Found an oddball today- S&W Model 61-2

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

I just stopped by Pinto's for a couple boxes of ammo and some bullets... Honest! Then I spotted this little gun in the case with a very attractive price tag... Some issues with the finish, but it's mechanically sound. With very little dithering it decided to come home with me.

These were made from 1970-73, and were made famous by the movie 'Taxi Driver.' (No, I am not going to mount mine on a rail on my arm.) Despite this they had a short production run; they were comparatively expensive, not as compact as many of the competing guns and the magazine only holds five rounds.

S&W did resurrect many of the elements of this design thirteen years later in the 422 and 622.

 

[Old Dog]

You keep coming up with the neat stuff ... thank goodness bikemutt moved down south, one less guy to hit Pinto's before me and find the little treasures.

Please let us know when you've shot it, and how it works.

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

You keep coming up with the neat stuff ... thank goodness bikemutt moved down south, one less guy to hit Pinto's before me and find the little treasures.

Please let us know when you've shot it, and how it works.

Will do. They had several interesting guns there today- like an M1903 hand-ejector, refinished and in excellent working order, for $160!! I'd have snapped it up but I already have an identical gun at home.

 

[bannockburn]

Tinker

A S&W Model 61 Escort; haven't seen one of those in years! Great find! Let us know how it fares at the range and what if any plans you have for it!

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Tinker

A S&W Model 61 Escort; haven't seen one of those in years! Great find! Let us know how it fares at the range and what if any plans you have for it!

So far my plans are to remove the tatty nickel and rust-blue the slide. Not sure what to do about the alloy frame; have to look into that. The grips are hideous; likely I will replace them with either a set of the fake-wood plastic ones or- more likely- make a set of hardwood grips.

 

[BigBlue 94]

If the frame is aluminum, polish that bad boy up! Completely disassemble it, and lay a piece of 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper on a perfectly flat surface, like a piece of glass or a granite surface plate. Wet with wd40, and sand in a figure 8 pattern until smooth, then step to 1000 and 1200 grit. It wont remove much material (leaving the engravings in place) and make it look uniform. Then finish with Mothers mag and aluminum polish.

Itll take raw aluminum like this:


And turn it into this:


Yeah, it's been scratched a bit, but that's normal for use on an 'appliance'

 

[Buck13]

Will do. They had several interesting guns there today- like an M1903 hand-ejector, refinished and in excellent working order, for $160!! I'd have snapped it up but I already have an identical gun at home.

What caliber was it? Like I need another revolver...

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

What caliber was it? Like I need another revolver...

.32 S&W Long

 

[entropy]

The predecessor to the 422/622.

(No, I am not going to mount mine on a rail on my arm.)

Aw, c'mon! If anyone here could that and do it right it'd be you. Besides, you'd look good in a Mowhawk.

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

The predecessor to the 422/622.



Aw, c'mon! If anyone here could that and do it right it'd be you. Besides, you'd look good in a Mowhawk.

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

I figured that I would test the gun with ammo of it's era. I ran a full box through, and would happily have done another box or two if I hadn't had other things to test. This is a fun gun to shoot- the trigger is really good, with short travel, a clean break and a short reset. It also has decent sights, especially for a pocket-pistol. All in all it's remarkably easy to shoot this gun well. As to reliability the gun had a single shell that failed to ignite- not really surprising with ammo that was cheap fifty years ago when it was new. Other than that it cycled flawlessly.

At five, seven and ten yards I was keeping everything in the black while firing at a brisk pace, so just for giggles I ran a target out to twenty-five yards. The result was surprising for an old pocket-pistol-

I'm certain that I can improve on this with practice, and I'll get that practice- this gun is fun to shoot, and it's going to be a fixture on my range-trips for some time to come!

I did a full write up and range report on my blog Tinker Talks Guns, but I'm not sure if I am allowed to link that here.