sigp220.45
US Veteran
I came into the FBI a few years after the era of the Model 13. I've always wanted one, and the closest I've come is a 3" Model 65. Not the same though.
Yesterday I wandered into my local Sportsman's Warehouse. It was a Gander Mountain for a while, was empty for a while, and has been a Sportsman's Warehouse for a couple of months.
They had very few used guns, but then a couple dozen butt-ugly rust bucket guns showed up, priced as if they weren't the dregs of the gun world. There was a 2 1/2" Colt Diamondback .38 that had ZERO finish, homemade grips, and a price of $1299.
A new batch of ugly sisters had arrived. Second row, fourth from the left, was this Model 13-3.
Marked at $399, but it did come with rust and a busted hammer spur. I'll cut to the chase - $285, and they sold me 100 rounds of Federal ammo for the early panic price of 24 bucks a box.
The other side:
The worst rust:
The truncated hammer:
The counter guy said "corporate" just sends them these guns. He had no idea where they came from, but he said they were uniformly rusty. He said they try to buy local guns, but they wouldn't have bought a single one of the corporate arrivals (including mine) if someone walked in the door with it.
The good new is it works great. The DA and SA pulls are very smooth, the bore and chambers are clean, and nothing seems badly out of kilter, except it looks like the last owner used the back door of a dead goat for a holster for a couple of years.
So, what to do? I cleaned it and it is currently in the 50/50 acetone and transmission fluid bath.
I may add a BK grip adapter, load it up, and keep it in my truck. I guess it depends on how it comes out.
Yesterday I wandered into my local Sportsman's Warehouse. It was a Gander Mountain for a while, was empty for a while, and has been a Sportsman's Warehouse for a couple of months.
They had very few used guns, but then a couple dozen butt-ugly rust bucket guns showed up, priced as if they weren't the dregs of the gun world. There was a 2 1/2" Colt Diamondback .38 that had ZERO finish, homemade grips, and a price of $1299.
A new batch of ugly sisters had arrived. Second row, fourth from the left, was this Model 13-3.
Marked at $399, but it did come with rust and a busted hammer spur. I'll cut to the chase - $285, and they sold me 100 rounds of Federal ammo for the early panic price of 24 bucks a box.
The other side:
The worst rust:
The truncated hammer:
The counter guy said "corporate" just sends them these guns. He had no idea where they came from, but he said they were uniformly rusty. He said they try to buy local guns, but they wouldn't have bought a single one of the corporate arrivals (including mine) if someone walked in the door with it.
The good new is it works great. The DA and SA pulls are very smooth, the bore and chambers are clean, and nothing seems badly out of kilter, except it looks like the last owner used the back door of a dead goat for a holster for a couple of years.
So, what to do? I cleaned it and it is currently in the 50/50 acetone and transmission fluid bath.
I may add a BK grip adapter, load it up, and keep it in my truck. I guess it depends on how it comes out.
