Price check 681 3" RB 7-round moon-clipped (not PC681)

[xaztec]

Hi, wondering what a model 681 round butt with a 3" bull barrel and 7-round moon clipped cylinder would go for. This is not a "PC681" officially but is very close. It was a standard 681 that I had sent to S&W who installed a 3" PC681 barrel that was apparently left over from the PC681 production run. They also converted it from a square butt to a round butt and installed the 7-round cylinder which I then had a local gunsmith (D&D gunsmith here in Michigan) machine to accept moon clips. the differences between this and an official PC681 are that it has the standard finish, as opposed to the bead-blast or birdsong finish and the barrel is not ported. One other difference is that this is not the same cylinder used on the PC681. The S&W gunsmith told me that those were not machined deeply enough and had problems with jamming if the moon clip was too thick or bent at all so he talked me out of that and into a standard 686 plus cylinder. I had D&D machine it a little deeper so it wouldn't have problems with the clips. I've never had any issues with it jamming. I liked this configuration so much that I had two more made before they ran out of the extra barrels. The last one is still a square butt, though, because S&W apparently stopped doing that conversion. Anyway, there are some other guns I want to buy so I decided to sell one of these. I understand that setting a price on a custom gun is difficult but I wanted to get some opinions form people who are experienced with S&W revolvers. I'm thinking it would be in the ballpark of a PC681 since it's essentially the same thing but I haven't seen one of those for sale in quite a while. Anyway, any help you could offer would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick

 

[xaztec]

HI, I added more info and a picture. Thanks.

 

[18DAI]

While very nice, and a revolver I would love to own, I do not see where it would bring the $900 to $1100 of the real PC 681.

Nice as it is - and with some of the PC 681 features - it is simply not the real deal. Its a modified 681 - albeit VERY nicely modified.

As to value - if it were in front of me at a gunshow, I'd want it and probably go as much as $550......or a little more....to buy it.

Very nice revolver you have there! Good luck! Regards 18DAI.

 

[Shooting4life]

I don't know the value but I would own one of them in a heart beat. It sounds like an awesome revolver.

 

[bamabiker]

Sounds like we need you working for S&Ws R&D dept. I was thinking just the other day that a M681 made like your's would be the cat's meow.
Like above, I don't think you'll get the PC gun value but who knows. Do you have paperwork showing S&W did the work? That might help raise the value some.

 

[Onisius]

I would love to have that gun. 3"bbl's are a perfect length, IMHO.
Of course I would have to figure out moon clips, but that's my thread. lol

 

[xaztec]

18DAI - Thanks and I had actually thought about a lot of what you said. I wouldn't think this gun would appeal to purist collectors because it's not a factory model. It's mainly something that is fairly unique and rare and, from a purely utilitarian viewpoint, pretty nearly the perfect carry revolver...although that is a matter of opinion of course.

Shooting4life - Thanks, it is awesome. Basically a beefed up 65 with no forcing cone issues and an extra round in the cylinder.

bamabiker - Thanks. I wish S&W would listen to their customers. I do have all the paperwork from the S&W Performance Center. I guess, technically, it is a PC681 since it is a 681 modified by the Performance Center. I actually prefer this one to the official PC681 because the barrel is not ported and I like the brushed stainless finish a lot better than the bead blasted finish.

Onisius - Thanks, I also think 3" barrels are the best compromise between conceal-ability and performance. Moon clips aren't hard to figure out. They're like speed loaders except you don't have to turn the knob to release the rounds. The whole thing just drops right into the cylinder. I can load this thing just as fast as a semi-auto.

 

[What the]

While it sounds like a unique and desirable revolver it is indeed hard to get your money out of custom work. That being said the right guy might come along and plop down $650-$700 or so for it. If it had that PC roll mark I'm sure you could get a grand out of it.

 

[xaztec]

Here's another picture from the other side. This pic shows it with Pachmayr grips on it.

 

[18DAI]

I agree xaztec, that IS the perfect carry revolver!

I second the motion that you be in charge of S&W R&D.

It would be nice to see revolvers like your 681 being produced again. Thanks for sharing them with us. Regards 18DAI.

 

[colt_saa]

I LOVE Performance Center revolvers. I also love all 3" revolvers.

Today at lunch I picked up a 3" model 66 Carry Comp from the Performance Center. It cost me $725 delivered.

On that basis, I probably would not offer more then $500 or $550 for a clone gun. The difference is more than the PC logo.

PC firearms do not start on the production side and get modified. They are manufactured start to finish in the Performance Center. OK the rough forgings do come from the same place, but after that they follow separate paths. Lots of little things are different.

 

[BobR1]

I am not sure what it will bring, but my dealer has a used very clean 586 Nickel for $595 and a very clean used 686 6" for $600. He just sold a very clean 66-1 2-1/2" for $595. I have been on Gun Broker looking at 64, 65, 66, 681, and 686's lately. A fairly rough 681 is $500 on Buy Now lately. I would think the least it would be worth is $600, and probably would bring more.

It may not be a real PC Production Gun, however it is about as good as it gets for a Medium Frame 357 carry gun.

3" PC Barrel that looks Great, with a quick change front sight
7 Shot Cylinder
Bright Finish looks better than Bead Blast
Moon Clip Conversion
Is Not Ported BIG PLUS
Not Keyed another Plus
Looks NEW another Plus

Could be made into a Round Butt.
Whats not to love for someone wanting an Ultimate Carry Revolver

 

[xaztec]

colt_saa, thanks and you got an awesome deal on that 66. i saw one on GB that just sold for $1500.00. Keep in mind, though, that the 681 is an L frame where the 66 is a K frame. Do you know if they reinforced the forcing cone on those or do they just recommend against firing 125 grain loads in it?

I also like 3" revolvers for carry. I think that's about the perfect size. I'm not crazy about the PC revolvers, for the most part, because, aside from the PC681, they always seem to have target sites or those big fiber optic sites that aren't really appropriate for a carry gun, again, in my opinion, because of the snag factor.

At any rate, not all guns produced by the PC are built by them from the ground up. Some are based on production guns that are cut and assembled by PC gunsmiths, tuned up and sometimes have special features (like the PC bull barrel with recessed crown). My 681 is a standard production 681 frame, but I believe the PC681 frames were also standard production from that time. This has the exact same PC barrel that came on the PC681 and it was hand cut and installed by a PC gunsmith. The cylinder is from a 686 plus but I believe that was the cylinder used on the PC681. The PC681 cylinders were sent out to a third party (can't remember who now) for the moon-clip conversion but those cylinders, from what the PC gunsmith told me, had jamming issues because they were cut too shallow and were extremely finicky with the clips. He actually talked me out of buying the PC681 cylinder, which was a lot more expensive. He did install and set my cylinder though. The square butt was converted to a round butt by the PC as well. I asked him about the performance tune (i.e. polishing the internals, etc.) and had actually requested that service but he said I didn't need it on this one because the action was about as smooth as it could be already.

So my 681 is a Performance Center gun, it just doesn't have the official PC681 designation and serial number. It is, in my opinion, an improvement over the official PC681 in that the barrel is not ported and the cylinder doesn't jam. The former is a matter of personal preference, of course, because some people prefer ported barrels. I don't like that on a carry gun. I also prefer the brushed stainless finish over the bead-blasted or Birdsong finishes but that, again, is a matter of personal preference.

Anyway, thanks for the comments.

 

[xaztec]

Hey BobR1, thanks. My opinion is very close to yours. By the way, this is already a round butt. Take a look at the first picture in my original post. The second picture shows it with packmyar grips that are more or less a round butt to square butt conversion grip. I used to like those better because I was more used to square butt revolvers but once I got used to the smaller round butt grip, I prefer those because they're so much more concealable.

 

[xaztec]

Thanks to everyone who posted here. I value all of your comments and opinions. I learned that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. Value is a combination of what someone is willing to sell something for and what someone is willing to pay and bringing the two together.

I've been doing some research on this recently and thought I'd share that.

On the auction sites. I found a few official PC681's. I saw a 4" model go for a little over $1000.00 and a 3" model that sold for $1300.00 but then there's also one of those models with the Birdsong finish listed for $700.00 that didn't sell. I saw the standard 4" SB 6-shot 681's selling for $350.00 to over $750.00.

Just for comparison sake for a standard production model, I saw a 3" 686 Plus 7-shot RB going for around $600.00 used but that doesn't have a PC barrel, wasn't assembled/fitted by the PC and you'd still have to get the cylinder milled for moon clips and get a conversion site for the rear site to make it fixed. So that's $800.00 without the PC barrel and, even with the conversion site, it would have a slightly higher profile than the 681.

So a collector looking for an official PC681 could probably pick one up for around $700.00 for one with the Birdsong finish. A PC681 with the bead-blasted finish goes for as much as $1000.00 for the 4" model and up to $1300.00 for the 3" model.

Someone looking for something like this to carry, with an unported barrel is out of luck. There's nothing like it on the market, new or used, except the one I might be selling. That is,

L-frame round butt,
unported 3" PC bull barrel with recessed crown hand cut and fitted by the PC,
7-round cylinder cut for moon clips,
fixed rear sights,
dovetail drift adjustable front site
Brushed stainless finish.

I have some thinking to do.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Dogmann]

I love this gun

 

[xaztec]

Thanks Dogmann, me too.

 

[Curiousnewbie]

So Xaztec,

You had two additional 681 PC conversions done as well? I didn't even know that the "new" Smith & Wesson would do the barrel and cylinder changes like that. When did you have this work done?

 

[ladder13]

That's a great idea for a L frame. I think I'll call S&W and see if they'll do that with my 681. Hopefully they still have some 3 inch PC barrels around somewhere.

 

[smith41mag]

If you decide to sell, let me know.