Long Tube .32

[Modified]

Did a gunshow this weekend, it was great.

As usual I couldn't escape without having bought something. It's just so dang hard not to toss out a price when looking at an old smith sometimes. In this case at $225 I knew this would be a honey of a shooter at very worst.

I'm not a nickel gun guy, so I'm still working on getting rid of the rust here and there, I think it will take quite a few more gentle sessions with flitz and elbow grease to get it all the way there. The thing is the action is perfect, or at least once I started to break up the 100 year old grease clogging it all up inside it has proved to be.

In any case these are a bit outside of my wheelhouse. I understand the 6" guns are a bit uncommon?

Also from the 5 digit S/N guessing '06ish for a timeframe of production?

 

[glowe]

Nice classic pre-1922 I frame. I just completed selling off all but one of my I frames to fund my next adventure in S&W collecting. The one I kept was a blued 6" and have no illusions of grandeur when it comes time to sell it. I was not disappointed, but somewhat surprised at the lower than expected selling prices, as I did have some nice nickel examples and another blued 6", but all eventually sold. For whatever reasons, prices for the pre-WWII standard I frames have not kept up with the K and N frames on the collector side. Hope that will change down to the road someday.

 

[delcrossv]

That's quite a deal. Long tube I frames are fun shooters, you'll like it at the range. Congrats on a great pick-up! Yes, they're fairly uncommon.

Here's my 1941 version of yours.

 

[Lee Barner]

that is a great find. when you tire of it, i'll give you 226 and pay the shipping. keep that in mind. LOL Lee

 

[Modified]

Nice classic pre-1922 I frame. I just completed selling off all but one of my I frames to fund my next adventure in S&W collecting. The one I kept was a blued 6" and have no illusions of grandeur when it comes time to sell it. I was not disappointed, but somewhat surprised at the lower than expected selling prices, as I did have some nice nickel examples and another blued 6", but all eventually sold. For whatever reasons, prices for the pre-WWII standard I frames have not kept up with the K and N frames on the collector side. Hope that will change down to the road someday.

Pre 22 was right, Roy got back to me: was shipped in October 1906 (if you aren't a member of the SWCA you should be).

For whatever reason, in guns, smaller = less than. I bet if ladysmiths were super common (like they had made 5 million of them or something) despite being absurdly well crafted things they could be had here or there for a couple hundred bucks. I got a bearcat once when guy put it on the gun table in front of me and I asked him, he looked at it and said; 'That little thing? I guess $100'.

I tend to think that the whole market for small guns (that aren't the exceptionally rare ones) is somewhat depressed because of this attitude.

Which is one hell of a nice bonus when you realize how dang nice these little things are!

 

[kscharlie]

That's a dandy, Caleb. You sure don't see them much on the auction sites. For the price of $225, I would have been all over that one like white on rice. I am surprised at the date, even though we all know that S&W wasn't too particular in shipping in any kind of order. I have a nickel 4 1/4" 1st change that shipped in October, 1910, but the serial # is 50606. Ya' gotta love it.

 

[Modified]

That's a dandy, Caleb. You sure don't see them much on the auction sites. For the price of $225, I would have been all over that one like white on rice. I am surprised at the date, even though we all know that S&W wasn't too particular in shipping in any kind of order. I have a nickel 4 1/4" 1st change that shipped in October, 1910, but the serial # is 50606. Ya' gotta love it.

Yeah, I have to say the date really surprised me too. I hit the database (again I you are reading this and aren't an SWCA member...get on it! JOIN!), and guessed based on about where the number fell. I didn't expect it to be right.

I wonder if the long barrel had something to do with the ship date? Can anyone tell me why the 6" guns are a bit uncommon? Is it because they were custom orders usually? That would make sense to me personally, I like the gun but I don't quite see why someone would have bought one back in 1906. Seems like a .32-20 M&P, or hell, even a custom order .32 Long M&P would do everything this gun does but better.

I'll have to see if I can get some good pictures of it. Things are a bit busy at the moment because the kid got exposed to covid on her first day back to school, and my wife just finished her maternity leave and is back at work. So I've got the newly minted little one plus a 3 year old to keep occupied. I wouldn't trade life in 2021 for life in 1921, but dang it if I wish I had these kids a decade earlier before this damnable plague.

My posts usually have better engagement, I'm wondering if its because my pictures are poor, or if its because people just don't much care about these guns. My typical purchase is...if can put it in a way that this excessively alcoholic beer I just consumed in celebration of napping children isn't influencing... weird.

Bizarre, kind of messed up, the kind of guns that make you say; 'what is wrong with that boy?'.

Yet this gun is only odd in that it has a 6" barrel, and I feel bad if my poor pictures are the reason no one really cares much about it, because these guns are dang pleasing and if folks see them for a good price they should absolutely grab them as they will enjoy owning the gun quite a lot.

 

[delcrossv]

Pre 22 was right, Roy got back to me: was shipped in October 1906 (if you aren't a member of the SWCA you should be).

For whatever reason, in guns, smaller = less than. I bet if ladysmiths were super common (like they had made 5 million of them or something) despite being absurdly well crafted things they could be had here or there for a couple hundred bucks. I got a bearcat once when guy put it on the gun table in front of me and I asked him, he looked at it and said; 'That little thing? I guess $100'.

I tend to think that the whole market for small guns (that aren't the exceptionally rare ones) is somewhat depressed because of this attitude.

Which is one hell of a nice bonus when you realize how dang nice these little things are!

That might work for I frames, but M frames seem to always been pricy. I've gotten nice (non target).32's for a few hundred but maybe it's because they didn't make a lot of M's, even rough ones are always over $1k.

On this one, I think you got a Very Good Deal. I would have been happy with twice what you snagged it for.

 

[delcrossv]

....

My posts usually have better engagement, I'm wondering if its because my pictures are poor, or if its because people just don't much care about these guns. My typical purchase is...if can put it in a way that this excessively alcoholic beer I just consumed in celebration of napping children isn't influencing... weird.

Bizarre, kind of messed up, the kind of guns that make you say; 'what is wrong with that boy?'.

Yet this gun is only odd in that it has a 6" barrel, and I feel bad if my poor pictures are the reason no one really cares much about it, because these guns are dang pleasing and if folks see them for a good price they should absolutely grab them as they will enjoy owning the gun quite a lot.

Sshhh! Do you really want everyone going after these?

 

[Modified]

Sshhh! Do you really want everyone going after these?

Ha, few others are willing to gamble on trash pictures and bum descriptions like I am.

Honestly, many of my best guns are ones people showed me because they were aware of my... predilections.