Very nice piece; congrats!
Let me ask what many of you may consider a stupid question - are there any concerns about shooting a gun built 30 or 40 years ago?
The only revolver I own is a model 65, but I like the .357 platform a lot. If I could find one like that for that price I would snatch it up. Do you just haunt the local gun store and pawn shops until one turns up?
Is it OK to shoot a gun that's 40+ years old?
Heck, I don't even get excited unless I find a S&W revolver at least forty years old! I buy 'em when I find nice "shooters" but don't look at rough revolvers at all. I don't look at new ones with the damn locks on 'em EVER. Zero interest in these cheaper-to-make guns.
IMHO, nothing beats a fine-crafted, forged S&W revolver with a pinned barrel, nice wood S&W stocks that are serial numbered to the gun they were fitted to, and all the other little fine details that today's CNC made "modern" copies now leave out to save money!
My "always" CCW revolver is a Model 37 Airweight, made in 1971. I bought it from a widow. It was her SECOND husband's nightstand gun . . . and she outlived three husbands but the M37 didn't ever get shot much, if at all!
My steel framed J frame is a 1964 Model 36. It will shoot all five rounds dead center into a 1" black square at TEN yards . . . all day long.
And here's my current "oldest" S&W revolver, a Model 1903 Hand Ejector (5th Change) that was made in 1916. Caliber? .32 S&W Long
It shoots pretty darn well too . . . for 95 years old. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this revolver. It shoots as new. (NOTE: Around 1921 S&W started a new heat-treating process for their cylinders that makes 'em as strong as the newer ones, but any .32 S&W long ammo made today will shoot just fine in my gun . . . all day long!
Here's a couple of targets shot from this old, Umm . . . "relic" with the incredible action and trigger. What a wonderful revolver still today!!!
Distance? Ten yards at tiny 1" round stick-on blaze orange targets:
Another "old" Smith revolver I acquired recently . . . a virtual "time capsule" from 1950. It shoots as good as it looks too . . . shoots like a new one!
Oops . . . and the best part? You don't have to be ashamed to show the LEFT side of the revolver like folks do with the new ones!