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When I was a young man, my dad collected breaktops. S&W, H&R, and Iver Johnson. .32 & .38, blue and nickel, hammer and hammerless. One breaktop he never found was a S&W Perfected.
I always thought the Perfected breaktop was really neat because it had a hand ejector cylinder release as well as the normal top latch to break open the action. Perfected breaktops from Smith & Wesson featured their logo on the left side of the frame because the right side featured a screw attached side plate. The Perfected looked different from all the previous breaktops because its trigger guard was integral with the frame.
I was at a gun show on Sunday and there was a slightly odd looking breaktop on the table, right side up. I looked at it and realized the trigger guard was part of the frame. I knew it had to be a Perfected. I asked to see it and sure enough, when I turned it over, there was the cylinder release latch.
The action was tight and it functioned perfectly in double and single action trigger modes. The bore looked very good with just a few little dark spots. The lands and grooves were very sharp. The ejector snapped easily and the action broke open smoothly.
The left side of the gun was pretty dark where the nickel really faded for some reason. The left side was better, but the gun was far from mint.
The price tag said, "$200 O.B.O."
I got it for $175 out the door. No FFL transfer fee, no tax. I cleaned it up a bit and worked on the bore and it's better than I thought. I'm going to shoot it and I bet it shoots great!
There is just something about the Perfected that I really like. There seems to be some question about how long these were made. Three books have three different answers. It seems pretty much decided that they first came out in 1909. But one book says they only were made until 1911, another says 1910, and still a third says 1924.
Regardless, I like this one a whole lot!
I always thought the Perfected breaktop was really neat because it had a hand ejector cylinder release as well as the normal top latch to break open the action. Perfected breaktops from Smith & Wesson featured their logo on the left side of the frame because the right side featured a screw attached side plate. The Perfected looked different from all the previous breaktops because its trigger guard was integral with the frame.
I was at a gun show on Sunday and there was a slightly odd looking breaktop on the table, right side up. I looked at it and realized the trigger guard was part of the frame. I knew it had to be a Perfected. I asked to see it and sure enough, when I turned it over, there was the cylinder release latch.
The action was tight and it functioned perfectly in double and single action trigger modes. The bore looked very good with just a few little dark spots. The lands and grooves were very sharp. The ejector snapped easily and the action broke open smoothly.
The left side of the gun was pretty dark where the nickel really faded for some reason. The left side was better, but the gun was far from mint.
The price tag said, "$200 O.B.O."
I got it for $175 out the door. No FFL transfer fee, no tax. I cleaned it up a bit and worked on the bore and it's better than I thought. I'm going to shoot it and I bet it shoots great!
There is just something about the Perfected that I really like. There seems to be some question about how long these were made. Three books have three different answers. It seems pretty much decided that they first came out in 1909. But one book says they only were made until 1911, another says 1910, and still a third says 1924.
Regardless, I like this one a whole lot!
