What Started Your Interest in S&W?

[TheHobbyist]

Hope everyone is doing well. Nice to have a quiet weekend.

What started your interest in S&W?

I'll start, when I turned 21, one of the older family friends took me to a gun show. I had some money in my pocket, but it was a lot for me at the time. Looking and didn't really know what to expect or what to do, my friend encouraged me to buy a .22 revolver by S&W so I could practice; being cheaper then other calibers.

Guy walked in maybe about an hour after we arrived and walked through everything--...boy, it was expensive, Model 19's 2.5" for $650.00 Model 29's for $750.00...no way I could afford it--well, he had a Model 18, LNIB, with I think 5 or 6 speed loaders, 3-4 holsters, everything and wanted $ 550.00...I started sweating. That was a lot for me at the time and my friend told me to make an offer and I did. Thought I was crazy for paying over $500 for a .22.

Well, then we got to shooting on the farm or at the range and the fit, form, and function were just indescribable. Been 'hooked' ever since...

 

[BAM-BAM]

I graduated from Law School and moved about 80 miles away from home ...... and realized that I didn't have a handgun....... my Dad was a police Capt at the time and all the handguns in the house were his..........................

So I went out and got a 4" model 10...... just like Dad's!!!!

Within the year traded it for a 2 1/2" 19! which was a bit smaller than Dad's 6" .357 Colt New Service with King sights and action job

 

[PALADIN85020]

I first saw this gun when I was around six years old. My paternal grandmother had it tucked in a dresser drawer and showed it to me. It had belonged to her deceased husband, my grandfather. He bought it when he was a dry goods store owner in Crittenden, Kentucky. He carried it in a shoulder holster when he walked with the day's store proceeds to the bank about a mile away. He brought it with them when the family moved to Arizona in 1924.

When my grandmother died, I inherited the gun, which certainly showed a lot of use. It sparked my interest in Smith revolvers which I still harbor today.

John

 

[MSgt G]

My dad and grandfather both had Smith & Wesson revolvers.

 

[mick1213]

I realized the accuracy of Smiths when I bought this 3rd model many years ago. My son and daughters learned to shoot a handgun using this one. Since them, all 5 of my grandchildren continued. All including me enjoy range time with it. IIRC, it was manufactured in 1919. Still shooting great.

 

[Maddog 521]

I have always admired S&W handguns and knew I'd never have the money to purchase one. Years went by and I bought a couple of Ruger's and enjoyed their accuracy and that they were problem free. I was working 6-10's for many months and saved as much as I could. One day I walked into a gun shop and there were several brand new S&W's sitting all together in the corner of a glass display case. I asked "where did all of these come from"? He replied that a man brought them in to sell. The man also said his dad bought him a new S&W every year for his birthday. He didn't like guns so he just put them in the closet. When his dad died he brought them all to the gun shop and sold them to the owner. The owner said he gave him a fair price for them and priced them accordingly. I asked him about a Model 60 no dash in the box with all of the things that came with it. He shot me a price and I went out to my truck to see if I had enough. I was 8 dollars short and I told him that when I went back in. He said "I'll take what you have and we'll call it a deal". Now the madness has taken over and I have bought and sold a few.
I still have that Mod. 60.

 

[ContinentalOp]

Not really sure. My dad only had two revolvers, both Colts. I read a lot of different gun magazines when I was younger, so I'm sure some of that was an influence. When I worked armed security I was issued S&W revolvers, a 686 at one company and a Model 10 at another. The first revolver I ever bought was a 642ND back in the 90s, and I still have it. The only revolvers I've ever bought were S&W, including a 3" 65, a 2" 64, and a 442-2 that all ended up getting sold at some point. My main interests are J-frame snubs, particularly my grail gun, a 640ND. I would like to add a L-frame .44 at some point. Can't really put my finger on why S&Ws interest me more than other revolvers, though admittedly I'd like to get a Ruger SP101 (especially the Wiley Clapp model) and a Kimber K6S.

 

[biku324]

Work. I started as a deputy sheriff in 1979 and had owned a Ruger Security Six and a couple of 191!s; on the range I was introduced to Smith M13s and M19s. So then I bought an M28.

 

[Absalom]

Purely coincidental. My dad hunted a lot, but wasn't interested in handguns and never owned one, so as a kid I was exposed only to longarms initially.

For some years, I think in the 60s/early 70s, he got permission to hunt some very nice private land owned by a friend's family. They'd had problems with poachers and wood thieves and wanted him to have a handgun just in case he ran into a situation, so he was loaned a revolver. That happened to be a S&W Model 37 Airweight with fancy stag grips, and became the first handgun I ever shot.

Guess that did it. Once I was grown up, I decided to go bigger though: My first handgun and first S&W was a Model 19 snubby

 

[kraynky]

My first handgun was a Ruger MK I 22, and I really enjoyed shooting that gun. But marriage and the Carter recession caused me to part with it for food. A few years later my favorite Uncle became a deputy sheriff, and he let me shoot his model 66.

I had to have one, and fortunately for me, the wonder 9's were coming around and a lot of 66's started showing up for sale, for $199.00 bucks. I bought one, then another, and from then on I was hooked on S&W revolvers. A few years later I got my first 3rd generation S&W semi-auto. The rest is history........ and here I am.

 

[rustythread]

Back about 45 years ago after I had had a run of sentencing drug dealers to the pen, a local detective came to the house one night and said he'd heard there was a contract out on me, and told me I should start carrying a gun. I didn't have a handgun. He lent me a model 15 (in department use at that time) and suggested I get some practice. I did. Been a Smith junkie ever since.

 

[ditrina]

I fell in love with the first Smith I saw.. It was a Nickle Model 39, worn in a shoulder holster of a Louisiana State Trooper assigned to then Governor Edwin Edwards... I had to have one.. Thus down the slippery slope I fell

 

[BigBill]

When my grandson was first born, I bought him a s&w k22 before he left the hospital. He has older 22's he doesn't know about yet.

 

[Rustyt1953]

When dad got the Time Life "S" book.

 

[rubiranch]

My brother BUFF.

 

[anoblefox]

IN 1974 the apartment we had just moved into was burglarized while I was at work. They only got the new TV just inside the door before the neighbor that was home across from our unit scarred them off. I bought a 5 inch model 27. Had a landlord that kept coming in to check on things, unannounced. I told him on the phone that I wanted to be notified. He stated he could come in anytime he wanted. My reply was, "that's mostly true; however I now own a 357 magnum, and I never met you and don't know what you look like, so I would not know if you were a burglar trying to rob me".
His reply was priceless, and said hold on, called me mr. by my last name, and assured me he would let me know in advance; he never again came in. I am sure of this because I installed a double cylinder dead lock and he never asked me for a key!

 

[double-dipper]

I think it 1994 a good friend stopped by my house one night and gave me a S&W 10. He said here take this so I dont use it!!!! Come to find out his wife had a new BF and he was an emotional wreck. Probobly a good thing he gave me the revolver.

 

[SMSgt]

The 4566 I nabbed from CDNN for $389.

 

[Ogandydancer]

The used EX LE 5903 TSW I bought.

 

[wood714]

My dad gave me a brand new 4" nickel model 10 when I graduated high school, came with target stocks. That Christmas he gave a new 4" nickel model 19.