Advice on Shopping for a 27

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Mstorm

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Have a bunch of gun shows coming up this month in my area and I'd like to go "armed with info". I'm new to S&Ws but have made some acquistions (a 10-5,13-2,19-3 & a 67) but I'd now like to look for:
-- a 27 no-dash with original diamond grips and in at least 90% condition, so I assume this all means 4 screw versions--.
So as to straddle the fence between collector and shooter--but I definitely shoot my guns (so it doesn't need to look like a safe queen but I also don't want one that will always be characterized as "just a shooter"). I've been on gun broker, scanned auction sites and consulted the blue book and am having trouble pinning down what I think should be a target price that is quasi correct for one of these. So, I thought I'd ask you guys, with the criteria above what number would you guys think is a good "shopping price range" to hit the shows with?
Hope the above made sense.
 
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Better plan to attend quite a few shows to find a 27 no dash as you describe. Percentage of condition is very subjective but I'd be looking for more like 95%+ if you want something that won't be characterized as "a shooter."

I found the 6.5 inch below last year at a gun show for $1280 and felt fortunate to get it at that price. If I were looking for a nice no dash 27 in any barrel length I'd expect to pay around $1500 these days. The no dash 27s aren't encountered all that often, at least not where I shop. I've come across two and bought them both (the second being a 8 3/8 for $1200 at the SWCA Symposium two years ago. Good luck.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

https://flic.kr/p/2nhzMFh https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934231@N03/
 
What barrel length?

I'm not sure what barrel length you are in search of?

Not sure how plentiful the 27ND market will be at the local gun show but I'd continue to search GB along with a few other sites.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Masterbuck54
 
I found a 27 ND 6" original stocks
95%+
It was high if I recall around 1850 or 1900
About 18 mos ago
I'm sure I paid too much
But since I liked and I don't see then all that often I pulled trigger
 
If that is the gun you have to have - you would be looking at least 1500 in my area. My advice would be to buy it when you see it because they aren't that plentiful. Anything south of 15 probably good north of that depends on how bad you want it. May not be a lot of help, but it is the best I can tell you. I don't own a no dash. I have several -2's and I paid anywhere from 700 - 1100 for 95% plus 5 years ago.
 
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Go gun shopping with an open mind. You can always upgrade in the future. Pick one with the options that you want.
 
The no dash requirement slims the market down quite a bit. If you expand your search out to the dash 2's (still P&R) you will find a lot more choices and they are still great guns.

Your choice of barrel length will make a difference in price as well, with the 3.5" and 5" guns going higher than the 6", 6.5" and 8 3/8" generally.
Good luck with your search.
 
Thanks for all the input—I should have added that I am looking for a 6" barrel—-from what I could discern from all your comments, around $1500 is kinda the median I should go in with and definitely more than 1K ——that kinda tracks with the Blue book that suggests $1100 for a 95% gun (and they usually seem a bit under actual market prices —so if I could get it at less than $1500 and more than $1100 I'd likely be in the "sweet spot" of a "good deal" —-then the only magic is discerning 95% from 90% condition (((I've never had trouble discerning 95%++, it's the 90-95 that always leaves me wondering since I tend to be far more forgiving to a gun that is nearly MY AGE (I'm 69)
 
I don't think I have ever seen a 27 or 27-1 at a gun show, or anywhere else for that matter! I have an eye for Model 27s, of all varieties and have a number of them from 1935 up to a 627-5. That being said for my experience, you may walk into the next gun show and see one right in front of you. I have run into a number of my guns that way, I didn't know I wanted one until I saw it! But you know what you are looking for!
Good luck in your search!
 
The 4 screw ND I posted in #5 above will be going in my case this weekend. SN S200418 had smooth targets on it. The magnas it wears now are very close to that number.

Most people who look at it at the show won't know what it is. Atlanta doesn't seem to have many S&W collectors.
 
I have never seen a 27ND or 27-1 in the wild except for my uncle's 6.5" 27-1. He asked me to care for it when he no longer could. RIP Uncle Johnny. Good luck in your search.
 

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Retired W4 a question

One of the four screws is buried behind the target grips right?
And to the rest of my new friends: You guys are great. If I get lucky and find one, I'll try to post some pics. Gotta share this story with you guys:
When I was a kid (around 3 or 4) I remember being at a store and walking over to a toy truck I wanted, but at least 10 steps ahead of me another kid grabbed it first and off he went (he hadn't seen me, it simply worked out that he had decided before me to walk over). I stood there shocked and eventually started to tear up. My mom walked over to me and asked what the problem was - so I explained.
She said: "Come with me" and walked me out to the front of the store. She kneeled down and said: "I want you to stop crying and listen very carefully to what I'm going to tell you, and this is important so I don't want you to ever forget it, you ready?"
I said: "Yes"
She said: "Son, some things in this world are yours and some things aren't, if you look carefully and are very patient, the things that are yours will come to you, but you'll have to look and you'll have to wait for them to find you and for you to actually "see" them when they appear. That truck was looking for that little boy, not you and he was smart enough to see it. Yours is still looking for you and eventually you and it will find each other. When you get older you'll come to learn that the world will give you what is yours but you'll have to work hard and be very patient till that time comes and you'll have to be prepared to see it when it arrives. I really want you to remember what I just told you, its important"
 
Mstorm: I'm not sure why you're so focused on a Model 27 (no dash), but since you're relatively new to collecting, don't discount a nice Model 27-2. They are beautifully made, excellent finishes, and the 6" bbl. you are looking for are fairly common. To me, they are mechanically equal to any S&W .357 Magnum- smooth! You can usually find them complete with the original mahogany presentation case and tools. The 27-2s are 3-screw, and are also quite a bit less expensive than .357 Magnums (aka "pre-Model 27") or Model 27s (no dash). Here's my 6" (ca. 1977-78) that I found locally. It has a little wear, but probably 95%, and I paid only $600 a few years ago. If your mind is still made up about a 27 no dash, you can always trade up later on when you locate one. Just a thought.
 

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llowry61 said:
If that is the gun you have to have - you would be looking at least 1500 in my area. My advice would be to buy it when you see it because they aren't that plentiful. Anything south of 15 probably good north of that depends on how bad you want it. May not be a lot of help, but it is the best I can tell you. I don't own a no dash. I have several -2's and I paid anywhere from 700 - 1100 for 95% plus 5 years ago.
Click to expand...

Very good advice. Don't be afraid to spend a bit more than what someone said a gun's worth is; your want, your money, so make it your gun. You're ahead any way you look at it.

Some guns aren't scarce or rare but they might as well be when you consider how difficult they are to find. That extra two or three hundred dollars that you spent to get a nice specimen will be forgotten anyway. Don't be cheap; you could miss out on some good guns.
 
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Retired W4 - thank you for your wisdom -- strange to think few SW collectors in Atlanta, I'm in Texas and am still trying to learn what the market is like. I'm also going to have to learn how buying from the forum works --but that's for another day
Hawg Rider - you're absolutely right, I think the -2s are excellent and still meet my base criteria of "pinned & recessed" and its not so much about my obsession with "pinned and recessed" or even dashes its more about me using the dashes and no-dashes as proxies for date of birth. Prior to finding this great forum I was more concentrated on old SAA Colts, Browning HPs and 45s and my obsession with the 45s that I was chasing was all about a phenomenon that was common in the early S&W guns but now seems "boutique" in the world of 45s: The idea that a master gunmaker literally hand fitted your gun. So, in the world of 45s I was chasing Nighthawks and Wilson Combats all over the notion that they are building their guns via the "old school hand fitted by a master" concept. In today's world that process means "high dollar" pistols but back when I was 5 years old that was simply the way most all Smiths and Colts were made: They weren't "assembled" they were "fitted". So when my attention turned to revolvers the first thing I looked at was Korth (hand fitted and big dollars). But then I thought: "wait, isn't that kinda the way all reputable pistols were made back in the day, before the world of CNC and "assemblers". So, to me that is the major draw for me in old Smiths--- the older they are, the more likely they were made by a "master" and not an "assembler". So, for me the dashes simply tell me how old a gun is and the premise I'm using is the older the more likely a "master" -----Everything I just said may be totally wrong but that is the delusion I'm working from. For me -2 are definitely awesome because they're still from the "age in time" that I'm interested in ---Plus I already had learned (just from shopping) that all things being equal, -3s are less expensive than -2 but I had not yet learned how much more a no dash would cost. As an example, I found several very nice -3 for around $800-$900 but the -2 seemed to be more like $1000-$1200 what I didn't know yet was how much NO DASH would further bump the price ''> but from what I learned from you great folks is that the answer to that question is closer to $1500. Bear in mind, -3/-2 I have yet to see any of those I thought was not an excellent firearm. So again, for me, it was all about chasing age and I also think it's kinda cute to the think the gun I'm shooting was born pretty much the same time I was.
 
Mstorm said:
Retired W4 - thank you for your wisdom -- strange to think few SW collectors in Atlanta, I'm in Texas and am still trying to learn what the market is like. I'm also going to have to learn how buying from the forum works --but that's for another day
Hawg Rider - you're absolutely right, I think the -2s are excellent and still meet my base criteria of "pinned & recessed" and its not so much about my obsession with "pinned and recessed" or even dashes its more about me using the dashes and no-dashes as proxies for date of birth. Prior to finding this great forum I was more concentrated on old SAA Colts, Browning HPs and 45s and my obsession with the 45s that I was chasing was all about a phenomenon that was common in the early S&W guns but now seems "boutique" in the world of 45s: The idea that a master gunmaker literally hand fitted your gun. So, in the world of 45s I was chasing Nighthawks and Wilson Combats all over the notion that they are building their guns via the "old school hand fitted by a master" concept. In today's world that process means "high dollar" pistols but back when I was 5 years old that was simply the way most all Smiths and Colts were made: They weren't "assembled" they were "fitted". So when my attention turned to revolvers the first thing I looked at was Korth (hand fitted and big dollars). But then I thought: "wait, isn't that kinda the way all reputable pistols were made back in the day, before the world of CNC and "assemblers". So, to me that is the major draw for me in old Smiths--- the older they are, the more likely they were made by a "master" and not an "assembler". So, for me the dashes simply tell me how old a gun is and the premise I'm using is the older the more likely a "master" -----Everything I just said may be totally wrong but that is the delusion I'm working from. For me -2 are definitely awesome because they're still from the "age in time" that I'm interested in ---Plus I already had learned (just from shopping) that all things being equal, -3s are less expensive than -2 but I had not yet learned how much more a no dash would cost. As an example, I found several very nice -3 for around $800-$900 but the -2 seemed to be more like $1000-$1200 what I didn't know yet was how much NO DASH would further bump the price ''> but from what I learned from you great folks is that the answer to that question is closer to $1500. Bear in mind, -3/-2 I have yet to see any of those I thought was not an excellent firearm. So again, for me, it was all about chasing age and I also think it's kinda cute to the think the gun I'm shooting was born pretty much the same time I was.
Click to expand...

In the S&W "bible" it lists 27 no dash versions worth double what a -2 goes for.
 
Originally Posted by Mstorm
She said: "Son, some things in this world are yours and some things aren't, if you look carefully and are very patient, the things that are yours will come to you, but you'll have to look and you'll have to wait for them to find you and for you to actually "see" them when they appear. That truck was looking for that little boy, not you and he was smart enough to see it. Yours is still looking for you and eventually you and it will find each other. When you get older you'll come to learn that the world will give you what is yours but you'll have to work hard and be very patient till that time comes and you'll have to be prepared to see it when it arrives. I really want you to remember what I just told you, its important"

That is just beautiful! Advice to live by.
 
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Toroflow1: Thanks for that info, I'm assuming you meant the SW Catalog book (I ordered an older version to save a few bucks--now seems like a truly stupid choice---especially since they've delayed the shipping twice now). Didn't know that current thinking was no-dash worth twice as much as a -2, seems a bit much but then again, I know from SAA Colts that a "marking" can double or even triple values ---we collectors are interesting folks. I kinda straddle the fence between collector and shooter. I have a real fondness for well kept but well used "shooters" as much as those others that you don't even wanna touch without gloves on--and buy both kinds.
 
Mstorm said:
Toroflow1: Thanks for that info, I'm assuming you meant the SW Catalog book (I ordered an older version to save a few bucks--now seems like a truly stupid choice---especially since they've delayed the shipping twice now). Didn't know that current thinking was no-dash worth twice as much as a -2, seems a bit much but then again, I know from SAA Colts that a "marking" can double or even triple values ---we collectors are interesting folks. I kinda straddle the fence between collector and shooter. I have a real fondness for well kept but well used "shooters" as much as those others that you don't even wanna touch without gloves on--and buy both kinds.
Click to expand...

One other thing to look for is throat erosion; make sure the barrel has a nice sharp edge from barrel face to bore, and not eroded away.
 
Here's a 27nd 8" that I just got off Gunbroker. $1080 + ship & tax. You can find sleepers on Gunbroker, a few 6" 27-2s going for well under $1k.
27nd-8.jpg
 
Toroflow1:Very awesome!!! nicely done! How much are they hitting you for shipping? Also two more sub-questions: 1) are those diamond grips, don't they add to cost (always wondered how much more diamond grips bring to the cost) and 2) are nickel versions generally more expensive or less expensive or about the same as blued versions??
Again, very very nicely done
 
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