have one similar to yours that I paid $250 for, so the price seems at least $200 too much. If one is not in a hurry, you can pick up a 38 Target Model from that era for $500.
Hello Gary - with all due respect, where is it that you are shopping for used firearms at? I have only found pre war S&W revolvers in the price range you mention when the shop didn't actually know what they had.
If you tell me the secret shop(s), I promise I won't be a greedy jerk and buy
everything they have!
Although we can all go back and forth with different pricing metrics (I shudder when people reference the blue book) one must remember that the build quality of all pre war hand ejectors is fairly high, and these guns have a shooter / build quality / design quality value, separate from the collectible value. As a shooting gun, it is hard to place the modern revolvers ahead (across the board) although they do have certain features which are improved, needless to say. Some people of course vastly prefer the vintage examples, even as a dedicated shooter.
I think many of us would prefer a vintage S&W to a pristine 1990s example, unless we planned to shoot it a ton, shoot hot loads, etc. A new Taurus would certainly cost more, esp. compared to the prices Gary cited.
Regarding the price of this specific revolver, I don't think the price is terrible, and I'm not influenced very often by whether or not something is "still there" because many of these less popular guns (less popular than say a Glock or 1911) require a trained eye from a certain type of person, and so the perspective buyers are usually a small minority within the shooting public.
