At a small local gunshow yesterday, I bought a nice Nickel 6" .41 Cal. Model 57 dash nothing (N3668XX - 1977 vintage) fully pinned and recessed. It included a nice sheep fur lined gun rug but no original box,etc.
It came with rubber Hogue monogrips installed (shown on the picture of the gun disassembled for detailed cleaning and lubricating), but I immediately switched to the S&W N Square Rosewood Combat Grips as shown on the whole gun below (some of you might remember these grips from the 5" blued Model 27-2 I bought last month and posted that had the original Goncalo Alves target grips included as well). Somebody on the forum said that I now needed to find another N frame piece to put those combat grips on and so now I have it!
The private party was asking $425, which struck me as a fantastic price anyways, but I dickered him down and we arrived at an agreement at $390 OTD.
This piece has very very little wear anywhere. I'd rate it at 98-99%.
What do you seasoned Smith & Wesson expert collectors think about the price I paid? My Blue Book is at least 3 yrs old and I don't think I can go by the value they give.
Also, what do you think of this piece for overall collectability for my S&W collection?
The rear of the cylinder has "N" and "F" stamped 180 degrees apart - Would that mean it has the {F}actory {N}ickel as the original finish?
I will be ordering Lee dies, cases and bullets from Midway so I won't be shooting it until I get those. I searched around my town and all I could find was Remington boxes of 50 for $34 ea - which is just too much for me so I'll wait & load my own.
What is the best (for target/range shooting - not hunting) bullet weight for this? Any favorite loads to suggest?
Thanks!
Ron
It came with rubber Hogue monogrips installed (shown on the picture of the gun disassembled for detailed cleaning and lubricating), but I immediately switched to the S&W N Square Rosewood Combat Grips as shown on the whole gun below (some of you might remember these grips from the 5" blued Model 27-2 I bought last month and posted that had the original Goncalo Alves target grips included as well). Somebody on the forum said that I now needed to find another N frame piece to put those combat grips on and so now I have it!
The private party was asking $425, which struck me as a fantastic price anyways, but I dickered him down and we arrived at an agreement at $390 OTD.
This piece has very very little wear anywhere. I'd rate it at 98-99%.
What do you seasoned Smith & Wesson expert collectors think about the price I paid? My Blue Book is at least 3 yrs old and I don't think I can go by the value they give.
Also, what do you think of this piece for overall collectability for my S&W collection?
The rear of the cylinder has "N" and "F" stamped 180 degrees apart - Would that mean it has the {F}actory {N}ickel as the original finish?
I will be ordering Lee dies, cases and bullets from Midway so I won't be shooting it until I get those. I searched around my town and all I could find was Remington boxes of 50 for $34 ea - which is just too much for me so I'll wait & load my own.
What is the best (for target/range shooting - not hunting) bullet weight for this? Any favorite loads to suggest?
Thanks!
Ron
