Pawn Shop Detective Special

A

ATCDoktor

New member
I picked this up this morning at one of our local Pawnshops and figured I'd share.






It had been sitting there for better part of a year and initially it was priced at $550 and over the course of 12 months or so I watched it drop incrementally to $365.00.

Well this morning I decided to see what I could get it for and made an offer, the manager made a counter offer and we shook on the $325 OTD.

It is very tight, locks up as it should, it has some scuffs and scrapes from being carried some and shot a little and I figure the only thing that most folks looking for a DS couldn't get past was that a previous owner (for reasons unknown) had the upper part of the hammer serrated.



I guess whoever had it done had thumbs like an ape or (as I suspect) there was a shroud of some type affixed to the gun and the "extra" serrations helped with cocking the hammer with the thumb.

The extra "grooves" in the hammer don't hinder operation and are barely noticeable to the shooter (and can't nobody see them when it's in your pocket) and for $325 I'd buy another one just like it.

Soon as the wind dies down around here I'm gonna take it out and see how it shoots.

I'll report back on how it shoots.
 
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Wow. Very nice purchase.

I have a very paranoid suspicion that all you guys getting 'deals' at pawn shops are because of my dealings with them in my youth. Example: after considerable haggling I got a pawn shop owner to sell me a 'sound system' for $50 OTD. It was scratched up with a dent or two but it all the features were operational. I proudly set it up in my room and a couple days later my room mate told me Walmart was selling the same model in town for $49.95. Sigh.

I don't frequent pawn shops any more. I think my nickname there was 'pigeon'.
 
Wow, I can't believe you stole that for less than $350. Revolvers seem to be rare and expensive around me. Anything with a prancing horse on it seems to be made of rare metals.

If I saw that in a local shop for $365 I would have hit the nearest ATM and fought to act cool when I came back and inquired about it.
 
I'm not a big fan of the old Colt double actions, but I don't remember that shiny of a blue on those models. I just don't think they were polished like the higher dollar models...like Pythons.
 
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Armscor_M200009.jpg


Photos courtesy of M1911.org
 
Sorry, but IMHO that gun has seen a lot of carrying and has been heavily buffed and reblued. That DOES NOT mean it has been shot a lot (I din't think it has) or is not a good, serviceable gun that will last many years, but at that price I think it is in the so-so value category rather than being a real bargain.

Jim
 
Sorry, but IMHO that gun has seen a lot of carrying and has been heavily buffed and reblued.
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Could be but whoever buffed it out did an exceptional job of not rubbing out the rampant colt, the barrel lettering or the "VP" above the trigger on the right side of the gun:







And whether or not it's a reblue, by the time I get done carrying/shooting it it's gonna look like a bucket of mashed buttholes and rattle like the handle on an outhouse door.

In my book, any time you can pick up a tight, well timed Colt Detective Special at a Charter Arms/Taurus price it bears strong consideration.
 
James K. What is your point.?? Normally I would do this in a PM. However, you did such an egregious thing by critizing the man’s purchase,AFTER the fact. So I’m calling you out right her on the ‘streets of Dodge”. For a ‘staff’ to attack a member’s new purchase, which he obviously was feeling real good about, is pretty low brow, I think...What did you hope to accomplish b y declaring his purchase as a ‘so-so value”. Does it make you feel better now, that you have told him what you think?
 
Maybe not my business, but I don't think anyone's purchase was "attacked". A mere comment about someone's idea of value of a firearm should not be considered demeaning in my opinion. The fact that it is a reblue should say something towards it's value.
 
As the OP I didn’t takes James K’s post as an attack on my purchase.

We buy guns and and come here and post pics/prices in hopes of stimulating conversation/input on certain characteristics of the firearm and the purchase.

Not everybody is going to tell you what you want to hear or be kind in their response especially if the see something that doesn’t look right to them.

In this specific case/purchase (as stated in the OP) this gun sat in that pawnshop for over a year.

No end of gun guys just like me looked at it, pawed all over it with flashlights/magnifying glasses, told the manager what we didn’t think was right and told him he was asking too much and made offers and all were refused, until yesterday.

I don’t know what any of the previous offers were throughout the year it had been laying there but I (like everybody else) started low and worked up to find out what he would really take and 325 (300 bucks plus tax) was the number.

Is it reblued?

Could be; it’s definitely got something funky going on with the hammer and most folks (in the group of folks I know who have looked at the gun) said the hammer was the issue they couldn’t get past.

In their minds, the thoughts were “that hammer is just the tip of the iceberg, what else ain’t right about it/wrong with it”.

So, rather than let it sit there for another year in hopes of getting it for free (which was never, ever gonna happen) the manager and I dickered back and forth and came up with a number we could both live with and that is all that really matters.

So, with all that nonsense out of the way, the real question is how does it shoot?

Well, I hauled it out this morning and ran a hundred or so 158 grain handloads thru it and wasn’t impressed at all.

At 40 feet the 158 grain rounds were hitting 6 inches high and 4 inches left.

Not to be discouraged, I broke out a box of 125 grain lead TC hand-loads I had in the truck and that centered everything up.

Slow fire double action I was able to keep all the rounds in the head of a torso silhouette at that distance (40 feet) which is about as good as I can do
With any snub nosed revolver.



I am happy with the purchase/deal (which is all that really matters) the funky hammer isn’t a “deal” and anyone who has questions about the finish will be asking them after I’m gone.
 
James K said:
Sorry, but IMHO that gun has seen a lot of carrying and has been heavily buffed and reblued. That DOES NOT mean it has been shot a lot (I din't think it has) or is not a good, serviceable gun that will last many years, but at that price I think it is in the so-so value category rather than being a real bargain.

Jim
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Totally disagree. That looks factory to me. I have a pretty good idea of what a factory finish looks like having carried my dad's DS that he bought factory fresh in 1973 everyday for over a decade and a half. Some have yet to learn to take moderator comments with a grain of salt and a fair amount of skepticism.
 
The hammer it self has a story some where, it would be interesting to know.

I think you done good with your purchase.

I keep a log for all of my firearms...(story behind them) for my family just (in case).
 
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