Or is this really happening?
It appeared to me that back when the economy really went belly up. That a lot of really nice revolvers, and autos for that matter. They came out of the woodwork and, not exactly flooded the market. But there were a lot of really nice guns for sale all of a sudden.
Now the smart dealers these days generally follow the market on the internet. So you did not see a lot of giveaway deals out there, no surprise. However the guns were out there and you could get them if you had the money.
A few years down the road. We are where we are now. Demand for guns still remains high, here in the Commonwealth as well as the rest of the country as near as I can tell. Certainly a lot of this demand is for guns that are currently manufactured. Ar type rifles and carbines, Tupperware pistols and shotguns are in high demand.
I am fortunate to be in contact with people that still give me access, at fair prices to pre lock S&W revolvers which I have a great interest in.
But please correct me if I am wrong. It appears that these pre lock guns and even more so. The Pinned and recessed guns are starting to become hard to find in good condition.
Am I the only one that is seeing this? Or do other forum members see this as well?

Curious in Virginia.

Guns are like any other commodity. Since S&W doesn't make P&R guns anymore we are at the mercy of availability. When people need money or a collector decides to scale back or dies, more classic pieces show up at your local gun store.

I still see a fair amount of P&R S&W revolvers at gun shows but the prices are currently on the high end. I have noticed that on auction sights the numbers of P&R S&W are down by a fairly large percentage.

It's like Model "T"'s or Corvette Stingrays or anything else that's old as the hills and no longer made. With every year that passes, fewer survive the ravages of time.

A huge portion of what's driving the market is the anti-gun administration in the White House. The demand for guns in general is way up - Ruger is/was a million orders behind! - so it stands to reason that all sellers want to take advantage of the demand.

The dealers I know are telling me that they can't fill orders. Demand reached an all-time monthly high this last December. I spoke to cust svc at S&W a few months back and they said that they just can't build enough to fill the orders.

To your point on the older guns; I know I've turned several high 90's/near-mint grade pre-lock guns into 'shooter grade' in the last year alone...

That said; the pre-lock crowd is getting older and these come on the market.

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But then, what do I know?

The market seems to fluctuate a lot. I agree that in and around 2008 it seemed like a lot of high quality guns came on the market as out-of-work guys were scrambling to try to pay their mortgages. A tough situation for sure.

Then it seemed like prices were spiralling upward for quite a while. But recent trips to gun stores has given me hope that prices are starting to come back down on nice S&W P&R revolvers. May that trend continue!

I don't keep up on AR-type rifles but have heard talk that Colt, S&W, Ruger, etc are no longer taking orders for same due to huge backorders that can not be filled until next year at the earliest. Like I say, I have just heard the talk and do not make any accuracy guarantee.

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You're shy a few manners.

It really seems sometimes that these things run in bunches. I look around tax season & Christmas season. On the forums though it seems we get a group of M66, M28-2, etc etc...

In 2009-ish I started hunting for ANY 4" prelock revolver. Mind, I was limited to physical searches of 4 or 5 LGS but I did search often. Nada. Finally found my 686 no dash & didn't even let the ink get dry on the price tag. Just happened to be at the range when they were getting ready to put it in the case. Since then I would say I have been seeing way more nice S&W revolvers going in the cases. They hardly ever last long regardless of the price tag.

I've sold off several of my old P&R guns recently. M&P's, 13-2, 19-4,25-2,25-5,28-2, a "pre-27", a half dozen Colt's, and several others. Mostly to get rid of guns I didn't shoot, and really didn't want for one reason or another.

I paid off some bills, but I also used the money to buy a 29-2, a couple of 27-2's, a Shield and a 12-2. The "collection" is smaller, but it's guns I've had the time to think out and select more for what I really like and not so much just what "would be neat to have."

I haven't had any problem finding them. As a matter of fact I can hardly walk into my LGS without finding something I can't live without. They're not cheap, so I have to be willing to bite the bullet.

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John 3:16 .

I've noticed that the overall condition is getting rougher for those revo's that are still available. While I used to buy guns regularly in the 96%-98% condition range, now it seem the same guns in 90% (or less) are bringing more money than what I paid just a couple years ago.