As this seems to be most recently active thread on SW 1913's, I thought I'd share a few comments.

I just acquired a very nice condition Model 1913, s/n 5xxx. I also bought 150 rounds of custom made .35 SW ammo from Buffalo Arms (not cheap). Interestingly, this ammo uses cut-down brass marked "25-20 Win" which research shows was a rifle cartridge based on a necked-down .32-20 Win cartridge. Have not fired it yet though. I also was lucky to buy a full box of Rem/UMC original .35 SW for around $100 with very clean shells (and an OK, but original, box). That is just for collector purposes of course! Another site is asking $295 (!!) for the same thing!

Although I have not yet fired it, upon racking and dry-firing, I am VERY impressed by the crispness and precision of the trigger break. It is not a light break by any means, but it is very crisp with very little creep and no grittiness or mushiness, in contrast to my Savage 1917 and JP Sauer M1913, which I still love anyway...

I have been trying to find the user's manual (if one exists) for the gun, even a repro, but without luck. One site that posts free pdf's of old gun manuals has a note that S&W lawyers told them not to post S&W materials, so no luck there. I am corresponding with S&W customer service about this, but they have been slow and stupid in their responses so far.

There are 2 decent articles on this gun, from the June 1956 and October 1963 issues of American Rifleman, and I bought originals of each issue on EBay for about $7.00 each. One of them has decent take-down instructions and a diagram.

The asking prices of these guns varies ridiculously on the auction sites, ranging from around $400 for real beaters (the grips seem especially prone to drying out and splintering), to over $1,500 for examples that are really not much better, but of course these never get any bids and are simply re-posted ad-nauseum. I got lucky on mine for the price and condition. The BlueBook values for these guns are: $875 (98%), $775 (95%), $625 (90%), $525 (80%), and down to $185 (10%).

There are also a very few nickel plated versions, but oddly these have blued slides and trigger guards that to me make them look like they were cobbled together from parts. A recent very nice example went for $705 on GunBroker in Jan. 2015.

I'll try posting a few pics of my new toy, and if there is any interest I'll post a range report (although I almost feel this is too pretty a gun to soil by shooting it!).
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