Some of you all might remember me asking about a GunBroker auction which claimed there was a stamping error on a Model 25 in THIS THREAD.

Much to my surprise, I won the auction at my initial bid. It's a Model 25-2 made in 1976 with a 6-1/2" barrel, target trigger & target hammer.

















It came with a box in really good shape, cleaning rod & bore mop (but no screwdriver), the manual in perfect shape (those are scanning artifacts), and the 1978 letter from Smith & Wesson acknowledging the stamping error. The finish is nearly perfect with zero holster wear. I doubt this gun has been shot much at all. There was a little bit of leading in the barrel which came out really easily making me think it was recent rather than old. There is a tiny bit of flanging at the upper corner of the sideplate. Maybe it's silly, but the figure of the wood stocks looks great to me.

Mechanically it's in pretty good but not quite perfect shape. Lockup isn't as tight on 2 or 3 chambers as my older Colts. Single-action trigger is right at 3 pounds and very nice (after a very thorough cleaning inside), but double-action trigger is over 11 pounds. The crane was really gunked up inside the frame and didn't move smoothly. Also, when open the edge of the cylinder can catch on the little raised area of the frame on the lower left edge of the cylinder window (nomenclature?).

I can't wait to take it to the range this weekend!

Very nice and really cool that it came with that $50 dollar letter from S&W

What a beautiful and interesting gun you have. Congratulations!

Excellent gun, congrats. Sounds like it was shot some time ago and not cleaned well, that's easy to fix. It is normal for the cylinder to rub slightly on the cylinder stop if the gun is held muzzle up or muzzle level, but it should not rub when muzzle down. The stocks do look nice, as does the finish.

An outstanding example of one of S&W's best shooting models of the "big" revolvers. Congratulations! I have a couple of these guns and they both shoot much better than I do.
A great gun which I'm sure you'll really enjoy.
teesur.

What a beauty: fat target grips, hammer, and trigger - and best of all those fat 45 chambers! Just so nice, I love it. I have a handful of S&W revolvers and consider myself lucky, but no 45's yet (got a 44 696). Someday my big ship will come in too...

Very nice and interesting revolver.

Tinman, beautiful revolver and photos. Nice find, congrats! Bob

Great find!

These mis-stamped guns are documented on pg 192, SCSW 3rd Ed. It's too collectible but it would sure be special to get a Georgia State Police Commemorative Model 26 tapered 5" 'overrun' barrel (which were not commemoratively stamped) for it.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Jim - thanks for that reference. Good to know if I ever had to consider selling it.