evan price
Member
I've been wanting a shooter-grade Smith & Wesson N-frame for a while now but the prices keep getting higher. Since I'm a C&R I wanted a C&R eligible one, too...might as well wish for a minty Python for $600, right?
Found this one on Gunbroker. It was advertised as a Model 28. Obviously, it's been nickel plated. The seller's response to my email confirming it was a Model 28 no-dash was sort of ambiguous. Not what I'd normally want but the price was right, so I waited until the end of the auction, bid- and won!
While waiting for it I was hoping the seller hadn't made a mistake and it was really a 28-2 or something not C&R, that would pose a problem! So I finally meet the UPS guy in my driveway, open the box, and- it wasn't a Model 28.
What I got instead was a 1956 Highway Patrolman, a pre-model-28 based on the serial number and lack of model stamp in the crane.
It is stamped with Georgia State Patrol on the left side (GSP) and inside the grips are a business card from a Vice lieutenant from another state's sheriff's department.
Trigger is smooth and crisp, action is tight, lockup is timed perfect. Grips are not original but are black washer football target grips. From the rubber stamps inside they are probably purchased as replacements from S&W in the early 70s. I'd bet that was when it got plated.
Not bad for roughly $450 to my door!
Found this one on Gunbroker. It was advertised as a Model 28. Obviously, it's been nickel plated. The seller's response to my email confirming it was a Model 28 no-dash was sort of ambiguous. Not what I'd normally want but the price was right, so I waited until the end of the auction, bid- and won!
While waiting for it I was hoping the seller hadn't made a mistake and it was really a 28-2 or something not C&R, that would pose a problem! So I finally meet the UPS guy in my driveway, open the box, and- it wasn't a Model 28.
What I got instead was a 1956 Highway Patrolman, a pre-model-28 based on the serial number and lack of model stamp in the crane.
It is stamped with Georgia State Patrol on the left side (GSP) and inside the grips are a business card from a Vice lieutenant from another state's sheriff's department.
Trigger is smooth and crisp, action is tight, lockup is timed perfect. Grips are not original but are black washer football target grips. From the rubber stamps inside they are probably purchased as replacements from S&W in the early 70s. I'd bet that was when it got plated.
Not bad for roughly $450 to my door!