[Bergeron]

Has anyone seen a S+W Heritage .22 revolver yet? They seem like they would be an excellent piece to have, but there has been no mention of them in either the press, or any of the local gun shops.

[Bullet Bob]

This is a post on the smith-wesson forum - it's very brief, but SmithNut is a VERY advanced S&W guy:
http://www.smith-wessonforum.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/005883.html

[Standing Wolf]

A Smith & Wesson without a lock? Amazing!

[Standing Wolf]

I saw one a day or so ago in a gun shop. It was kind of pretty in a way, although the color case-hardened frame's color was less colorful than the average Italian imitation Colt's. I liked the old-fashioned square rather than angled cylinder release button and lack of a lock hole, but the stocks didn't match the frame! There was at least an eighth of an inch discrepancy!

I don't do business with companies that refuse to rescind their agreements with the Snopes Clinton-Liar Gore régime, anyway.

[Bergeron]

Case Hardened?

I thought that the .22 had a blued receiver?

[Mike Irwin]

The Heritage guns...

I don't know whose heritage the company is celebrating, but it's not Smith & Wesson's...

The "Heritage" line up is about as close to the original line up as my Subaru is to a Model T.

[Bergeron]

Well, I know that the case hardening is not a "heritage" kinda feature, and I think that the locking of the cylinder/crane to the frame is also not very "heritage"-y.

What else?

[Mike Irwin]

Grip configuration for many of the "Heritage" guns was square butt.

But the Heritage guns follow the roundbutt configuration, and expand on that inaccuracy by offering round butt grips on guns that never had round butt grips.

The frame mounted firing pin is another.

At least, however, some of the new "Heritage" guns are being offered with blued finishes now, though.

What I can't figure out is why they would offer the correct traditioanl half-moon sight, but drop the ball on other things...

[Bergeron]

Huh, I did not know that the Heritage guns had so little, um,... heritage.

The all blue .22 though, still does look like an attractive and elegant piece, even if it is crying out for larger grips.

[VictorLouis]

they are called Heritage models, not Re-issues. They are not clones of their forebears, nor were they billed as such. IMO, the gist of the thing was to get some product out there with a (relatively) high-luster BLUED finish, real checkered dead trees for handles, and the 'general' lines of character of their ancestors. At that, they succeeded. I think where they dropped the ball was in trying to command near double what the otherwise 'conventional' current model in stainless-steel would bring.

[Mike Irwin]

Victor, from S&W's own catalog...

"All models are similar in external appearance to the originals..."

Uh huh...

OK. Whatever.

I wonder if I can get one in bright orange with purple shag carpet grips...

That's certainly retro.

[Standing Wolf]

I wonder if I can get one in bright orange with purple shag carpet grips...

Bite your tongue! Don't give Smith & Wesson ideas!

I looked briefly at a model 29 heritage model. It was blued. It didn't have a lock. It had the old-style thin tube and a Patridge sight, but weird funky stocks that looked like something Charter Arms would have rejected as being too ugly.

I think Smith & Wesson is suffering from model-mania and/or complete lack of taste.

[Hal]

I wonder if I can get one in bright orange with purple shag carpet grips... Yowazzza,, throw a 10 shot cylinder into it,,, and I'll get 2 and throw em both away! :D :D

Seriously, for the kind of money Smith is asking for these ***things***, you can get a REAL .22. Maybe a pair of them even.
Aren't these things like 7 or 8 hundred bucks? I bough a pair of real nice old Model 17's in prisitine shape, that are 100% faithful to the originals because they ARE the original for $350 ea.

[VictorLouis]

Similarities:

High-luster blued-steel, tapered barrels, no underlugs, older 6.5" length, shrouded ejectors, crane ball-detent lock, case-hardened hammer/trigger, patridge sights, McGivern gold-bead, 4-screw sideplates, wood stocks, diamond pattern checkering, trigger stops

Differences:

Color-case frame(on several), no hammer-nose, rounded rear sight tenon, no front locking bolt(triple-lock), trigger stop on trigger(not frame), no 5th screw, new-style thumbpiece, and....well, OK....MIM-parts;)

Frame-mounted pins have always been on their rimfire models, though the introduction on their centerfires has caused great consternation. Round-butts existed in the beginning and were largely supplanted by square-butts later on. It's debatable just how big of an issue that is, particularly when it comes to aesthetics, which is what this
debate centers around. Ditto the whole MIM parts issue. It seems to me that that the scale tips quite heavily toward similarities, purple shag carpet notwithstanding.:D

[Mannlicher]

all of the Heritage series are WAY overpriced.

[Bergeron]

I haven't seen a price on one yet.

They're really asking 7-800 for one? That's really dissapointing, I could buy a new 41 for that, and probably have a much better 22.