In honor of both the "languishing" and "is 6 enough" threads...

My latest pickup.


The S&W 13-1 heavy barrel M&P in .357 magnum.

She is one of the pinned-barrel and recessed-cylinder guns, and I had to have her. There is zero flame-cutting, and only a bit of muzzle love from a mystery holster detracts from *great* blueing.

The turn line is mostly mine from dry-firing here and there over the last couple weeks; I don’t think this one has been shot much. She's possibly a refugee from the recent panic AR buying: the old gal came from the most “tactical” of my LGS, and was in the trade-in case, along with a number of other equally tasty, older safe-queen wheelies.

Coming from somewhere in the 13-1’s 1974-1977 run, this thing has definitely aged better than I have over the last 4 decades or so:

^^^Would now be the time to mention that I also have a 3" round butt 65-3?



I do like K-frames! And, yes, I keep the .357 stuff to 145 silvertip or above, grain wise. They aren't making any more of them, true...

Well, back atcha: a mountain gun would be next, if I could find one at a good price.

The one that got away-probably a decade ago-was an affordable 3" RB 13. Those are commanding real money these days.

Thanks for the comments, folks. I just christened her with a retake of a half-day range only defensive handgun course last weekend: flying colors over 250 rounds. I was the only wheelgunner out of 16 participants. Sure, I had to work a bit harder for all the reloading stages, but I was rewarded many times over with the user-friendly flat black sight picture, smooth trigger and *excellent* accuracy.

Frankly, If you can't get the hits with a 4" .38/.357 wheelgun in good working order, you just can't get the hits: these things are boringly easy to group with even under time pressure. The first drill of the morning was "put 5 shots into 1 hole on white paper at 4 yards" after which, the instructor diagnosed each shooter's group for the class. When he got to my stall-the only one with all holes touching, he just kept walking past it to the next stall with the comment "that's a great group..."

I've shot classes with about half of those people before, and I know several of them are flat-out better shots; they just are.

They just happened to be under gunned for the accuracy drills that day.


Love those old K-frames.

Oh, and Chriske, I don't care where in the world you live: $260 is pure, unadulterated highway robbery in any language! I payed more than that, for sure, and will gladly do so again next chance I have.

Thaddeus Jones said:

Old school perfection, IMO.

Click to expand...

Thanks. One flavor of it, for sure...