Recent content by dbescher

I'll take #1.

I can't make any claim to expertise re any of the top break or earlier S&Ws, nor do I wish to seem argumentative. However, words like "scarce," "rare," etc., can't be anything but subjective. If Smith & Wesson made ~36,000 new model number threes and 2% (720) of those had 8" barrels, for...

Huh. It sends me to the auction listing when I click on it, which is the extent of my technical knowledge. Hopefully if you copy this url text and paste it into your browser it will get you there. EDIT: the forum software automatically makes the text into a url. Try adding a "www." in...

The rest of the pics

Apparently, there has been some concern about potential hyperbole re the rarity of 8" new model number three revolvers in RIA descriptions. Personally, I am very (very!) reticent to purchase any collectible or used weapon that I haven't been able to inspect in person, from any source. That...

Sure, I'll figure out how and do it today. Meanwhile, a potential explanation occurred to me. RIA has been selling an uncommonly large number of very nice S&Ws lately. The above New #3 was consigned by a noted collector, author whose work we all depend upon, and extrordinarily helpful member...

This is definitely true, at least on 21st century Smittys. Bulldogs are also dead solid reliable, relatively light, surprisingly accurate, and fire a potent cartridge. Cost, I think, is perhaps their single best quality. You can crack some malefactor in the teeth with a bulldog as many times...

I'm very happy with my Palmetto Leather J frame pocket holster. It doesn't move around in the pocket, lets go of the gun on the draw every time, and prints like a wallet. The only negative I can think of is that they can take a while to get.

Absolutely agree. My 340PD weighs 11 ounces. I could carry two of them and still be toting less weight than one Charter Bulldog or Glock 30. Having a gun when you need one is the first rule of self-preservation, and the J Frames take away every reason to leave home unarmed.

Maybe RIA heard some complaints about their low numbers and changed their ways? All they had to say about this one was that it has a "non-standard special order 8 inch barrel".

I didn't notice that it was in the picture. That's a New Model Number 3 in .44 Russian. I bought it fairly recently because I've never seen another one with an 8" barrel. I'm not sure how rare they are.

Finally, just for fun, imagine that it's 1956 and that you have tiny, little hands. But you can't resist buying that shiny, new 5-screw .44 Magnum. At some point you decide that it should have been made with a round butt and commence to rectify the factory's mistake... I have the revolver...

Last '09 pics

This 1909 6-1/2" is the only revolver that I own that I'll never part with. My grandfather used to carry it in his tackle box when he took me fishing in Stuart, Florida in the 1970s. Once I reeled in a huge Moray Eel that he shot before I could try to get it into the boat with us. Despite its...

Last of the '10