Model 66-1 with 6" barrel...

[LEO918]

Picked up this nice complete package at the Tucson Gun Show yesterday.

 

[Old_Cop]

I like it, back in the day that was a waiting list gun.

 

[M29since14]

I like it, back in the day that was a waiting list gun.

It certainly was! I remember wanting one of those and never did get one until many years later. (Mine is a 66-2.) When I finally did find one to buy, I had more or less lost interest and I continued using my 6-inch 19-3, but I do still have the 66.

Nice looking example you found there.

 

[LEO918]

Yes Sir - A fairly short run of 66-1s pinned and recessed.

 

[Smithbug]

What a beauty. I am very fond of the 6 inch 66. I think it is perhaps the best looking revolver Smith & Wesson made. They are the best of everything IMO. 357 firepower, shrouded ejector, stainless steel, k sized frame....what a combination. Mine is a dash 1 as well. One of the 6 1/8 barreled ones they made in the late 70s.

Here it is pictured with my 629-1.

 

[saemetric]

Mine is a 6 1/8” as well from 1978. A very earl 6”. Wears VZ grips for shooting.

 

[Model39]

My 66-1 6 1/8" Barrel Revolver

I picked this up a while back out of an estate. I was told by a fellow S&WCA member to measure the barrel as almost all so called 6" Model 66's actually had 5 7/8" barrels but a few came through with 6 1/8" barrels which are scarcer and worth more, and as luck would have it my revolver has the longer barrel.

 

[tjpopkin]

I never measured my barrel but mine is a NO-DASH from 1978...
Nice revolver, but the AHRENDS stocks make it one with perfect balance...

 

[LEO918]

Thanks Smithbug, saemetric and Model39 for jogging my memory on the 6 1/8" barrel anomaly. I just measured the barrel on my 66-1 and sure enough it measures 6 1/8".
I'd rather be lucky than good.

 

[Harkrader]

Yes Sir - A fairly short run of 66-1s pinned and recessed.

Leo918:
I had not read that they were a short run. Kinda adds to the interest of mine. I has a 2+/16th" barrel, and is pinned and recessed. Of interest to me, it is marked West Bend P.D., which is in Wisconsin. I called the PD and they told me the department issued them to detectives.

Then I got a second one with a 4" barrel (pinned and recessed). It belonged to an officer of the OKC PD, and then his brother, a Chaplin for the Mid-West City Regional Hospital and the Mid-West City Police Department. Got the original sales receipt with the officer's name on it. I love having the history of it.

 

[pharmer]

Nice. Mine is 67K ser#, I bought it new when I first got to Florida almost 40 years ago. Joe

 

[notsofast]

I had one, a blue cardboard box m66, new around 1977 iirc. Made a real mistake when I sold it. Really like the 6” model 66 !!! Good on ya for that one

 

[S. Hammer]

Nice. Trusted my life to this one in the'80's.

 

[TAROMAN]

Never knew there were two barrel lengths.
So, dug mine out and measured it.
Yup, it's 6-1/8"

 

[TAROMAN]

Interesting that some of these have TT/TH while others do not.
Maybe an option back in the day?

 

[GF]

TAROMAN & Model 39, those stainless revolvers with smooth targets are sure lookers!
The targets on pharmers stocks have a unique grain and I have my 6 inch 66-1 set up like his.

saemetric's VZ grips look like a good set (good looking too) for shooting.
I will own a set of those.

GF

 

[kennethg]

LEO928,
That is a good score and with the box and all. My 6” 66 is also the 6 1/8” barrel that other posters have. It sounds like a lot of the forum members have the small number (?) of 6 1/8” barrels.
These and all model 66's were scarce when they first came out.

 

[Vettepartz]

Here's my small contribution. On top is my 66-1 with 6 1/8 barrel, and below it is my 66-3 with a barrel that measures exactly 6". I hope you can see the difference, as my photography is not the best.
I remember reading somewhere (can't remember where or when) that a lot of the barrel lengths were 5 7/8" back in the late 70's. They were advertised as 6", and some owners were getting upset and threatened a class action suit against S&W. So the factory made the barrels 6 1/8" for a short while. Fact or fiction?, I don't know.
I lettered the 66-1 and mentioned that the barrel was 6 1/8", but the letter only said that it was shipped with a 6" barrel. No mention of the extra 1/8".

 

[Bayou52]

OK - I'm playing: my 1979 vintage 66-1 that's going to get warmed up tomorrow morning with some 38 SPL target handloads:






Bayou52

 

[Smithbug]

LEO928,
That is a good score and with the box and all. My 6” 66 is also the 6 1/8” barrel that other posters have. It sounds like a lot of the forum members have the small number (?) of 6 1/8” barrels.
These and all model 66's were scarce when they first came out.

I would surmise that because most of us are sharing about the 66-1s and they had a rather small production window in the grand Smith & Wesson timeline, it would look like there are more of these 6 1/8 inch guns than there actually are. Though I would be willing to bet that most of the -1 production of 6in guns are the longer barrel length. I had also read somewhere on here that they made them longer because of some proposed Canadian gun control legislation during that time they made them a little longer to comply with it and the law never came to pass.