Thinking of selling my .41mag- am I thinking straight

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chaim

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Let me start by saying I love my S&W 57, it may be my favorite gun. I have completely been won over by the caliber- very smooth, very powerful, just a "sweet" caliber.

However, I'm thinking I might be best off selling my S&W 57. I bought it to be a woods gun when camping in case a bear ever threatens my camp. The one I got is simply too nice and also too collectable to use this way. It is in 97-99% condition and it is from the first year of manufacture (it was made in 1963, they didn't actually release these for sale until 1964). I simply can't bring myself to put this into a holster. Mine also has the wood presentation box (unfortunately the box is a bit dinged up) and all the tools.

I don't have a lot of money so I can't really afford a second .41mag right now. Locally, I've seen M57s in similar condition are in the $700+ price range, and they aren't quite as collectable (no box, or missing some tools, and never were any from the first year made).

So, I'm thinking of selling this gun and buying a .41mag more suited to my needs (a more beat up, less collectable M57, an M58, a Ruger, or a Taurus Tracker in .41mag). If I did that I'd likely have a couple hundred bucks left over for more ammo or another gun as well.

But, despite not collecting for collecting sake (and I do shoot mine) I really like my M57 so I'm not 100% sure. I could just continue to use my .357mag 6" 586 as my camping gun (I haven't been able to go camping much lately anyway) until I can afford a second .41mag.
 
I know what you mean about 1st year 57's. I have one. Like new in the velvet lined case. I can't seem to bring myself to shoot it. I say keep it, and get a Taurus or something like that to take camping.You can get a used .44 pretty cheap. Mine is S# S 2382XX What is yours?
 
I think you answered your own question in the first sentence. If you let the gun get away you will regret it for the rest of your life. Someday you will have more money. You may never get another chance for a first year 57 in that condition if you sell it.
 
Keep it... You would regret the loss from the minute you let it out of your hands.

Your .357 will serve you well until you can get another .41
 
Seller's REMORSE S&W Model 57

Hello
I MADE the SAME Mistake back about 20 long Years ago. I wanted another gun so SOLD my model 57 Nickel plated revolver. That PROVED to be a BIG mistake!It TOOK me 20 very LONG years to add that model back to my collection! and it is very hard to find a USED tight model 57 as most are older and shot often.The model 58 you speak of is actually bringing more money used than a model 57 currently, so it would be a stroke of luck if you happened to find one cheaper than the sales price of your model 57. Also S&W is NOT making this model anymore like the older one you possess so it would be a giant risk to part with your's and try at a later date to find another. Just my 2 Cent's worth.. KEEP IT, and save up for another if that will suffice.You just don't see model 57's anymore and I plan on KEEPING mine.. Hammerdown
DSCF5096.jpg
 
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Keep it! You're sure to find a .41 mag Blackhawk or even a Bisley Blackhawk eventually, and it's an excuse (like you need one) to paw through all the gunshops every couple of weeks, and they're not so pricey. It's hard to see how 58's are going to decline in value anytime soon, and down the road you'll be kicking yourself.
 
chaim,

Put the .41 back in the safe and step away from it...do it now :).

Keep it...they don't make 'em like that anymore :).

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
 
I try to refrain from 'telling' people what I think they ought to do when it comes to things like this ... although I may offer a personal perspective and opinion.

However ...

If you sell a S&W M57 in that condition I have a strong hunch that you'll regret it for a long, long time ...

If you feel you have to pick up a 'lesser' M57 ... (speaking cosmetically) ... for holster use, than by all means find one, or get a Ruger Blackhawk if you don't mind SA revolvers ...

I can't hardly see a pristine M57 decreasing in value, can anyone else?

I've always wanted to find one, for that matter.

How about $100? It's old, after all ... and chambered in a not-that-popular caliber, right? :neener:

On the other hand, I'm the sort of fellow that would carry a pristine M57 for field use, and willingly subject it to the ordinary rigors of such use, including holster wear. That's why they made it ... and life is short.

I once knew a man who favored buying collectible revolvers. Specifically Colt Custom Shop Commemoratives, although he would also buy other limited commemorative type models, and from someone other than Colt, if the opportunity presented itself. Then he'd carry them out into the back woods for jeeping & gold-panning trips. Didn't seem to mind occasionally dropping one of them into a stream or bouncing one off a rock ... although he turned the air a mite blue when that happened ... and he had the weirdest notion that such guns were still meant to be fired. Told me one time that he couldn't take them with him when he died. Turns out he was right, about that, at least.

I picked up a Colt Commemorative one time after his passing ... and promptly took it out and shot it, in his memory. He'd have liked that ...

Imagine carrying that M57 and enjoying it as it accumulates the earned wear of many years of enjoyable field use, and then in your later years looking back on the pleasant times you enjoyed with it over the years ... and try to imagine what 'smile lines' might look like on a well-cared for, but well-used, favored handgun.;)
 
chaim,

You have heard some great responses here, and I, personally, hope you heed the advice. Go ahead and put the Smith back into the safe and carry your .357mag until you get the 41mag you want. I can vouch for the Taurus'. I have a stainless 415 in 41mag. It shoots well and is very dependable. Until last Saturday, it was my primary woods carry/camp weapon. Last Saturday, I found something I had been looking for for over 12 years. A stainless Ruger Redhawk with a 5 1/2" barrel in 41mag to companion with my 7 1/2" scoped version of the same gun. I will still carry the Taurus from time to time, but the new Ruger will get that position eventually.
 
We've been accumulating a lot of guns lately. :eek: Five now, two revolvers and three autopistols accumulated over the last three years. It's the story of our most recent acquisition that I'm posting here, that you've made me think of.

Years ago I was a probation officer, and right when our state let us first start carrying firearms I had the great good fortune to only own one gun-a 4" blued Colt Python made in 1967, that was a state trooper's gun, retired in the late 1980s when they went to automatics, and about half worn out. I put it back into service, and went through the state police revolver course with it, then carried it in the field from 1995 to 1999 when I went to law school. Hubby and I got tight for money when I was a 1-L and sold it, planning to get an Elite when I graduated and got a little ahead. We went to order one last year, and they are no longer made. Pythons new in box now are so expensive we'll never be able to afford one; down here an Elite from the last production year starts at over $1400. I've regretted selling mine ever since we sold it.

Since then I've become an IDPA member. I fired one match in SSP with a Glock 23 and it just felt all wrong-I sold it without regret.

The long and short of it is that for that kind of shooting I miss a large frame revolver terribly. I'm far more comfortable under pressure with the speedloader drill than with reloading auto pistols-I haven't had the level of training with an automatic that I have with a heavy revolver. This past week we went to the local gun show looking for a Ruger GP-100. We found one, but it just didn't "feel" right. I suppose we're sort of gun-bigots; unless it has a prancing pony or the intertwined "SW" logo on the side it feels a little wrong; hubby's Steyr M9 excluded. We kept trolling.

Right past a Smith & Wesson Model 29-3, Lew Horton special Combat Magnum model (product code 101224), 3" .44 magnum, wood finger-groove grips, sitting bold as brass on top of its beat-up cardboard box with "Double Action RevolverRevolverRevolver" on it. Unopened tool kit. We looked at it. It was built in November 1985 but looks nearly new. It's real expensive too, near what a beat-up Python would be, but this looks like it's had less than a box of rounds through it. A few handling marks and scratches, nothing serious, about 98-99% gun. It locks up like a bank vault and the cylinder timing is smack on. It's way too expensive at $695 but hubby held it and just grinned...and I liked it too-its action had that same smoooooth feel my old Python had.

Life's too short. We ran up the credit card and got it. And four HKS speedloaders. We tried it out at the local range with .44 Specials and it recoils less than the Python did with .38 +P rounds, not much different than hubby's Steyr. Now I need an IDPA legal holster and next month it'll go back into service, just like my old Python before it.

This is a keeper. I still miss the Python, but not as much now. Moral: Gotta shoot 'em. And don't sell ones you really like.

Miao, Cat
 
Chaim,

I've read a lot of your posts, and you seem like a great guy, so here is my advice...don't sell your Model 57. You will regret it.

As a general rule I hang on to all my S&W pre-lock, pre-agreement guns. They just aren't made that way anymore, sorry to say.

Where I live the .41 Mag is not very popular. If I see one they are usually pretty cheap as they do sit for a while, so I will keep my eyes open and let you know if I see a good one that fits your specs for a camping gun.

All the Best...
 
Chaim: I was struck by your posting. If it were me and it was possible, I would keep the Model 57. If it has the cylinder ring on it, you can shoot it and not hurt the value. I would look for another Model 57 myself. That is one of the reasons I bought one of the Mountain Guns last year... to shoot!

Makes a great whitetail hunting revolver if you are into that sort of thing. Someone mentioned 357, if you have one, I'd just carry that one until you find a more suitable Model 57. The old Ruger GP100 comes to mind in that department.
 
I'm not goig to be like everyone else and tell you to keep it. Sell it to me then buy one with a little wear on it and be happy. :D
 
Keep it...

chaim,
Although not a .41 shooter, I do have quite a bit of experience with seller's remorse. I do not believe you are 'thinking straight' especially if you are a fan of the .41 magnum. Keep it and save for another. The second one will also allow you to aprpeciate the first more. FWIW, a situation will come up on an unbelievable deal on another.
 
Chaim, I am looking at a model 57 no dash, looks new, no box or tools, I was wondering about the first year production serial #s, what would first year production #s be? This is a very, very, nice piece and after reading all the posts in this thread, Maybe I need this one:D Its from a estate and I'll look at it again tomorrow, if someone hasn't snatched it up. Thanks xring44
 
Hang on to it you'll be sorry if you don't. Take the time to save some money then buy something you won't mind scratching up a bit..

I know it's not a gun but I sold a cherry 64 1/2 mustang with 20K miles in 68 and have regreted it ever since..

JMO

C
 
I plan on giving my S&W1917 in 95%+ condition to my son. They ain't made like that anymore.

The S&W 586 will do the trick until a beater .41mag is found. Winchester 180gr Nosler Part Gold .357mag fodder will penetrate like the dickens, as will hot hardcast lead.
 
Chaim, I'm with Fastbolt on this one. Keep the gun and shoot it the rest of your life. You're 35, you'll get 40 or more years use out of the gun, maybe rebuild it once or have some work done, and you'll enjoy it all that time. If you sell it, and make a few buck now, you won't even remember the boxes of ammo you got for it in a year. dWhen it's old and worn, the grips smootherd from your hand and the finish a little rough from your use, your kids might fight over who gets Dad's favorite gun, and it will be pricelss to them. No amount you could get for it now, or in twenty years could make it more valuable than you're using it and enjoying it.

Even if you kept it as a safe queen for thirty years, and it double, or even triples in value, devide that by all the pleasure you would have had with it and it will be pennies a week for something you really enjoy.

I say...keep it, when you get the first scratch on it, or bump the grips, smile and say this is the start of a long life together.

Enjoy my friend.

Bill
 
there is no rememberance of former things

Cat91 is correct in that life is too short. You can't take it with you. Hand it down to your child? If you have any experience in this life at all, you know that what you cherish, your progeny may or may not, or may now, but not some time later, feel the same.

Forget keeping it prisitine my friend! Storing it in a safe only to take it out and occasionally caress it with your eyes is just plain foolish and a waste.

Use that gun; don't sell it, and enjoy it while you walk on .......'s green earth. You will eventually wear out and so should your gun. Perhaps it will be melted in some nuclear future war. Who knows?

Enjoy your wife and children, your friends and dog. Smell the flowers. Take your shoes off. You are not going to get out of this alive. Amen Depicts.

I saw a sign on the Special Forces wall after being discharged from the Hospital in Loc Ninh, Vietnam: "Life has a special flavor; those who have not fought for it will never know."
Live your life as if each day is the last one you have. One day it will be.
 
xring44

A first year model 57 (and a few years afterward) should have a serial number beginning with an "S". Later years went to an "N" prefix.

chaim

It's been one week since I sold my Model 57, with "S" serial number and 4" barrel. Probably second or third year manufacture. About same condition as yours, i.e. nearly perfect. No remorse, I'm not giving it a second thought. I like shooters, I don't collect. BUT, you are not me. Only you can decide.
 
Thanks Sodbuster, this is a N144xxx, super nice though, I don't think it has been fired,,,,decisions, decisions.......I have sworn before that I wouldn't buy anymore blue guns, stainless is so much eaiser to maintain,,,dang decisions...:D
 
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