[texas bulldog]

hey guys,

stopped in at the LGS on my lunch break today to check out the used guns. they had a 4-inch M64 with the tapered barrel priced at $285. the stainless finish was pretty beat up with nicks and such. i've been looking for an inexpensive revolver to keep as a truck gun, preferably one that i don't need to worry about beating up. since this one is already beat up, it certainly fits the criteria.

aside from wondering about price, here is my question...
in testing the timing and lockup on the cylinder, i noticed that one chamber had more play than the others. now, when i say "more play", i don't mean bad. in fact, that chamber had the minimal play that i would expect from a used S&W. the others were tighter than any used S&W i've ever handled...more like a colt rock-tight lockup than what i have seen from a smith.

is this perhaps indicative of prior custom work? should i be concerned that just one chamber had play while the others were impressively tight?

to be clear, this play was side-to-side. there was no end shake or back and forth play.

what say you, THR revolver geeks? thanks in advance.

[Brian Williams]

$285 for a pencil barrel 64, great price, get it and shoot it to see if there really is a big problem. If there is S&W might fix it real cheap.

[DaleCooper51]

Stainless finishes are pretty easy to bring back to looking like new. Flitz or Mother's Mag polish, some white scotchbrite pads, and a couple hours of polishing and it would clean up nicely.

All of mine have a little play in the cylinder, not much but there's some there and its different on all of them. I would check out the sticky at the top of the forum by Jim March. If it passes the checkout, then I wouldn't have a problem paying 285 for it in my neck of the woods.

[texas bulldog]

Stainless finishes are pretty easy to bring back to looking like new. Flitz or Mother's Mag polish, some white scotchbrite pads, and a couple hours of polishing and it would clean up nicely.

i did anticipate polishing it if i bought it, but some of the nicks might be more accurately described as gouges. they're pretty deep. they're mostly along the front and bottom of the trigger guard, the bottom of the yoke, and the front of the frame below the barrel. it's as if the previous owner had held it in a shooting position and whacked it repeatedly into a sharp object. the sides are relatively fine.

[SaxonPig]

To me the gun sounds questionable and over-priced. I got a 2" M64 in very nice shape (other than the police department stamping on the frame and that doesn't bother me) for $260 and the snubs usually bring more money. The 64 is a great gun but for $285 I would want one in great shape that I didn't have to ask questions about. Keep looking.

[Brian Williams]

Saxonpig remember that it is one of a limited number of 64s with a pencil barrel.
That would warrant the $, but the problems it has need it to be looked at closely and measured to be sure about any play.

[SaxonPig]

I didn't realize the standard barrel (I hate the term pencil) 64 was rare. Are we looking for a collection piece here or a shooter? Sounds like he wants to shoot it and he says the gun has mechanical problems. I steer clear in this situation. If the gun is rare and valuable due to scarcity (are you sure it's all that rare?) then buy it but I'm not sure how valuable a rare gun is that sounds like it was abused ("pretty beat up with nicks...").

[Photoman]

The light barrel 64 is a bit scarce but not that uncommon. For a shooter or truck gun, you could do better on the price. There are plenty of heavy barrel 64 surplus guns on the market in the $200 range.