I have a model of 1905 32-20 that I love, but it's refinished nickel and is definitely a "shooter" grade(I do shoot it a fair bit).

I looked at one yesterday, and am considering trying to deal on it to maybe upgrade the one in my collection.

The one that I looked at was, as best as I could tell, original nickel. All of the corners were crisp where they should be, and I didn't see any "dishing" or anything else that I generally look for. The ejector was blue, and the hammer and trigger case hardened. There was some wear to the nickel on the muzzle, as well as a little bit of flaking and rust on the backstrap, but everything else looked great.

It was marked "Made in USA" and signed 32-20 on the barrel. The stocks were(I think) the correct style with no S&W emblem, although I didn't ask to remove them to see if they numbered to the gun.

The barrel was 5", and looked great with good rifling and no pitting that I could see.

The price was $595(plus tax) although I think I could probably get them to do a little better than this.

Any thoughts on whether this is in the right ballpark for a value? I'm still thinking about it, but of course will value the input here.

With no-medallion stocks (assuming originality) and the "Made in USA" stamping, it would date from the 1920s, but after mid-1922. If it's in really good shape, the price is not terrible, but I'd give it the old college try to negotiate it down to the $450-$500 range. There's definitely room for some hard negotiation.

I think that is quite on the high end of pricing for that sort of gun.

If you are in love with it, you could justify paying that.

If you are just accumulating a collection, I'd try to get it for closer to $400.

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WWSSD?
What would Skeeter do?

Seems a tad high to me but probably not terribly out of line. I picked this one up last year for $400 OTD and thought that was a good price. If you're comfortable with the condition and can negotiate a little better price you're probably ok. Hard to find any older S&W in good condition for less than $500 these days.

Attached Images

	1905 4th change 5 inch.JPG (87.0 KB, 33 views)
	1905 32-20 4th Change .JPG (100.0 KB, 31 views)

Some comments, Ben. First, they put non-medallion grips on guns between 1900 and 1910, and then again from about 1920 to 1930. The difference is the pre 1910 guns had concave wood up in the "stock circle" where medallion grips have the medallion.

Prices vary from region to region. Around here (where you are) condition seems to make a whole lot more difference in price. Just for reference, Joe bought a beauty a couple of years ago. Its about as good as any 80 year old gun I've seen. But he paid $700 after negotiating down from the $800 asking price. Last summer I bought a really nice one for $600, but its not as nice as Joes. His gun is probably 98%, mine is 90% or maybe 95% if you're generous. When gun condition gets below 90%, neither of us is even interested.

We saw a very nice target model yesterday, and the seller wanted $3000 for it. It was better than mine, but there's no way I'm paying that for a gun I'm just going to shoot. But Kentucky prices are jumping up. A few weeks ago our friend "George" had a great condition gun priced at $1495. It wasn't in his display last weekend. I really don't know him well enough to ask. But that's a pretty proud price for around here. Perfect target models seem to have settled into the $3000 asking range.

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Dick Burg

Ben didn't say his was a target model, so how did we get here?. But if so, the value would increase substantially. I have a .38 4th Model target of about the same age, and I wouldn't take less than $1000 for it.

No reason the stocks on Ben's gun would be of the concave style. but if so, that would be a big plus, as those early grips in good condition would be worth a whole lot more than the 1920s convex style.

Bad cell phone photos of a S&W .32/20 in a metro Atlanta shop with maybe 60% finish and a big price tag. I took the photo two years ago, it was still there last Christmas.