Parting with my S & W 15-3

[rags]

Careful when asking for someone's opinion. You just may get it.

 

[Walter Rego]

For the OP: You need to get a copy of a fairly new book entitled VIS Radom by William J. York. It will tell you everything you want to know about your Radom. I have wanted a 3 lever example for years, all I ever see are heavily buffed and reblued or bumper chromed examples that the seller represents as "officer's models". I would pay $825 for a nice example with good bore in a heartbeat.

 

[Texas Star]

Wow, cut the guy some slack, what does that have to do with this question.?

Of course the opinions will sway towards keeping a SW revolver, but folks can like other things can't they??

Rule 3, read what I said about this guy wanting the H&T on his M-686 "reblued." That lit my fuse, and made me think that an S&W revolver should indeed change hands in this case. Also, note that I agreed with SIG- P-220's post.

The OP also did not originally disclose that the frame on his M-15 has been altered. I later said that that alone makes me think that he was lucky to get as much trade value for it as he seems to have. When the other guy takes off the grips and sees that cut frame, he may want to renege on the deal, or ask for more money.

 

[DeathGrip]

Careful when asking for someone's opinion. You just may get it.

Sometimes when you ask you don't get the answer you want.

 

[Texas Star]

Sometimes when you ask you don't get the answer you want.

But it may be the answer that you NEED, even if it isn't what you want to hear. In this case, if you read all of my posts in this topic, you'll see that I finally agreed that he should trade, if not perhaps for his original reason, entirely.

And other inexperienced gunowners who see my posts will become aware that an altered M-15 has lowered value, and that M-686's don't need to have the their hammers and triggers "reblued."

I prefer honesty to diplomacy. If the man wants my free advice, he's going to get that, and it will be honest advice, not an attempt to tell him to do what he wants, regardless.

I invested quite a bit of my valuable time tonight in telling this man some things that he needs to know. If you guys who are not among my most ardent admirers on this board want to snipe at someone for just telling him to keep an S&W revolver over a 9mm Polish pistol, pick on poor JimmyJ. He's your logical target here. But cut him some slack, too: he also gave his honest opinion of what HE thought was the best idea.

 

[DeathGrip]

But it may be the answer that you NEED, even if it isn't what you want to hear. In this case, if you read all of my posts in this topic, you'll see that I finally agreed that he should trade, if not perhaps for his original reason, entirely.

And other inexperienced gunowners who see my posts will become aware that an altered M-15 has lowered value, and that M-686's don't need to have the their hammers and triggers "reblued."

I prefer honesty to diplomacy. If the man wants my free advice, he's going to get that, and it will be honest advice, not an attempt to tell him to do what he wants, regardless.

I invested quite a bit of my valuable time tonight in telling this man some things that he needs to know. If you guys who are not among my most ardent admirers on this board want to snipe at someone for just telling him to keep an S&W revolver over a 9mm Polish pistol, pick on poor JimmyJ. He's your logical target here. But cut him some slack, too: he also gave his honest opinion of what HE thought was the best idea.

Please reread my post.

 

[kennyb]

in the late 70's i sold my duty gun which happened to be a M15-3....a real sweet shooter...i regretted it for years...just last year i found this very M15-3 at my local gun store...the one i carried...needless to say i was all over it like a junebug it now resides comfortably in my safe....i have found i dont sell guns well....just a thought

 

[cp1969]

in the late 70's i sold my duty gun which happened to be a M15-3....a real sweet shooter...i regretted it for years...just last year i found this very M15-3 at my local gun store...the one i carried...needless to say i was all over it like a junebug it now resides comfortably in my safe....i have found i dont sell guns well....just a thought

A boomerang gun! I have one of those, too, an Apache Black Remington Nylon 66.

 

[02-fatboy]

So I have a couple of things to say. First off I did post that my 15-3 had been modified in my posting. I copied my exact words here.

I have about $325 into my 15-3. I was told that its been pretty heavily modified, the butt was cutt down so its not really a square or a round butt hence the custom grips, and there was some form of a trigger lock installed????

Also I will very honest. I appreciate everyones advice and opinions. However I am not an expert nor do I claim to be. I bought my 15-3 not knowing it was modified or altered at the time. Having been altered all I can say is that it was a really great shooting gun. I enjoyed my 15-3. but I have several 357's and I really didn't see the need to keep it when I can use a different one in its place.

My 686-4 is somewhat similar to my 15-3 in the following ways. It to has a wonderful trigger pull, and it too is very accurate.

I did not know that I should not have my trigger or my hammer reblued on my 686-4? I read somewhere that some of the 686's had parts like triggers and hammers that were from Mexico. Whether or not mine did or not is beyound my knowledge. I bought the gun cheap enough knowing that is was not properly cared for. Both the trigger and the hammer were very rusty, and slightly pitted. If they were not original, then thats beyound my knowledge? All I know is that I decided I should have the rust fixed. If paying my gunsmith $30 to fix the rust in an attempt to fix my 686-4 makes me a bad S&W gun owner then I apologize. All I was trying to do was take care of my gun and fix some issues something that the previous owner obviously didn't do. If I upset you I don't understand why but I apologize. If need be I would gladly post pics of my 686-4. I bought it for a cheap beater gun to hunt with and found it was probably more of a gun than what I had bargained for my money so I decided to try and fix it up a little. I love my 686-4 I was just upset that the place I bought it from misrepresented the warranty they gave on used guns. I probably would have bought it again if I had the chance for the same price knowing what I know now. But I doubt I will ever buy another gun from the store that sold it to me just because of how they treated me and misrepresented themselves.

 

[02-fatboy]

This is the Radom Vis P35 that my father carried in WWII. He gave it to his brother when he got home. It got passed down to my cousin, who thought I ought to have it and gave it to me at a family reunion. I could see the disappointment in my cousin's son's eyes. One week later, my cousin passed away. I kept the gun for about a month, shot it some, then gave it to his son.

Just wanted to say thank you, This was a great story. I am glad that the gun stayed in the family and that you gave it back to your cousins son. I am sure he really appreciated that. Hopefully it had a huge sentimental value to him and he will enjoy and keep it for years to come. Did you enjoy shooting it while you had it? I have always loved these guns. I just haven't been able to find the right one in the right condition for the right price and with the options I wanted until today. I showed my gun to my cousin today and he though it was cleaner than his dads and he was pretty amazed at how tight this gun was and the great condition that it was in. I wanted to compare mine to my uncles but he took it to his fathers and locked it away in the gun vault next to his dad's radom. Maybe one day I can compare all 3 and get a cool picture of them all next to each other.

 

[DeathGrip]

You didn't upset me.

We live, We learn.

You actually got some good answers.

Cheers........

 

[hsguy]

I think you did just fine on the Radom judging by the photos. Being as the 15 was modified you probably did well to trade it and get what you really wanted. My general theory of gun buying is all things being equal buy the gun less often encountered. I suspect you see a lot more Model 15's than Nazi proofed 3 lever Radoms. We see the odd Radom in the store and the decent ones sell quite quickly, I think yours would not have lasted long in the case. Enjoy your new gun.

 

[cp1969]

Just wanted to say thank you, This was a great story. I am glad that the gun stayed in the family and that you gave it back to your cousins son. I am sure he really appreciated that. Hopefully it had a huge sentimental value to him and he will enjoy and keep it for years to come. Did you enjoy shooting it while you had it? I have always loved these guns. I just haven't been able to find the right one in the right condition for the right price and with the options I wanted until today. I showed my gun to my cousin today and he though it was cleaner than his dads and he was pretty amazed at how tight this gun was and the great condition that it was in. I wanted to compare mine to my uncles but he took it to his fathers and locked it away in the gun vault next to his dad's radom. Maybe one day I can compare all 3 and get a cool picture of them all next to each other.

It had a great deal of sentimental value to me, too. Trust me on that one. But that gun belonged to that young man's grandfather, then his father, and now him. Seems only right that it stay in that side of the family, as it's been there for almost 70 years already.

I loved shooting it! I was amazed at how accurate it was, in spite of the relatively poor fixed sights on it. Being of all-steel construction, it had almost no recoil. There are gun writers who claim the Radom was one of the very best pistols to come out of WWII. I can't say that, because I've only shot a few of them, but it sure shot a lot better than I thought it was going to.

Wish my father was still around to ask him a few questions, like "how did you get this?" and "how did you carry it, hammer back or hammer down??" Reason for the second question is, as you know, it is single action and only has a grip safety. Carried hammer down, it would be pretty slow to get into action. Carried hammer back, you're very close to being in action all the time, whether you want that or not.

 

[labworm]

I was totally ignorant of the Polish Radom Pistol

Thanks for the little education.

 

[02-fatboy]

I was totally ignorant of the Polish Radom Pistol

Thanks for the little education.

If your looking for articles on Radoms just let me know I found a few that I could forward to you. Also there are some members here who have some great info on them.

I shot the Radom today, and I remembered my uncles shooting better than mine? But I think that it was just me and the bullets I had loaded last night. I gave the gun to one of the guys at the range that I know named Lyle and he shot it seemed to really enjoy it. I wish I would have shot it as good as he did with it. LOL. We both decided I needed to add some more powder to my loads and see if it shoots better since it was shooting high and I had made pretty light loads.

Anyways it was a blast to shoot, and I think I am gonna try again on Thursday night with the heavier loads. Although I told Lyle he could shoot as much as he wanted on thursday since he seemed to enjoy it so much. So maybe I will let him have some fun with it while I work on perfecting my shooting with my Model 41 and my Kimber. Its not like I won't be able to shoot it any time I feel like it.

Either way its a really great gun, and I don't feel bad shooting it because the thing is super tight. I can barely even get it apart. It pretty crazy, it almost looks like it was never used or even broken in .That being said I'm not gonna shoot it every week like some of my other guns, but it sure makes a great conversation piece, and its cool to share what I have learned about it with others.