Mistake? Passed on a M&P snub nose low SN

[bagolden]

Hit the show late yesterday. I passed on a snubbie square butt. The serial number was either 208417 or 208267. I don't remember exactly it was pretty low though. There weren't any letter prefixes. All the prewar features except it was wearing high horn magnas. Didn't pull the stocks to see the re-work date. It did have a star before the SN on the butt. Guy was asking 425 I think he would have moved some. Sorry didn't get a pic. Also the it was in Nickel finish and seemed to be factory. All the blue or case stuff still was and the barrel pin etc were still proud to the frame. The barrel and cylinder numbers matched. So was this a very early snub I should have picked up?

 

[DCWilson]

Sounds like a rebarreled gun. That serial number would date the frame to about 1913, and the earliest authentic two-inch M&P dates to more than 20 years later. I would also suspect from the star that the gun has been refinished. The factory can do that so well that you wouldn't suspect a refinish at first glance.

$425 would be an OK price for an unrefinished early postwar snubnose M&P (S-prefix serial number), but to my mind it is too much for a remanufactured firearm.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

bagolden, buy it and I'll meet you in Montgomery to retrieve it from you.

 

[bagolden]

Wiregrass, its too late unless I see it at the next show. Not sure if it was originally nickel or not. I suspect the rework included the re-barrel and possibly the nickel finish. I wish I had paid closer attention to the stocks though. I do remember they were bob horn magnas but I don't remember details about the checkering except they had diamonds at the screw.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

There's a gun show in Dothan next month. I'll look for it.