And here she is! The 18-3!

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Howdy

The Model 18-3 was made from 1967 until 1977. Serial numbers for 1971 for revolvers with a K prefix in the serial number ran from 1K39501 through 1K99999; 2K22038 through 2K55996; 3K1 through 3K31279.

That makes it 1971.

By the way, the tools that came with your Model 18-3 are identical to the tools I got with my Model 17-3 that I bought brand-spanky new in 1975. You can't see the tools too well in this photo, but they are the same. Box too.

pnLC6yL3j.jpg




How about a photo of the orange front sight?

Neither my Model 19-3 nor my Model 17-3 have an orange front sight.

I have a Model 65-3 with an orange plastic insert dovetailed into the sight, but it is s a separate piece of plastic.

pnRfDhtZj.jpg




Any chance your orange front sight has been painted onto the metal?
 
Driftwood Johnson said:
Howdy

The Model 18-3 was made from 1967 until 1977. Serial numbers for 1971 for revolvers with a K prefix in the serial number ran from 1K39501 through 1K99999; 2K22038 through 2K55996; 3K1 through 3K31279.

That makes it 1971.

By the way, the tools that came with your Model 18-3 are identical to the tools I got with my Model 17-3 that I bought brand-spanky new in 1975. You can't see the tools too well in this photo, but they are the same. Box too.

How about a photo of the orange front sight?

Neither my Model 19-3 nor my Model 17-3 have an orange front sight.

I have a Model 65-3 with an orange plastic insert dovetailed into the sight, but it is s a separate piece of plastic.

Any chance your orange front sight has been painted onto the metal?
Click to expand...

91oxMYT.jpg

After my original post I looked closer and yes it does appear to be painted on.
 
Yup, that is painted.

Lots of guys did that, often with day glow orange paint.

That's a pretty good job, the bottom of the paint lines up nicely with one of the horizontal serrations in the sight. You can see where the paint has been worn away at the top of the sight, perhaps from holster wear.

But please stop calling it Vintage. I don't consider a revolver made in the 1970s (when I was in my 20s) vintage.
 
Driftwood Johnson said:
Yup, that is painted.

Lots of guys did that, often with day glow orange paint.

That's a pretty good job, the bottom of the paint lines up nicely with one of the horizontal serrations in the sight. You can see where the paint has been worn away at the top of the sight, perhaps from holster wear.

But please stop calling it Vintage. I don't consider a revolver made in the 1970s (when I was in my 20s) vintage.
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Yep that's what I was thinking. Ok ok I won't call it vintage. It's just a couple years older than me!

I finally took a peek down the barrel. Bore looks just as good as my new production 617. I really wonder how much use this thing got.
 
Also is there anything I should do before I shoot it? Anything special I should wipe it down with? Or do with the barrel?
 
Pat Riot said:
Very nice revolver. :thumbup:

I would just give it a normal cleaning and shoot it...if you bought it to shoot it.
Click to expand...

I bought it to shoot but I didn't realize it was going to be so nice. I almost feel like it's too nice to shoot! I need to quit thinking that way.
 
You might want to run a few patches down the chambers and bore with your favorite smokeless powder solvent. Other than that, I would just shoot it.

You can get a good idea of how much any revolver has been shot by inspecting the recoil shield. Every time it is fired, the cartridge head slams back against the recoil shield under recoil. Eventually this will wear the blue and leave what I call a 'halo' on the blue. In addition, the unfired rounds in the cylinder will also slam back against the recoil shield as the gun jumps back and the rounds slide back against the shield. The halos made by the round being fired, will always be more prominent than the halos made by the other rounds in the cylinder. It will not give you an accurate round count, but it will give you an idea. This K-22 shipped in 1932 and it has been fired a great deal over the years. By the way, I consider this to be a Vintage revolver.

pnmX3wanj.jpg




This K-38 shipped in 1957. It has not been fired as much as the K-22.

plscLGMHj.jpg




This 38 M&P shipped in 1908. It has been fired less than either of the other two.

pmdNRsBzj.jpg




Again, don't try and guess the round count with this method, it will just give you an idea of how much it has been shot.

From your photos of your 18-3, it looks like it has been played with a lot, because the blue is completely worn away around the center of the recoil shield by opening and closing it a lot, but I don't see much in the way of halos.
 
Here’s hoping you will post photos of your range tests. Like any other firearm, your revolver will probably have a preference for some brands of ammo over others. It’s a delightful investment of time finding out what she likes!!

:)
 
Nice looking Model 18. Enjoy shooting it.

If I remember correctly, S&W started offering colored sight inserts around 1980 (maybe plus/minus a couple years) but painting the sights have been going on for much longer.

I have a Model 25-5 with a red insert front sight and I go back and forth between painting the sight black and using the red insert sight. It is a personal thing.

I've also modified the front sites on guns drilling a "dimple" in the site that I can fill with paint of the color that I desire.

In my opinion, painting the front sight is a reasonable solution to getting a more visible front site that can be changed at a later date if you want to try something different.

Model 18 S&W revolvers are great revolvers.
 
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Driftwood Johnson said:
Howdy

The Model 18-3 was made from 1967 until 1977. Serial numbers for 1971 for revolvers with a K prefix in the serial number ran from 1K39501 through 1K99999; 2K22038 through 2K55996; 3K1 through 3K31279.

That makes it 1971.
Click to expand...

Wait I was just looking at something that said 1K1 – 1K39,500.........1970

So wouldn't 1K 7,771 put it as a 1970?
 
I love my Model 18, it is very accurate and I used to use it for squirrel hunting. I had a .22 mag cylinder made fro mine, and now the gun wears the mag cylinder most of the time. It too shoots very well, and is used for called in coyotes in the winter.
 
That's a pretty one. I've had three or four over the years, but have let them all slip away. I don't range about in the woods anymore, and I don't really enjoy shooting 22's at the range.

Finding another one as nice as that one, might change my mind however. :)
 
I love S&W .22 revolvers.

Very nice. I found an 18-3 NIB a couple years back and snagged it (posted picture in your other thread). I also found a NIB 17-6 about the same time and got that too. Here is the photo:
47338540821_538ab354ca_o.jpg

The Mrs. also snagged me a long barreled 17-4 in the box as a birthday present.
49888248177_c182956c2a_o.jpg

If you decide to shoot Shorts or Longs, make sure you give the charge holes a good scrubbing before trying to use Long Rifles or you might have seating or extraction issues as the Shorts and Longs can gum up the walls where the Long Rifle brass will sit.
 
DR505 said:
I love S&W .22 revolvers.

Very nice. I found an 18-3 NIB a couple years back and snagged it (posted picture in your other thread). I also found a NIB 17-6 about the same time and got that too. Here is the photo:
Click to expand...

Very nice!

I saw a NIB one on gunbroker. I was tempted, but nah. I'd never want to use it. This one's in great shape but it's got just enough scrapes and scratches to make it a shooter not a safe queen.
 
The S&W model 18 is one my favorites. Nothing else handles and balances like a k frame, especially the 4”. I found a really nice model 18 no dash, a while back. They are not too big to carry and big enough to shoot well. I bet you will enjoy it. Below is a picture of my model 18 no dash with Culina English walnut grips.
348C9C06-18A8-43EB-8E73-53FEE90794DC.jpeg
 
Well I got to do a little plinking yesterday with the pea shooters! I brought a box of the round nose cci mini mags with. Can't remember the weight -- 36? 40gr? I put about a half dozen cylinders through the 18-3, 2 or 3 through the 617 and one through the 63-5 before it started to rain.

The 617 seems nice. I'm not used to it yet but I'll get there with practice. Although I only put a few through it the 63-5 is still a joy too. Those battleur grips I put on there feel good.

The 18-3 though! Wow am I glad I got this! The balance is really nice and the trigger feels good. No problems with it. Empties ejected easily. I can't say anything about group sizes as we were shooting those steel targets that go back and forth but suffice to say it pretty much hit where I was aiming. I have to see what the weather's going to be like today and maybe run over to the farm again. This weekends gonna be too darn hot but I want to shooooot!
 
I always regret selling my M18 - don't know what I was thinking (obviously I wasn't). Great pickup!
 
Gary W. Strange said:
The S&W model 18 is one my favorites. Nothing else handles and balances like a k frame, especially the 4”. I found a really nice model 18 no dash, a while back. They are not too big to carry and big enough to shoot well. I bet you will enjoy it. Below is a picture of my model 18 no dash with Culina English walnut grips.
View attachment 929403
Click to expand...
Curiosity got to me so I checked my Model 18. It is a no dash model also. Great carry gun for the woods, not necessarily a "Kit" gun, but easier to shoot than a Kit gun.
 
paul105 said:
I always regret selling my M18 - don't know what I was thinking (obviously I wasn't). Great pickup!
Click to expand...

I'm really glad I got it. It was probably unnecessary to buy the 617 also, but guns seem to be hard to come by these days so I'm not disappointed I got that too.
 
My gift to you, so you can feel good about your new revolver:

I shot at an indoor range this afternoon. I tested Federal Game Shok copper plated .22 LR hollow points in my Ruger 10-22 (51 feet, top dot) and my S&W 18-4. The lower group was shot one-handed, single action, bullseye style at 30 feet. There was a fellow shooting a .44 Mag in the lane next to me so yeah, I flinched a couple of times! The orange dots are the size of a quarter. Not saying I’m proud of today’s performance, but that’s what a shakey old man did today. I’m expecting greater things from you!

As big as the group is, it was a heckuva lot of fun making those holes (20 rounds each gun). :)

5A1FCE27-5B5D-49A2-86DC-DBFC1F934F74.jpeg
 
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