I picked up a 4516-1 that is in the USM serial range and has the display case. If it has been fired, the prior owner was a REALLY good gun cleaner.

I called S&W and the magazine is within the recall range, so it is on the way to Springfield. The prior owner put his initials on the inside of the slide. The felt inside the case is starting to show thinning.

I intended this purchase as a shooter anyway and the cost was in the shooting range, not the NIB safe-queen range.

Do fired/messed with "commemoratives" ever get to be valuable (within the same century anyway)?

It is very rare that a commemorative becomes valuable in the first place. Most often, commemoratives do not bring much of a premium over a similar non-commemorative. The "Fired or NIB" price variance is about the same. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but on the whole, you buy a commemorative because you like it, or it means something to you, not because you think it is an investment vehicle.

I love to buy and shoot Winchester commemoratives. They seemed to do one a week for several decades. Often you can find them cheaper then the same gun that is not a commemorative, and usually they are mint. Nice gun, great price, and all you have to do is put up with some ****** embellishment.

So shoot it and have fun!

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Dave

I concur with your last statement.

I recall an old Gun Digest article about a gentleman who bought a Winchester 94 commemorative rifle (longer-than-carbine-length barrel) (T Roosevelt maybe?) to shoot. The extra barrel length contributed to lower noise level to his ear and extra weight contributed to reduced recoil (he had unremembered medical issues that required help in both areas- must have been older than me!!).

His comment was that guns are made to be shot and this one met some pretty specific needs, "collector value" be darned.

I will shoot my 4516 without a qualm.

Shoot that thang!
Mike

Generally I avoid them like plague, I'll take a clean Triple Lock or a NIB M39 or M52 anyday.

I also read in the Gun Collector Digest some Commemorative are put together with out of spec parts, while its still safe to shoot, they just don't have the build quality of a carefully assemble firearm, since most of the buyer will use them as a wall hanger.

Sometime ago, Winchester was pumping out Commemorative just about one a week, at one of the gun show table around here, there's a gentleman have just about every version of Win. 94 Commemorative, seems like he not moving too many of them.

Tony

I think the operative to that is indeed SOME... I can't help but think that it leans more toward urban legend.

People that write gun articles are not above passing on hearsay info as gospel, because it's been heard so often and from so many sources as to sound true when it isn't.

I dunno... when I think about it... with product liability lawsuits/claims and the way people/groups sue at the drop of a hat, would the major gun manufacturers really take a chance by trying to pawn off out of spec parts in a commemorative that they make and sell because they assume it's likely going to end up being a wall hanger?

I mean, isn't product liability one of the reasons why we're stuck with that stupid internal "lawyer lock" on the newer S&W revolvers?

I do have a few S&W commemorative revolvers I bought in "shooter" condition, and except for the external embellishments, they are every bit as good as the "plain brown wrapper" version.

Collectors really aren't interested in them anymore once the cylinder has been turned or the slide has been racked, and they show evidence of it, and many shooters aren't interested in them either merely because of it being a "decorated" commemorative... and that can make for some good bargains for those whose only concern is that it shoots well, in great mechanical condition, and the asking price is right.

Now those high priced gold plated, specially "made up", non factory commemoratives being sold by some "historical" sounding entity, you know... the ones seen in those full color ads in the NRA and other gun magazines? Those I'd have my doubts as far as parts quality is concerned, because those are more about making a lavish profit than the product being sold.

I always get a chuckle seeing one of those being advertised to commemorate the role of the Colt 1911 pistol in some fill-in-the-blank "historically significant" event, for $2000 or $3000 bucks and the embellished 1911 being sold is only clone, and not even made by or marked "Colt".