Newest acquisition: S&W M13

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Webleymkv

New member
So I went to a local pawn shop today to look into an older Charter Arms Bulldog that I'd been told about for a good price. Unfortunately, the Bulldog was a good bit rougher than I'd originally anticipated so I decided to let it pass. Somewhat disappointed, I headed to one of my favorite gun shops to see if they happened to have the powder I've been looking for in stock. While they didn't have the powder, they did have something else that immediately caught my eye, a very nice S&W M13-4 with the sought-after 3" barrel for $529.

Needless to say, the little gem came home with me. It has very little finish wear (the only thing I could find was the turn line on the cylinder) and locks up nice and tight. While it came with a decent set of Pachmayr rubber grips, they just didn't seem right on a nice blued gun so I threw on a set of cocobolo Houges that I had at home. I've been unable, however, to determine exactly what the -4 engineering change was and when it was introduced (I know, I know I really need to pick up a copy of The Standard Catalog of S&W). So, if anyone could help me with this information, I'd be very grateful. Also, the serial number is BKY57xx if anyone could be so kind as to give me a DOB. So, what does TFL think? Did I do well? Here's an admittedly poor picture:

 
From the Standard Catalogue

S&W Model 13 The 357 Magnum Military and Police.
M13-4 1988 New yoke retention system/radius stud package/floating hand/hammer nose bushing.
Four inch square butt three inch round butt
13-1 NYSP model number stamping
13-2 Change gas ring from yoke to cylinder
13-3 eliminate counterbored cylinder and pinned barrel cylinder length changed to 1.62"
 
I find the two best full time defensive revolvers are the Ruger Speed Six and the S&W 13/65 series.

Hence I have the Speed Six and a 'Ladysmith' 65 3 inch .357.

The size of the grip, length of the barre, and general handiness makes them outstanding guns. They were the Glocks of the revolver era and are still quite good today.

Good find. Hope that fills your Christmas sixshooter list!

Deaf
 
The more I look at the gun, the more I realize that something about a 3" barrel and fixed sights just makes a revolver look, well, petite. I know that the other K-Frames I've compared it to, including a 2 1/2" M66, 4" M15, 4" M64, and 4" M65 are built on the same size frame, but something about this M13 just makes it look smaller. I've noticed the same thing about my dad's 3" Ruger GP100 too, even though I know it's slightly bigger, it's always looked smaller than my aforementioned M66 or my younger brother's 2 3/4" Ruger Security Six.
 
A 3" heavy-barrel Model 13 is just about as good as it gets for a defensive revolver. While $529 is a bit steep in my opinion, they were an infrequent find in gun shops around here.
 
13-4 ....was 1988 thru 1996.

I don't see a BKY serial number in the book ...( but BKN was Aug 1991 ....and BKZ was Feb 1992 ....so its probably in between )...

I think you made a good buy / and in my opinion, it was priced right / I don't see that many of the model 13's around...in 3" or 4"...
 
3" RB K frames are really nice guns for ccw and all around defense. I too have found the current charter arms bulldogs to be less than refined and rough at best.
 
The more I look at the gun, the more I realize that something about a 3" barrel and fixed sights just makes a revolver look, well, petite. I know that the other K-Frames
Click to expand...
+1
I noticed that also.
 
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