I went to one of my local pawn shops today ( a rare day off for me to poke around the numerous local gun shops ) and they had a near mint 4” model ten. Price was $450. I know I am living in the past admittedly, feeling like $200 ( and less ) model 10’s were around not too long ago ( which in reality is so 20 years ago!)

Is a really nice let’s say 98% finish with matching grips model 10 ( no box or papers) really a $450 gun these days?

The gun was very clean ( the ejector rod still had a full blue finish)
And I am tempted to try to trade for the model 10.

Input appreciated

I sold a nice one no box for 500 over the weekend.
Any decent smith should bring that much.

I don't think that any handgun marked $450 in a pawn shop is a $450 handgun.

But I love 4-inch heavy barrel Model 10's and 64's and if I owned zero, I would cry and after weeping, if it took $450 to get one, I'd do it and be thrilled.

$450 would be a good price in that condition. S&W still makes the model 10 and the MSRP is $869

.......yep......

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Even older, even crankier....

...Make an offer. Yes, prices are high, but selling prices aren't always 'sticker' price.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I saw the brother of the Model 10 described in the opening post on a exhibit table at Tulsa two weeks ago with a tag dangling from its trigger guard unapologetically priced at $1000, no box, no accessories, no muss, no fuss.

The days of $200-$300 S&W Model 10's is in the rear-view mirror and getting further away every day. These days, a Model 10 in 98% condition, no box, no docs, is a $500 revolver. Given the current environment of continued unrest, continued governmental threats, and continued inflation, don't expect the prices to go down.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

In my neck of the woods a very nice model 10 is not a $450 gun. It’s a $550 and up gun. Prices of $600+ are not uncommon. I recently sold a friend a 4” 10-6 heavy barrel with original grips for $425 and he thought he stole it. That’s the “friend” price. I could have got $500 easy. It was probably an 80% gun.

Gas isn’t going back to 35 cents a gallon either…….

At a pawn shop, nothing is worth sticker price. Just keep in mind they have no more than 50% invested. The odds are with you for a deal if you have cash to show.

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S&W factory revolver armorer

I'll bet you can get it out the door for 4 benjamins just by asking. And yes, it's worth it. I do not have a model 10, and don't really want one, but at that price for a nice version, I would probably bite.

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

I paid $500 a few years ago for my model 10 at about 90%. No box, etc.
Hurt a little until I shot it. Someone worked that trigger buttery smooth. I smile every time I take it out of the safe.

I've seen Singapore or Hong Kong police imported Mod.10's in turn-in condition sell for $450 + in my area.

There was a 90% Mod 10 just the other day at my friendly LGS
no box @ $550 it didn't stay consigned a week and was snapped up.

Grab it while you can !

I'm afraid that it's difficult to keep up with vintage revolver prices- they're increasing all the time! A few years ago I had a minty Model 10-8 (ca. 1982) that I got in a trade with a friend. He had bought it new for his daughter to carry during her travels, but she refused to take it. I'm not much of a Model 10 guy, this 10-8 was just sitting in the safe, and I needed some money for my gun fund. In 2021 I went to a local gun show and took it along, and I sold it outside the show before I could even get in the door! I sold it for $450...I probably could have gotten a little more but I was happy and so was the buyer. Today IMHO that same package would be a $600+. In your case...Yes! these days that pawn shop Model 10 is a $450 revolver!

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Last time I saw a used one for sale in my area of the Lower Hudson Valley(about a year ago) it was priced at $750.

Same shop, same time frame, I bought a used, beautiful, well kept, Colt Lt Wt Commander that had been to Wilson for $600. Browning HP from same former owner in same great shape also priced at $600 in the case next to it.

That would be a good buy.
I would have jumped on that “mucho pronto”!

In the condition that you describe, in today's market, $450 is a good, not great, price. The prices for them will only continue to rise in the months and years to come. The pawnshop might have $100 invested in it. They usually make insultingly low offers when people bring firearms in to sell, but some people are desperate for money and will take what they can get. They then mark the gun up to four or five times what they gave for it. Another tactic pawnshops use is that if the gun has not been set out for sale for very long, they won't budge on the price and will tell you (basically not being truthful) that the price they have on it is close to what they have in it and they can't come off any. After sitting for a few weeks or months, they might take a somewhat lower offer in cash only. As you might have guessed by now, I am not very impressed with the way most pawn shops operate and rarely have I found a good deal on a firearm in one. Like the OP, I too am stuck in the past when it comes to prices for vintage Smith revolvers. I remember the day, and seems like not too many years back, that any good condition used vintage L Frame revolver would sell for $350-$400. Try to find one like that these days and you've won the lottery!!! I still can't get used to the idea of Charter Arms revolvers selling for $400-$700. Good luck with your decision.

I collect Model Tens. When I started twenty years ago my price threshold was $250. Then $350. I've paid as much as $600 for a variation I didn't have. Any M10 I see for under $500 I at least look at.

The beat to hell trade ins that occasionally show up are usually mid $300 range. Add in shipping and transfer and you're at $400. For something that looks like it was drug behind the truck.

One of my newer friends and I attend the area gun shows together. He is generally pretty adept at getting great deals. Last Saturday he traded for a nice CZ while I purchased a decent P228. We saw a LNIB model 10 four inch heavy barrel. The seller was not at a table, just walking around. He seemed not to know that much about guns. He wanted $ 900 for the model 10. I tried to politely dissuade my friend from the purchase. My friend ended up buying it for $ 700. (This gun show put a flex tie around the cylinder so the revolver could not be opened. They generally would simply flex tie the hammer securely to the frame. We could not see the dash number. This particular show is very strict in their practices.)

He later tod me it was a - 8. I feel he overpaid by over $ 100. When he goes to sell (as he always does) he will have a hard time getting his money back.

As Chad & Jeremy said...
"But that was yesterday and yesterday's gone....

I've told the "Tupperware Gunshow Story" many times. Guy used to bring in a dozen Model 10's on a tie wire loop, $99 each, take your pick. As soon as that dozen were gone he went out and brought another dozen, or 2 if they were moving fast. That was in the early 1980's, .50BMG M2HB's were on the tables @ $2K too. That was then. I bought this 10-11 maybe 15 years ago, has keys for no lock. I don't know if'n I'd let it go for $700 because they ain't making this particular version any more. Joe

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Behavior Creates Destiny

Apparently they are worth alot more than I am willing to pay. I have seen them listed for over $600 on some of the trader webpages lately.

I remember them being like $150 police trade-ins about 20 years ago.

Rosewood

I have a 10-14 "Classic" heavy barrel. This one has the lock which doesn't bother me a bit. I got it gently used for right at $300 with a box of ammo about 4 years ago from the son of a friend here in town. So decent deals are out there if you pay attention.

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To expand on my earlier comment, I recently found a 2 inch 10-5 at a local store. Probably 85% and tight as a drum. They had it at 4 bills and I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough.

A couple weeks later I found a 2 inch Model 15 for 450. It came home with me.....

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Even older, even crankier....

35 cents? That was the price when I got back from SE Asia. When I first started driving, you could buy "Ethyl" (104 octane) for 19 cents.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

When I was teenager in 60s a m10 was around $80, about the same price as a Ruger Blackhawk. A Colt SAA was $159. That was no brainer for a guy who uses revolver to hunt and varmit shoot. Besides more cartridge choice you got adj. sights.
The 1st new m10 I got was unfired trade in. New Game Warden bought 6”
M10, didn’t shoot it and brought back in to trade for 4”. LGS gave me deal of $50 so I bought. I have some kind of mental block that just don’t allow me to consider 10s at $450 up.

I bought a finish challenged retired Police Capts gun last August for negotiated $300 out the door which I thought was good. It’s mechanically fine and a great shooter. Having it bead blasted then will have the gunsmith I bought if from re-blue.
$450 for one in very good condition is about the norm now and if I was in the market I would make an offer.

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IMO the reason prices of 3 and 4” fixed sight revolvers is due to semi-auto handgun bans being passed in anti-2A States like California. Folks still want personal protection so they are buying revolvers instead.

A gunshow I went to last month dealers were wanting $450 - $500 beat up police department S&W Model 64 revolvers.

The Model 10 has been in production for a long time so dash numbers are important (for me at least) when guesstimating value. And then there is always the possibility that the seller just called it a Model 10 when it is a pre-model number revolver, maybe not even a .38 Special M&P!

For me, the lower the dash number, the higher my interest is.

I can't imagine that any 98% M10 isn't worth $450, if you want it. For my part, if it has the ... uh ... "modern features", no thanks.

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You're shy a few manners.

Absolutely worth $450, and seriously underpriced at that!

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FBINA, 204th Session

I remember bread was a quarter a loaf and milk $1 a gallon.

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Who are those guys?

I started driving in 1972 so that’s about right……

That was a $450 dollar gun 5 years ago, in that condition.

I know it’s apples to oranges, but I bought an excellent 2” nickel pre-10 a few years ago for much, much more than that. It was a grail gun for me.
Larry

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

I would live to find one for under $500

Yes indeed. The days of the $250-$300 Model 10s has unfortunately passed. I still have a few that I paid ~$300 for but my latest was $500 for a 10-6 HB in approximately 98%. But I have a love for K Frame .38s and if presented with the opportunity to but another one tomorrow for the same price I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.

I think that prices in the west are a tad higher than other areas. I just sold, this past weekend at a gun show a 10-6 HB, listed for $625, for $575. It was about 90%. A retired policeman bought it, stated that it was his first issue gun.

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Kevin in Oregon

To me it's worth it all day every day MajorD.

Not at the shows in my neck of the woods the price is the price

My Model 10 was aquired way back in the mid 90's for the princely sum of $100 bucks. Mine I felt at the time was the best of the bunch out of an old cardboard box. Bought it at a give away price cause no one wanted a 6 shot revolver when they could get one of the new wonder 9's currently on the market at the time. 35 or so years later I still have it an it goes to the range. No chasing brass on this baby. Frank
+

Pawn shops or shows? If they won't deal, walk.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I would jump on that if I were in the hunt for a M10 in good condition. I'd not buy a new one for $800+; the used one would be more reliable. IMO

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Waiting For The Sun.

Yes, for me at least 50% of the fun is in making the right deal......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

In a word, yes. The market has exploded in the last few years, a lot more than most people think and faster than I personally have seen since getting involved with guns decades ago. IMO the younger generations who haven't bought many guns before have responded to the over-all political atmosphere since the last presidential election by going to their local gunshops and internet sellers in droves. This created shortages in some parts of the country, and as we all (should) know, shortages drive up prices. Combine that with ammunition availability driving up those prices and you have today's "crazy" prices for firearms.
That said, there are still bargains to be had if you do the work and search diligently. Frankly, if you've found a Model 10, and if it's in very good to excellent condition for $450, that qualifies as a very good deal in 2023. Best of luck.

I just bid up to and won at $480.00 a 64-3 on Gunbroker.
It's a LEO agency marked with a rack number only trade in.
It's a $250-350.00 gun in my opinion. I wanted it for a specific reason.
Yes, the cheap surplus days are gone. It all depends on when you got into collecting.

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Adam-12

That's generally good advice, but not in this case if you actually want this one.

Actually, most of the time, when I walk then decide to go back and get it the next day, it's gone.

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You're shy a few manners.

I paid 430.00 iirc for a really nice LEO model 64 last year. A nicely blued 10 would be worth 450 to me!

At one point when working the Shows I got knee deep in RedHawks.
Down at Alamogordo and here comes a Guy I know and have done business with.
He sits a bag on the floor and says hello.
Then he looks down and picks up a 5 1/2 in Redhawk off my table.
He wants it! Reaches into his bag and pulls out a 7 1/2 Redhawk.
I say, these guns book for the same money.
But - the 5 1/2 is way more popular and much easier to sell.
Need Boot, not sure how much. He nods.
Reaches into his bag, pulls out a 6 in pencil barrel Model 10.
Will this do? Yes!
Only 6 inch Model 10 I ever had.
Don’t remember how much I sold it for.
Probably closer to $200 than $450.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Sometimes I am surprised to hear Model 10s are bringing over 400.

I see quite a lot of model 19s for sale at gun shows in the 450-600 range.

Most shows I help out in Pa, lady smiths and model 36s are the majority of fixed sight Smiths sold.

I think the price of 38 special is changing the market more towards 9mm around here for newer gun owners.