Quote:
NewFrontier45 wrote:
Barrel looks like 4" to me and I wouldn't call that a snubby.
You definitely paid too much for it. The only saving grace is the Sambar stags. Without them, you would paid waaaaay too much for it. Makes me wish I had posted an ad in the classifieds for my completely worn out .38-44 a couple years ago instead of selling it at a gun show for $150.
Although it does look like a fun project. I talked to Hamilton Bowen about "fixing" a Triple Lock that had been cut to 3.5" and he said there was no elegant way to replace the front sight.
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I can't account for what it looks like to you NewFrontier45. But it isn't a 4 inch barrel. It is just a tad under 3.5 inches from the front of the cylinder to muzzle. Anything under 4 inches I call a "snubby". Perhaps your opinion of a "snubby" is different and that is fine. But compared to its original 5.5 inch barrel, it being cut down to a 3.5 inch qualifies it in my mind as a "snubby" compared to its previous 5.5 inch barrel.
I have to respectfully disagree with you when you say I paid too much for it. I constantly monitor firearm auctions all the time. And not just at Gunbroker. Have you checked to see what 1917 S&W's are going for? Between 7 to 8 hundred just for a worn shooter! I don't think $350.00 for mine was too out of line in relation to the prices they currently go for. You say that
"the only saving grace was the sambar stag grips". Really? So in your opinion the revolver was worthless and only worth the grips? Did you look at the fine condition I have this revolver in now that I have shown in this thread with just a little work on my part?
In light of you selling your (worn out or not) 38-44 for $150.00 a couple of years ago, that indicates you don't know the prices these antique S&W's go for. There are collectors at the Smith and Wesson forum that would have been happy to give you almost double what you sold yours for. By your own admission of making a mistake underselling yours, perhaps you shouldn't be too quick to judge me or be critical for my buying one for $350.00 (that I have since turned into a jewel) before you first brush up on what they are selling for. To you it may be a "worn out gun". To someone else with the ability and knowledge, it may be the start of an easy restoration project that will be worth much more when finished.
The only valid thing is I am happy with it, happy with what I paid for it, and happy how it turned out with my restoring it. Have I gotten better deals in the past? Sure. As an example I recently bought a real nice matte nickel 1917 from my cousin for $350.00 also. That was a better deal than the $350.00 I paid for my "snubby". But what I paid for my "snubby" 1917 wasn't out of line either in my opinion and according to what they sell for.
"Elegant" is a subjective term in the eye of the beholder. But I know how you can replace your front sight on your 3.5 inch barrel triple lock so it looks just like it did before only on a shorter barrel. Like I am doing, get yourself another shot out barrel of the same vintage and manufacturer and remove the sight off it. You may have to cut the sight off and file its bottom flat. Then mill or file a shallow flat onto the top of your barrel just big enough for where the sight will sit, correctly align the sight and silver solder the sight onto the barrel. It will look just as "elegant" as it did before only on a shorter barrel. Not hard to do. If I can do it, anybody can do it.
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