What made you a S&W fan?

First time I took my 617 to the range I was in awe of how smooth it was. After shooting cheap revolvers for years, I finally came to appreciate Smith & Wesson's reputation for quality and craftsmanship which I discovered first-hand. When it comes to wheel guns, there are none better.
 
Shot my dads 686 357 mag and the look feel and how accurate it was made me fall in love with them. Unfortunately it made me love the ones that are 38 special and above calibers only. But it is one of the only modern handguns that feel like the awesome guns of ww1 & 2 not the crappy polymer new guns. Wood and steel!
 
Without much knowledge or experience when I started, it was simply the look.

Now its the feel and the uncomparable triggers.
 
I guess my story is very similar to alot of them in this thread, but it feels so good to bring back the memories of my dad, in his old blue deputy Sheriff's uniform, taking me out to shoot. When I was 10 he gave me an old model 10 4" for my own,I think it was more to get me to clean the guns when we got back from shooting, than anything else.
He carried a model 36 2" on duty, as then there were no rules as to what an officer could carry, but when the model 19 came out with a 2 3/4" barrel he went to it for the rest of his career, eventually being elected Sheriff of our county. He instilled a love of Smith & Wesson revolvers (and a hatred of the backward turning Colts,which I have now gotten over,but still don't own any) in me that will never die til I'm gone.
When I was a teen, and had my 1st job in the summer, working at Western Auto,all my earnings were used to buy guns, they included a model 29 6 1/2",model 14 6", and a used model 28 4". I also bought a 6" model 34 for my dad that summer, for a tacklebox gun. there are alot of great stories about each one of those guns, and the many others I have owned over the years,but to tell a fraction of them would take a book thicker than Sixguns by Keith. Thanks for starting this thread and bringing a joyful tear to an old man's eye.
 
As a kid in the 60's I read every gun rag I could and in an issue of "GUNS" the was a pencil barreled M-10 they were using in a reloading article. It was a color photo and I just fell in love with it. When I was in the Army I picked up a copy of "Cooper on Handguns" and he had a whole chapter on the M-60 and I knew I had to have one. bought my first M-60 in 1976.

Pretty similiar. Back in the '60's I'd pour over Skeeter Skelton articles over and over and thumb through an old Shooters Bible to imagine shooting all the old S&Ws. My dad had a 6 1/2" Model 29 back then but we really didn't have the resources to shoot it much. He traded it on a K-22 and K-38 so that I'd have guns I could better develop skill with. I have those two to this day.
 
How can you not love them, fit , finish and looks especially when you can score a beauty like this one I found last week , 19-3 4" ( 1972 Vintage ) :)
 

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Seeing the Model 10s in the holsters of the officers I admired in the small town where I grew up. I still favor Model 10s and Model 64s for my home defense although lately I have sometimes been using a 686+ Mountain Gun with night sights.

It's not as pretty so I keep going back and forth.
 
My Dad was a deputy sheriff in the 70's-early 80's and he had a bunch of guns around. Berettas, Astras, Rugers, Lee-Enfields, etc. But of the two double action revolvers I remember him owning, his model 19 always interested me more than the colt snubbie. So here I am... !
 
The beauty and accuracy of my Dad's two Smith and Wesson revolvers is what made me an undying S&W fan. He had a Model 19-3 and a Model 27-2, one blued, one nickel, both .357 magnums. They were his service revolvers for a time before he passed. I still have them and they still shoot as straight today as the first day I got them in my hands! Just amazing guns! I've added a Model 629-5 of my own and it shoots even better, which hardly seems possible.
 
I was issued and carried a .38 special Victory model in Vietnam, and in the '70's (when I was a youngster) I owned a M38 Bodyguard, a M58, and a M66-1 2 1/2". I still have the 66. Those early guns for me sold me on S&W quality.
 
Back in 1969 I rented a room out to a older man, ura "Duke" duvall. At the time he was near retirement. He worked where I did and had a family about a 100 miles away. He was a big time s&w collector, even owned a couple volcanics along with other brands. Every time he went home for a weekend he would return with another satachel of guns to show me. He had one of the finest collections I ever seen for a regular guy. Also his BIL was al capone that owned king gun works in L.A. They were buddys and worked for the original well known gunsmith Dan King before capone took over. Duke taught me most everything I know about collecting. I was a shooter and into collecting before duke but I have to say he got me hooked deep.
 
Being a young shooter in the 1960's, my Grandfather gave me his Registered Magnum and that gun made me the Smith fan I am today although I only fired just a few rounds thru it. Later, my Father gave me his first Smith, and old Outdoorsman 22Lr and I still have both.
GC45
 
I grew up in New York City and was on my high school rifle team. Our home range was the 34th St. Armory, in the basement. It was the NYC Police detective pistol range during the normal work day. We would always arrive for practice/matches a wee bit early and the very friendly instructor detectives would let us shoot their snubbies. Some had Colts, some had Smiths. As a 14 year old I found I liked the Smith's more and have just kept that going. I have half a dozen at any one time and over the years have gone up to a dozen or so. I just appreciate the workmanship and the inherent accuracy. I've been a bullseye shooter for 50 years and now am trying to shoot pins. Using automatics to learn, but will want to get the Smith's spinning as soon as I figure out the game.
Stu


Boy, are those days long gone.... high school rifle teams in NYC today don't exist thanks to Bllomberg and others like him.
 
About 25 years ago I bought a Ruger Blackhawk in 357 mag. My cousin bought a used Smith and Wesson, don't remember the model number. Anyway, we went out shooting. I shot my Ruger and He shot his Smith. After firing several rounds I asked and shot his Smith. I could shoot the Smith so much better than I could with the Ruger and the Triggers weren't even comparable. I bought a Smith a few days later and haven't looked back......
 
Hadn't thought much about it till I checked my inventory, definite S&W majority. Guess it started with my Model 29. The Colt Anaconda wasn't being built yet. I liked the Model 19 better than the Python, (MHO you understand). These days Colt doesn't make a poly frame striker fired pistol. Ruger does, but I believe the M&P's a better product. I've got Colts and Rugers, like them fine. Just like the S&W's better.
 
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