Ladysmith 65 3"

[Hapworth]

The Ladysmith is now in my possession. Took an early lunch and made the deal.
Pictures later when I get home from work.

Congratulations -- you now have a superb piece and are the envy of many fellow revolver enthusiasts.

Don't know what your experience with handguns is, but as a rule any recently acquired item (new or used) should be stripped, cleaned, inspected, lightly oiled and reassembled before shooting.

Your new 65 LS will shoot just about any .38 all day long forever (well, close anyway) without problems. There's a decades old debate still unresolved about lighter, faster (125 grain) .357 rounds in K-frames. Run a search, read up and decide for yourself.

As for grips (let me put on on flame suit here): they aren't the prettiest, but the rubber Hogue Monogrip round-to-square conversion is the most impressive grip I've ever used on a K-frame for serious shooting purposes -- perfect fit in my hand and makes full house .357 easily manageable in the LS. Worth considering.

Enjoy. Looking forward to pics...

 

[chaim]

The Ladysmith is now in my possession. Took an early lunch and made the deal.
Pictures later when I get home from work.

Congratulations! You just bought yourself what may be one of the best guns S&W ever made. I think a 3" K-frame is about the perfect all-around gun. Again, big and heavy enough for the range, enough sight radius to be quite accurate with most eyes, and a long enough barrel to get some pretty decent .38spl/.357mag performance. However, it is just small and light enough to be a reasonable carry gun.

The 3" S&W K-frames (and similar Ruger Speed/Security/Service Six, and even the 3" Taurus 65) are quite popular with shooters. The Rugers and S&Ws are quite popular with collectors as well. Again, it just may be the perfect all-around gun. I really don't understand why someone doesn't make a 3" revolver on a smaller medium frame (as opposed to the larger and heavier L-frame and Ruger GP100, both of which do come in a 3"). I know I'd buy another (if it was Taurus, at their prices, I'd probably buy two).

Again, congratulations. I think you'll be more than happy with this gun. First step, you need to get us some photos. Second, get out there and shoot it (you'll be hooked). Finally, if you are a CCW holder, get yourself some nice leather and carry that bad girl (it is a Ladysmith, so "bad boy" doesn't sound right ).

 

[C Islander]

You did the right thing. Congratulations!

 

[dbracin]

I got it home and removed the Uncle Mikes grips. I stuck these magnas on it just to snap a picture of it. I will be looking for different grips for it. Ended up talking him down to $550 otd. I'm pleased. Here she is with another nice shooter.

Don't you like it when you have choices.

 

[TAROMAN]

FWIW, I spotted an original set of LS stocks on Ebay,

 

[wrangler5]

I paid less for my 3" 65 (not marked Ladysmith and no ejector shroud) but I wouldn't sell it for what you paid for yours. It has become my favorite shooter. I even use it in our club IDPA matches with fairly high power (but not +P) 38 loads, and while it's not as fast as a Glock with 10 round magazines I find I have more confidence in where the shots are going.

BTW, I shot the last match with the stock service grips and a BK grip adapter - about 100 rounds in 6 stages over about 2 hours. It was easy to control the gun and it was perfectly comfortable to shoot that many rounds under those circumstances. If you want to carry that gun concealed, the stock grips are going to be about as small as they get.

Congrats on the find. Enjoy it.