Help me identify 66-X?

[murphydog]

I think S & W fans are more likely to discuss and post photos of their finds, but any model with production in the hundreds (rather than hundreds of thousands, like Shields) probably at least qualifies as "scarce". You can debate the difference between that, "rare" and "super rare", like coin collectors do, until the cows come home .

 

[jughed440]

Kernel...here's the letter that i was referring to, along with the 66-4 that was lettered...

 

[Blackbarry]

That's interesting. When I look in my data base for 3-inch M66's, I have info on (17) -3 and (17) -4's. I have (20) -2, which suggests they were made in roughly similar numbers. (And in LARGE numbers. Many guns, that you'd think are more common, I'll only have seen 3 or 4).

I have no control over what guns I happen to see. Admittedly, when they cross my path it's a random event. But, it's not the first time where what's written down somewhere doesn't seem to agree with what I've seen in the real world.

And where do the F-comps fit in? Are they counted in the numbers? And am I understanding correctly that the -4 F-comps only number in the hundred's?

 

[flagman1776]

I never realized that the 66-2 was the first 3"66... I bought mine as a consolation when I had broken up with my financee' & she declined to sell back to me the blue steel 3"M13 I'd given her (was FBI issue at the time & hard to find)... I recall that my 66-2 did indeed come from Ashland & the SN is in the AHL group...

 

[AveragEd]

The 3" Model 66 is a sweet looking gun but I'm not that much more enamored with them than a 2-1/2" version to pony up the difference. I have a like-new -4 in that barrel length that I bought for $416 several years ago - I'd probably have to triple that (if it stopped there) for a 3" model.

Ed

 

[Fishslayer]

Nice find, OP!

Passed on a 3" M66 a few years ago at $700-ish because I didn't know what I had in my hands. By the time I researched it & got back to the shop it was gone. Still kickin' myself.

 

[Kernel Crittenden]

Kernel...here's the letter that i was referring to, along with the 66-4 that was lettered...

Thanks for sharing that letter. I'd seen that info before, I think Jinks cuts and pastes it. But never your specific CAA80xx gun. My side hobby of collecting s/n's, ship dates, etc., would not be possible if not for individuals like yourself that posts this type of info.

Did your gun come with Magna Stocks?

Another way to interpret that letter is (4,195) were made for Ashland on one certain order. In addition, another (5,000+) total were made, over some unspecified time frame, for "various distributors." Making for a overall total of (9,000+). Those various distributors obviously included RSR, but it could also mean more were shipped to Ashland at a later date.

This would, at least, explain the very large number of 3-inch gun's I've see. In fact, I would say more than (9,000), just because I've seen soooooo many. As in interesting foot note, I've only ever seen (1) -5 3-inch gun.

 

[jughed440]

Did your gun come with Magna Stocks?

....

I bought it just as it is in the pic, with the Spegels. It's a gun show find and i got it from the original owner. It has a sweet trigger job too.

 

[Kernel Crittenden]

And where do the F-comps fit in? Are they counted in the numbers? And am I understanding correctly that the -4 F-comps only number in the hundred's?

Those F-Comp guns have their own cult following. The -3 and -4 guns had Product Code 170024. Obviously, Performance Center guns. You see various production numbers, but one source that seems to know everything else, places the total of these pre-lock F-Comp (aka Carry Comp, aka Power Port) guns at total of (1,171) over several years (1993 - 1996) and several runs for various distributors. They are seen with wide range of s/n prefixes, like CPCxxx, FPCxxxx, PCPxxxx, LHFxxxx, and LHJxxxx.

 

[Doug M.]

Don't know where you live, but ...

*
Based on the terminology, NY. While the process is unwieldy, there was a time when carry licenses in other states were not that common, and I got my unlimited NY in ... 1979 or so. The clerk's office was very helpful, etc.
Compared to where I am now, a pain in the gluteals, and I don't see myself moving back, but I do miss Rochester sometimes.