Do you have a grail gun??

[rubiranch]

Here's my "grail" gun.
Shipped March 11, 1960, my 6.5" M-27.
George with Salt Lake Collectibles found me the nicest set of Coke Bottle Grips I've ever see. They are like brand new and perfect.
I also really like the trigger shoe. I like the feel of it when I squeeze the trigger.
Everybody hates the trigger shoe except me.
A friend added a w/o rear sight for me.
The gun is not perfect. It has some holster wear and a few scratches.
I'm quite sure that its been fired a lot.




Here it is with its big brother, my 6.5" M-29-2 shipped Jan 14, 1964.

Life is good. I hope everyone finds their grail gun.

I posted this in another thread and thought it would be better to post it here.
It doesn't matter what year your's is to fit in this thread.

 

[gerhard1]

I have three that I'd like to get. Model 58, Model 20 4"or 5' and a Colt Metropolitan Mark III

 

[BAM-BAM]

Three inch Model 19 (500 or so made in the mid-70s) or a gun that was never made a 3" 65NL.

I've got three 3" 66s ..... two -3s I got new in the late 80s the third a -4 I found used about a decade ago

 

[rubiranch]

I sold about 1/2 my guns last year keeping my favorites.

I sold one that monetarily was probably worth 4-5 times what this one is worth. For me its not their $$ value.

For me, its the epitome of all revolvers.

 

[andy52]

There are still guns that I would buy to fill niches in my collection but a Registered Magnum would be at the top of the list of my grail guns.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...closest I have to a grail gun would probably be my Weatherby Mark V...

 

[delcrossv]

I like Regulation Police I frames so for a long time getting a target model was a "grail gun"

Then I found two more!

The bottom one is the earliest known of the model.

Guess I need to "grail" after something else. Probably 6" nickel M frames. Missed two at RIA so I'm still on the hunt for those.
Or a bright blue half moon Baby Chief like two-bit cowboy's.

 

[PALADIN85020]

While I have a number of guns I wanted that took years and years to find, none has been more elusive for me than finding a really nice S&W shipped in my birth year, 1939. Late last year my dreams came true with this M&P target that was shipped in June, 1939 to a sporting goods store in New Haven, Connecticut, about a mile from the old Winchester plant.

Amazingly, as this is being written, another really nice birth year S&W is in the process of being shipped to me - details and photos later when it comes in. Its condition is amazing.

John

 

[Shark Bait]

I guess the closet S&W I have that is often a grail gun is my 1954 vintage pre-model 27.



Some folks may consider a 4 inch 629 no dash a grail gun too.



This 1958 vintage Marlin 336SD in .35 Remington is often a grail gun for those into Marlins.



As for guns I would really like to have, there are many but these are some top candidates:

- Registered or Unregistered Magnum
- Marlin Marauder (1964)
- Early Marlin .410 lever action

 

[Injunbro]

I always wanted a 3" heavy barrel .38 spl., got it - Model 36; then the same in .357 got it - 60-14; then 4 3/4" single-action birdshead target trigger, got one in both .357 & .45 Beretta Stampedes; then a 3" Ruger Bearcat, got it - Shopkeeper... replaced by 2 even better 3 1/2" (one converted to .22WMR). Now what do I have left to wish for??

 

[TTSH]

Life is good. I hope everyone finds their grail gun.

I don't have my grail gun yet. But isn't that what a grail gun is supposed to be? Something that you seek, but haven't quite found or achieved yet?

That 6" 1960's vintage Python that I found last summer should have been "it" for me, but alas, it was not meant to be. I came up short and someone with greater means than moi snapped it up.

Perhaps if the new Python ever comes out in a deep blued finish that begins to approach the original... maybe I'll get a second chance before the evil virus gets me.

 

[rubiranch]

The bottom one is the earliest known of the model.

That is soo awesome. Good on you.

 

[SAFireman]

The beauty of grail guns is - Once you find your current grail gun, you can move on to finding the next grail gun. You can see my list below, there is a definite progression.....

657 4" - didn't find it, but a close second model 58

Then it was a pre-war 44. Found a 2nd model.

Then it was a 3" 657. Found 3, sold 2.

Then it was a 4" 657 again. Found a 657 6" and sold it.

Then it was a first year 58. Found a nickle one, still have it.

Then it was a 1917. Found a Brazilian, then found a 625 5", still have it.

Then it was a Registered Magnum. I found one, and my dad got it.

Then it was a Non-Registered Magnum. Found it, still have it.

Then it was a 4" 657. Found two still have both.

Then it was a Registered Magnum, found it, and it was a birthday gun It will be buried with me.

Then it was......heck, I don't remember anymore, but I probably bought it and moved on to another one, then another, then another.

It is the grail guns that I have sold that perplex me

I have even bought a few that I didn't even know to look for, but love them any how - Jovino's, King conversions, even a Kieth44spl Reg Mag in 44 Special

What's next? I have to pace myself I suppose, or I will have exhausted all of the S&W models and variations before I am 50

 

[rubiranch]

I guess the closet S&W I have that is often a grail gun is my 1954 vintage pre-model 27.

Nice.

1954 would be a birth year for me and a pre-27 from then would be nice to have.

I had two pre-27s, both from 1957. A 3.5" and a 4". I recently sold both of them.

 

[rubiranch]

...closest I have to a grail gun would probably be my Weatherby Mark V...

I only own two rifles, a Ruger 10/22 and this DSArm SA58 FAL.

 

[colt_saa]

Grail Gun? You mean something that is unobtainable by mere Mortals?



There are two, both Pythons. I have handled both revolvers

The 2 1/2" stainless 22LR Python, serial number "C1". This one was sold at auction a year or two ago for more money that I could afford.



One of the five, 6" Royal Blue, 41 Magnum, Pythons that were made in 1965.

I was offered one 20+ years ago, but I did not have a spare $10,000 at the time (I don't have that cash now either)

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...I guess closest to a grail gun S&W I have is my 1905 M&P target...

...I looked for it a long time and was glad to find it...

 

[Dieseltech56]

I have one. Not saying what it is. The prices are going way up and I basically can't afford one off GB anymore. Waiting to find one I can put my hands on but it hasn't happened.

 

[colt_saa]

I don't have my grail gun yet. But isn't that what a grail gun is supposed to be? Something that you seek, but haven't quite found or achieved yet?

That 6" 1960's vintage Python that I found last summer should have been "it" for me, but alas, it was not meant to be. I came up short and someone with greater means than moi snapped it up.

Perhaps if the new Python ever comes out in a deep blued finish that begins to approach the original... maybe I'll get a second chance before the evil virus gets me.

I won't call it a Grail, because I was able to achieve it, but I had been lusting after one of the 6" Pythons that came through the Custom Shop to get the Elliasion sights s a Factory Option

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Or a bright blue half moon Baby Chief like two-bit cowboy's.

Wow, I'm honored! It wasn't even a grail gun when a forum member offered it to me.

Mine was a first year (and my birth year) 1952 Centennial, then I discovered that was, as "colt_saa" said, unobtainable by mere mortals. I became excited to settle for an almost ANIB '55 Centennial.

I have about dozen more Chiefs on my wish list, but I wouldn't call all of them the holy grail. A Baby Chiefs that shipped in my birth month -- June '52 -- would be it, I reckon. I have six birth year Baby Chiefs, but one with a June ship date has alluded me. Any body have one they want to trade?