Art Doc
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
I love S&W revolvers but as I often point out I am not a serious collector. I see these long threads where several members are going back and forth about when this stamp appeared and at what point such and such ejector rod was first used and it gives me a headache. The serious collectors revel in the minutia and the detail but it's all just too much info for me to keep track.
I'm an accumulator who makes most purchases on an impulse. I see something, it appeals to me, and I buy it. I will pick up some information on a gun along the way but my paltry knowledge pales next to the guys debating the stamps and ejector rods. But sometimes I have a story about one of my guns. Either the way it was acquired...or used. I hope you don't find this one too long.
Around 1978 I saw a new 2.5" Model 19 in a gun shop. It was a cool looking revolver and I had never seen one before. Remember, I was very young and inexperienced at that time. I now figure it was likely a 19-3 but at the time I didn't know about model numbers or how to even look for one on the gun. Anyway, I bought it. Shot it some. Carried it for a while. This was one of the guns that taught me I can't carry a handgun with adjustable sights as they catch on my clothing while drawing the revolver. That 19 shredded the lining of my favorite sport coat.
Then I sold it. I don't recall specifically why but knowing me I'm sure that I saw something else I wanted and sold the 19 to fund the purchase. I was often very foolish back then.
Maybe two years later I saw another 19 just like the first one in the used pistol display at the gun shop. Heck, it may have been the same one for all I know. It looked hardly used at all so I bought it.
This time I managed to hang on to the revolver for about five or six years. Didn't carry it any longer, but I shot it a few times. Mostly I admired it.
Then in June of 1985 disaster struck. Returning home from work I found the house in shambles. I had been burglarized and all my guns had been stolen including the Model 19. I had stupidly neglected to record the serial so there was no hope of its return. Of the 24 guns stolen I had the serials of 19 written down. To date four of the guns have been recovered.
So, I moved on. I bought more guns to replace the ones I lost and yes, I bought a safe which is what I should have done years earlier. My home has been hit twice more (different houses for each) by thieves but thanks to the safe I lost no more guns. I went from 1985 to 1992 without a 19 in the the house. Then, just as I was preparing to move to another state, I dropped in to a gun show a couple cities over.
An older gentleman had maybe a half dozen firearms out on the table. "Private collection," he said. One of the offered guns was a 2.5" Model 19-3 (I had learned about model numbers by then). Unlike the ones I had owned previously this one was in nickel. I like the shiny ones. He was asking $185. And he was firm on that price. I dug out all my cash. I had $180 with me. No, he wouldn't take the 180. Finally he offered to let me mail him the $5. So he wrote down his address and I took the 19. The next day I put a five dollar bill in an envelope and sent it to him.
The 19 didn't look new. It looked carried...a lot. Finish was so dull I thought it was a stainless 66 at first until I realized the hammer and trigger were case colored. But it polished up pretty nicely.
The seller told me he was a retired federal agent and had carried the 19 for many years on duty. I was dubious because a nickel 19 didn't seem like a gun a fed would carry. More dumbness on my part. I lettered it back when it cost a sawbuck and the 19 did in fact ship in 1970 to the Customs & Immigration Department in DC. I later learned that the agency did issue nickel 2.5" 19s to agents. Who knew?
So, it's 28 years later and so far I have managed to hang on to the 19. I guess I'll let the wife sell it someday.
I'm an accumulator who makes most purchases on an impulse. I see something, it appeals to me, and I buy it. I will pick up some information on a gun along the way but my paltry knowledge pales next to the guys debating the stamps and ejector rods. But sometimes I have a story about one of my guns. Either the way it was acquired...or used. I hope you don't find this one too long.
Around 1978 I saw a new 2.5" Model 19 in a gun shop. It was a cool looking revolver and I had never seen one before. Remember, I was very young and inexperienced at that time. I now figure it was likely a 19-3 but at the time I didn't know about model numbers or how to even look for one on the gun. Anyway, I bought it. Shot it some. Carried it for a while. This was one of the guns that taught me I can't carry a handgun with adjustable sights as they catch on my clothing while drawing the revolver. That 19 shredded the lining of my favorite sport coat.
Then I sold it. I don't recall specifically why but knowing me I'm sure that I saw something else I wanted and sold the 19 to fund the purchase. I was often very foolish back then.
Maybe two years later I saw another 19 just like the first one in the used pistol display at the gun shop. Heck, it may have been the same one for all I know. It looked hardly used at all so I bought it.
This time I managed to hang on to the revolver for about five or six years. Didn't carry it any longer, but I shot it a few times. Mostly I admired it.
Then in June of 1985 disaster struck. Returning home from work I found the house in shambles. I had been burglarized and all my guns had been stolen including the Model 19. I had stupidly neglected to record the serial so there was no hope of its return. Of the 24 guns stolen I had the serials of 19 written down. To date four of the guns have been recovered.
So, I moved on. I bought more guns to replace the ones I lost and yes, I bought a safe which is what I should have done years earlier. My home has been hit twice more (different houses for each) by thieves but thanks to the safe I lost no more guns. I went from 1985 to 1992 without a 19 in the the house. Then, just as I was preparing to move to another state, I dropped in to a gun show a couple cities over.
An older gentleman had maybe a half dozen firearms out on the table. "Private collection," he said. One of the offered guns was a 2.5" Model 19-3 (I had learned about model numbers by then). Unlike the ones I had owned previously this one was in nickel. I like the shiny ones. He was asking $185. And he was firm on that price. I dug out all my cash. I had $180 with me. No, he wouldn't take the 180. Finally he offered to let me mail him the $5. So he wrote down his address and I took the 19. The next day I put a five dollar bill in an envelope and sent it to him.
The 19 didn't look new. It looked carried...a lot. Finish was so dull I thought it was a stainless 66 at first until I realized the hammer and trigger were case colored. But it polished up pretty nicely.
The seller told me he was a retired federal agent and had carried the 19 for many years on duty. I was dubious because a nickel 19 didn't seem like a gun a fed would carry. More dumbness on my part. I lettered it back when it cost a sawbuck and the 19 did in fact ship in 1970 to the Customs & Immigration Department in DC. I later learned that the agency did issue nickel 2.5" 19s to agents. Who knew?
So, it's 28 years later and so far I have managed to hang on to the 19. I guess I'll let the wife sell it someday.
...Ben
...Ben
