Pawn shop find: old S&W!

[woad_yurt]

I went to my favorite inexplicably-way-overpriced-or-way-underpriced pawn shop found a frickin' beauty of a 5" 1968 Model 10-5. It shows no wear except for the faintest of turn lines, even with a magnifying glass. It also has a tiny spot on the trigger but that's it. I bought it for only $359.00.

On the left side, it's stamped "TWC 5265." I found another guy online who had TWC 5227 (same barrel, same nickel, same everything.) He got a letter from S&W which said that his was originally sent to Goddard Space Command at Nasa for the Wackenhut Corporation, which was doing all of the security work there. I'm going to call Wackenhut on Monday to see if they have any records before I pay $50.00 for a S&W letter.

This thing is sweet, sweet, sweet.

​

 

[Sam1911]

I probably don't have to tell you how very, very cool that is, nor what a good deal!

Very neat!

 

[Old Fuff]

I hate to tell 'ya, but those guns with a 5" barrel are very unpopular these days...

Best that you dump it for whatever you can get, while you still can.

 

[Eaglestroker]

Very cool, and cool story to go with it!

 

[Jeb21]

Great find, beautiful revolver.

 

[jdub3]

What is the pistol resting on? A banana flute?

 

[rondog]

I wanna know how you got that out of a pawn shop for $359??? Pawn shops are notorious for bloated prices!

 

[Elm Creek Smith]

I hate to tell you this, but what you have is a Spanish copy of a S&W with a phoney serial number. Luckily, I collect Spanish S&W copies and would be pleased to have such an obvious fake in my collection. I could even, out of the goodness of my heart, you understand, offer you exactly what you paid for it.

ECS

 

[TexasDaniel]

Great find, you have my envy.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Awesome find.

 

[Iggy]

I still wanna know how come we ain't got a green with envy smiley on this here forum.

Nice acquisition.

 

[harmon rabb]

lol is that a banana harmonica? great pic. let us know how it shoots with those grips. my 10-5 has some skinny ass grips that ruin the shooting experience, imo (well, according to my hand, not according to the target)

 

[JellyJar]

What tunes can you play on that banana thing?

 

[wheelgunslinger]

there's a time to be frugal and times when you're just being cheap.
The wheelgun gods (there's more than one...) smiled upon you. I think it's nuts to not just pay the 50 and get a letter from Smith anyway.

But, do keep us posted on it.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Great find super price~

 

[wep45]

woad,

you got yourself one fine revolver and a heck of a deal to boot.

 

[Walkalong]

Very nice find. Enjoy it.

 

[dovedescending]

Beautiful gun... are you going to leave it as is or replace those fugly rubber stocks?

 

[armoredman]

Is that a tactical bannana flute?

Very nice wheelgun, sir, very nice indeed.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

That's is a great and an even better price. You got lucky on that find for sure!

 

[bbq fan]

+1 for you

 

[theotherwaldo]

I LOVE pawn shops!

Apparently you do, too.

 

[gamestalker]

About 8 or 9 yrs. ago a friend of mine got in trouble with the law and gave me a 10-5 in excellent condition, I mean almost new ITB condition. I even tried to pay him for it, but he was in no mood to eccept my money so now I own a fabulaous 10-5. I took it to a local guy I know that has the scoop on S&W's and he told me that even in such prime condition it was still only worth around $300, and on a good day $350. It wasn't nickle though, if that makes any difference.
I've shot my own high velocity hand loads through it, probably some where around 600 to 700 rounds of jacketed 110 gr. XTP's pushing over 1200 fps without any obvious signs of weakness or inability to handle them. For reasons of safety I didn't start out with those +P loads, but I really wasn't too concerned about it being able to handle the higher pressures based on another 10-5 I've owned for a number of years, and have loaded in much the same manner for. Recently I ran 50 rounds of 125 gr. XTP's through it and nothing changed regarding the ability to handle them.
HS6 and Longshot worked up to maximum, and it was still quite pleasant to shoot.
I really love the piece and feel it's place in my revolver collection far out weights it's monetary value. So regarding your find, I would say buy it with the knowledge that it may be worth more to you in your collection than it's market value. Many pieces are subjectively more valuable, than in the resale market.

 

[hddeluxe]

Excellent find. I love pawn shops as well. My favorite used to have very good prices, but lately a new manager has raised the prices to a level almost on a par with new prices, and he won't move much. Again, great gun.

 

[bannockburn]

woad yurt

Definitely a fantastic find for you, along with accompanying history. The only change I would make to it, if it were mine, would be to replace those Pachmayr grips with something more suitable (and attractive), for a vintage S&W revolver.