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Obviously, there's some logic to your point here, seriously, I get it.
But, it's also much the same "logic" I've been hit with on everything from bike stores to gun stores, which say that I should ignore on-line prices and be happy to pay them 10-40% more for something, to keep the convenience of them in existence.
Also, I ALREADY wish gunshows were still around, and what I mean by that is, I wish what gunshows USED to be, were still around (I'm sure you know what I'm talking about).
They used to be places you could count on finding all kinds of cool,quirky,unusual things, mil-surp stuff from Hi-powers to P38's, as well as the best deals on bulk ammo, old revolvers, accessories, etc.
NONE of that applies anymore, at least not anywhere to the degree it used to.
Though it sounds like some folks are still seeing decent shows, all the shows me and my cohorts have been to, in at least a couple states, and going back quite a few years, have become over-priced, watered-down,meat-markets, filled with grumpy vendors that assume you're an idiot, and get even grumpier when you don't buy into their fabricated BS, or balk at their over-priced "WWII relic" that was obviously made in the 70's.
And again, mine isn't a minority opinion, from what I've been reading on numerous other gun forums, for years now. The whole damn gun-buying country is sick and tired of them.
I can;t recall how many times I've seen something like a well-worn, nothing-special Model 10, and then see the guy wants a ridiculous $450 for it!! And he means it !! The I go find the same thing on Armslist for $260 !
It doesn't matter if I'm wanting a little 9mm ammo, a holster, a rifle case, a case of x39 ammo, or a Glock 19......the odds are, I'll save real money getting it on-line, or pay about the same, getting it from our big local LGS.....every day of the year.

I have been supporting gun shows, but FEMA has can celled the last few because they are using the Pasadena Convention Center.

I cannot imagine the determination and self control to have a K22 new in box for so many years without shooting it. I guess I am much more a shooter than collector.

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Front sight and squeeze

Close....I Just found out....this gun shipped in June of 1976.

I had been a police officer less than a year then, and was headed to the Police Academy. Somewhere around this time, I bought my only Smith and Wesson autoloader, a model 39-2. Of course, it's long gone, along with lots of other guns from that heady era, such as my Star PD (remember those?).

Anyway, here is a real time capsule!!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Les,

Nice pickup. I bought one in similar shape about 2 years ago now and paid $700...too nice to shoot so I found another pretty decent one at a local pawn shop for under $400...that one gets the range time...

Robert

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760