But it's still an excuse to splurge on something nice for myself.
And I did:
That's a Model 14-4. That version was the last in the line for awhile, as the Model 14 went out of production in 1982. S&W began putting 6" barrels on guns marked as Model 15s. When they went back to selling Model 14s in the early 1990s, they had the L-frame style full underlug.
I like the looks of the older guns. Model 14s were commonly used for the centerfire portion of Bullseye matches. A number were made with single-action only triggers for those matches. The LAPD, among other departments, used them for a number of years. (If you've ever watched Adam-12, they're carrying Model 14s for the first three seasons.)
The timing on this gun is excellent, there's no endshake. The trigger is as sweet as one would want for a target gun.
I'll shoot this in matches if this damned pandemic is ever brought under control.
Anyhoo, the guy at the gunshop had no issues getting through to the state fuzz for permission to proceed with the transfer, a far cry from how things were last Winter. When I asked about that, he said that nobody has inventory to sell. Some Glocks are going for $150 or better over MSRP.
15 comments:
Nice pistole' Comrade. Have fun with it.
It does look strange to me. All my wheel guns are half-lug or full lug barrels. The Model 14-4 barrel looks like a piece of pipe stuck onto the frame. But I bet it shoots tiny groups with .38 Special SWC's.
Sunday was my birthday. I bought my self a 1HP electric motor for my Dad's old Delta Homecraft 8" table saw. When I wuz a sprout, he would have me help him cut up plywood with it, with me at the far end of the sheet and him hollering over the noise of the saw, Slower! Higher! Faster! I wuz somewhat terrified, not having a blue. Now, I'm 73 and, having a clue, I'm terrified that NOvember will never come and Trum pwill never go.
The motor's an old but massive built Chinese one, with a shaft keyway that's 4mm (not .25") that I paid $50 for.
There's the Happy birthday song sung to the Volga Boatmen tune:
Death and gloom and black despair
People dying everywhere
Chorus:
Happy Birthday! (UHH!) Happy Birthday! (UHH!)
Death, destruction, and despair
People dying everywhere.
May the candles on your cake
Burn like cities in your wake
Burn the Castle and storm the keep
Kill the Women but SAVE THE SHEEP!
(many, many tasteless verses)
There's a variant on YouTube.
(Of course I had to go looking.)
If the LGS has anything, the price is up.
Even used Chinese SKSs are $350 online.
And a happy one to you.
Tis a fine piece of working metal suitable for asserting the peace
or taming the wildly roaming eye of bull.
Enjoy!
Eck!
I was offered an AR for 250 the other day. Sweet one, for a piece of shit, I've shot it a few times. If you can call spraying bullets all over the place without hitting the barn shooting. He paid 1250 for it ten years ago. I declined. My old 308 Savage 99 is just fine.
AR’s suffer from much the same stuff as AK’s, like the one Gun Jesus posted as the Worst AK Build Ever. Even quality components are hostage to the skills and knowledge of the builder.
Happy Birthday, and I hope you have many more. I especially approve of your firearm. A gun built by real gunsmiths, from an era gone by. Of course, they tell me that now, with the modern machinery, and the autocad designs, the newer guns are made better than the old ones are.
I got that through an email exchange with Roy Huntington, of American Handgunner. That is one thing you do have to love about the gun community. If you write and ask a question of most of them, they are willing to help you.
I have a brand new Ruger SR9c, and was looking to trade my son for his S & W 3913, a stainless DA/SA with an 8 round mag. Roy said that I should trade my son one of my other pistols, and keep my Ruger for carry and use the Smith for fun and practice. Because of the age of the springs on the Smith and how well built the new guns are, with modern machinery, they are always close to tolerance.
I shot my son's AR 15 a few weeks ago, and fell in love with it. I have shot his AK 47 and while it was alright, it was not anything special. The AR 15 was actually a fun gun to shoot.
He bought the complete lower from Palmetto for 99$, then waited for the upper assy. to go on sale, and picked that up for about 2 bills. If I see a deal like that for a lower, I plan on picking one up, to wait for a sale on a decent upper.
Anyway, again, happy birthday, and happy shooting.
Pigpen51
PP51, for what it's worth, when I get my hands on a new semiauto, I change at least the recoil spring. On 1911s, I change that, the firing pin return spring and the mainspring.
A 3913 is a fine gun. I've been looking at the 40 series, as they seem to come in fairly cheaply at time to time. But then having to buy a bunch of magazines and leather, and all of a sudden, that bargain gun isn't.
Comrade,
Why do you change the springs on a new gun? Don't you think that the factory puts high enough quality springs in during the build? Or do you think that Wolfe springs are that much better?
Just wondering, as I have not really had much trouble with any new gun I have bought in the past 10 years. Not even any trouble with ftf or fte. They always seem to work just fine. I have only had one issue with a centerfire that didn't fire, and that was a bad round, as the firing pin had hit just fine, and I tried it again, and it still didn't fire, so I called it an ammo problem.
As far as that person north of the border, and his bad manners, I find that behavior to be in very poor taste, and it should not go on in anyone's blog. I am sorry that you have to deal with that. While I often post things that disagree with people here, I respect them, and their opinions, even if we are a polar opposites. I still feel that it takes both sides,the Democrats and the Republicans, to ensure that our republic serves everyone fairly. When I watch debate in the house or the senate on C span,and see them acting like small children, bickering around the table, I am appalled. The leadership of our nation used to at least address each other with respect, and not merely lip service. They could disagree completely on an issue,and then, at the end of the day, go out to dinner with each other. That to me is how politics should be. Sadly, it seems that the entire country has become much less tolerant of other opinions, to our own loss.
May your August be a safe and happy one.
pigpen51
PP51, my mistake in not being clear in my writing. "New" as in "new to me". I wouldn't change the springs on a factory-new gun. But on a gun that was used, I change the springs on a semiauto.
For a revolver, I don't unless I have a problem with it. I have a used J-frame that has ignition issues: A new mainspring is a cheap and easy thing to try.
Comrade,
Of course, now it makes sense. I should have known what you meant in the first place. I have never owned a centerfire revolver, but it is on my list. I would like to pick up a 4 inch barrel in a caliber large enough to hunt Michigan white tails, so most likely a .44 magnum, or possibly a .357, if I can practice enough, and limit my range. The 4 inch because that way, I can also carry it, and still get the value of the magnum load for hunting. Not sure if it means that much, but I suspect that it does, at least over just the 2 inch barrel.
Pigpen51
PP51, nothing wrong with a .44 Magnum, but if you're looking at double-action revolvers, you're looking at a N-frame (or a five-shot L-frame) S&W. Model 29/629s, even in 4" barrels, are definitely carryable, but they are not light guns. I looked at a 329 at a gunshop, once, it was pretty light, but I can't imagine touching off a full-charge Magnum cartridge from it.
For whitetail, a .357 may be decent. Depending on your recoil sensitivity, a new 66 will handle almost everything. A little heavier, a 686 is, for me, comfortable to shoot with magnum loads. A 27 or 28 soaks up recoil.
If you reload, a .44 is decent. If you don't, both Magnum and Special ammo was pricey, even in the pre-Covid panic days. With a .357, you can shoot .38s for fun.
(I presume you know some/all of this, but other readers may not.)
If you're into semiautos and if you have a .40 or a 10mm, you may want to look at either a S&W 610 or a Ruger GP.100. Both are around $900 ~ $1,000, though the street price may be less. Sure, you have to deal with moonclips, but that keeps you from having to stock another cartridge. And 10mm is certainly adequate for whitetails.
Comrade Misfit,
Thank you for the helpful answers. I still am thinking about which way to go. I have always leaned towards the .357 thinking that it is enough gun, for our Michigan whitetail deer, but I don't want to see an animal suffer either. So I would make sure that I was capable of taking any shot as far as I intended, and would pass on an animal that was simply too far away. I have the discipline to do that.
Mostly, thanks for the assistant, it gives me even more to consider. And I agree about the .38 specials for practice. I might consider getting into reloading someday, and either caliber would be just fine, although the .38 might save more money, since I would shoot it a lot more.
It is nice to have such problems.
Take care,and stay safe.
pigpen51
Post a Comment