Who here is an original owner of their P&R and earlier revolvers?

[Retired W4]

Just pulled out the box and the payroll deduction schedule was still in there. Total was $180.48 First payment was on 11/16/79 and the last payment of $5.48 was on 7/18/80. Purchased from Jones Equipment Company in Miami, FL. What is the serial number on yours??

That was a good price on your 66-1, KEN. I won't tell you what I paid for mine. Serial number is 30K0791, from 1978 I believe. I bought mine from a dealer in Kettering, OH. He had attended the S&W armorer's school and did an action job on the gun after I ran a couple hundred rounds through it.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I had to think for a minute what 'P&R' meant. Here are my Model 17-3 and my Model 19-3. Bought both brand, spanky new in 1975. I don't remember now which one I got first, probably the 22. Anyway, they were my first Smith & Wesson guns. Turns out, all these years later, they are the only Smiths I ever bought brand new. I have lost track of how many Smiths I own now, but never bought anything brand new again. Had to run downstairs and check to be sure they are both 'pinned and recessed'. If I remember correctly, the 17 cost $125, the 19 cost $135. A lot for a kid in his twenties back then.

 

[H.Callahan]

Let's see.... I have a 19, a 66, a 15, a 64, a 65, a 10, a 28, a 29, and a 57. All are P&R's (of course, the .38's are not "R"ed). All of them I am the original (and only) owner. All were purchased when I first started in LE and I was still single and actually had a couple of dollars to rub together. Many of them were carried on/off duty at one point or another so they are not safe-queens, but all of them are still in excellent condition with just a blemish or two here or there.

 

[LazyKB]

I graduated college in Dec. 1974 and went to work in the mines Feb. 1975. I was married making $800 a month. I learned pretty fast that life's lessons also come with tuition. Due to Dirty Harry, Smith 29s were few and far between. I thought any N frame magnum was rare and desirable. So when I saw a 4 inch model 28 in a discount store I jumped on it. Can't remember what I paid but when I got educated I sold it for $155. I hung onto that money and in June of 1976 I bought a 19-3, six inch for $190. I still have it, still love it. Also I was the original owner of a model 18 in July of 76 for $165. I sold it in 81 at a flea market for $200. Same day, same flea market I bought my used 17-3 for $210. I am pretty sure I wanted the six inch barrel to match the 19. Of course I wish I had both the 28 and 18 back, but by 81 I had three kids and didn't buy another revolver until 87, a model 57. Live and learn.

 

[TDC]

Time to run this thread through again to see if a few more original owners of pre-1982 revolvers can be found. Lotsa great stories that go way back!!

 

[TAROMAN]

My Four

First came this 60-No Dash. Purchased it in '74 while stationed in Arizona as a "pocket companion". Even back then, in the border area, there were plenty of two-legged varmints.

Then in '75, in the midst of the Dirty Harry craze, I made the jump to a Model 29. It was to be a hunting/ desert knockabout gun.

Later, while stationed at Quantico, the LGS had a matched pair of 8-3/8" revolvers, a 14-4 and a 17-4. I had them set these up like my 29. By that time the 29 was my silhouette gun. The 17 was used for rimfire silhouette. The 14 didn't really have a mission, but was too nice to pass up.

Still have all four and they are fired regularly. The 29-2 went back to Springfield last summer for an overhaul after digesting 1000s of full-house silhouette rounds over the years.

 

[wetdog]

I thought I would include the receipt for the 29-2 with financed on it. That's how I had to do it back then.

 

[normamag]

29-2 8/1973

28-2 5/1975

 

[fishcreekrim]

19-3. 6in. Purchased new 1978

 

[teesur]

Time to run this thread through again to see if a few more original owners of pre-1982 revolvers can be found. Lotsa great stories that go way back!!

This one will also qualify as a pre-1982 revolver that I bought new in April, 1962, Model 28-2, S-224XXX, shipped March. 1962. This one is also still with me after only 50 years, and is also in pretty good shape. It does not remain un-fired.This is an old picture, taken at the same time my K-22, previously posted, was photographed, (about 2001).
I need to take some better pictures of these old guns.
teesur.

 

[Muley Gil]

"I graduated college in Dec. 1974 and went to work in the mines Feb. 1975. I was married making $800 a month."

Whoa, big money!

I started with the sheriff's department in October 1976. I was making $550 a month, but at least it was just me.

 

[SuperMan]

Hummm... Of all the S&Ws I have ever owned...and it is well over 100, I only bought 5 new P&R guns back in the day....it was just too cheap to buy like new used ones to pass up.

1970, a Model 18 and 19, the same day..my father signed for them. The 18 was sold to my best friend when he found me a mint 1961 Model 53 Jet with two cylinders about 1974 and the 19 went through 20K rounds before being traded in 1980..

1973, a 29-2 that had 10K when it was traded for my favorite 1969 unfired .38 Super GM in 1980.

1973, a blue Bodyguard that was stolen in a burglary in 1975...

1978, a 25-2 that my now ex-wife decided was "her gun" the first time she fired it and won a trophy metallic silhouette shooting. She still owns the gun.

...and I can't say I miss a one of them....Bob

 

[forindooruseonly]

I was four years old when S&W stopped pinning the barrels and recessing the cylinders. I was born in the wrong era.

 

[opaul]

I have to admit these are some really interesting posts and some really nice looking history.

 

[jack the toad]

No pics but I currently only own 3 P&R Smiths that I purchsed new...
17, 19 and 29

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Sorry I do not have the where-with-all to post a picture,but I still have my 6 in.pre-27 that I purchased new at King`s Sporting Goods in Honolulu,(T.H.) in Sept. 1954. - 58 years, and it still looks 95% to me.
Our Navy Patrol Squadron was headed for a tour in Kodiak Alaska (T.A.)
for the winter, and I just wanted something more tham my Mod. 12 Winchester with # 9 Shot, in case I ran into one of them "Big Bears" up there.

 

[Stu Honea]

Mine is the one you see in my avatar. This is a P&R Mod.19-2,one of the first three to come to my hometown. There were two nickel and one blued. I purchased the blued one for $90.00 police pricing.the two nickeled ones were also purchased by fellow officers.
Down the road I gave it to my dad to use for awhile and when I got it back after he passed,he had let it develope some slight pittin g and very mild surface rust.
I cleaned it up well but sent it to Robar and had the entire piece refinished in NP3 and a gold bead silver soldered onto the front sight.
I know I destroyed any collector value by doing this,but I am an end user,not a collector,so I don't care. I love it.
It's not going anywhere anyway,and will remain in the family after I'm long gone. I was involved in one shoot with this one at a homocide scene. The miscreant caught an old Winchester lubaloyed semi wadcutter,but survived.
I think I have some more lousy cell phone pics,I'll try to put up. It still gets carry time occasionally.

 

[Stu Honea]

Here are two pretty bad photos.I don't have any in the original finish.

 

[Stu Honea]

Here's another I came across with my great grandmother's old .32 hand ejector,circa 1917.This was the first gun I ever fired when I was 8 years old.I was hooked for life.Funny story how that came about.Maybe I can spin that yarn sometime in another thread.

 

[much ado]

P&R`d

I still have 4,an 18-3,a 57 no dash 4'blue,a 57 no dash 6" blue,and a 29-2 6 1/2 blue.Along the way I "had'' 3 28s,2 or 3 19s,1 66,a 17 and a 15.Ah, the impetuosity of youth.