Many of you have read Mr. March's post/guide for evaluating a revolver before purchasing.
I just wanted to write to thank Mr. March and let others know how his information helped me out last night.
I'm not a wheel-gun guy. I'm much more familiar with semi-autos. However, I finally realized that a good revolver is hard to beat for a nightstand gun. So, after taking notes from Mr. March's post and after arming myself with a bore light and set of feeler gauges, off I went to the gunshop last night to see what they had in revolvers.
They had a large selection, but I narrowed it down to five guns, all S&W's, to wit:
A new 640
A consignment 686 and
3 police trade-in 66's
So, I whipped out my bore light and feeler gauges and went to work. (Fortunately the sales guy was getting paid by the hour and not on commission).
First the 640. Nope. The front of the cylinder face was uneven. Just turning it while held up to the light I could see the cylinder gap narrow then widen as the cylinder turned. At one point the cylinder face would actually touch and bind slightly on the barrel. No thanks. And that on a new gun.
Second, the consignment 686. Looked beautiful and was really the one that caught my eye at first. Then I went through some evaluations. Put the gun in lockup and low and behold, back-to-front cylinder play. Not a good sign. Timing was good, barrel was good, trigger was decent. But then I checked cylinder gap. I started with a .004" feeler gauge. Nope. Lots of room left. Next tried .005, then .006, then .007 . . . until I got up to a .008" feeler gauge and was still able to slide it in - not force mind you, but slide it in.
Given than according to Mr. March a desirable gap is .004 (maybe .005) or less, I knew to pass on this one.
Next, police trade-in 66 #1. Nope, timing problems. Cylinder wasn't always locking into place before the hammer dropped.
So, onto police trade-in 66 #2. Best looking trade-in and nothing drastically wrong like the above three, but some cylinder play at lockup, a .005 cylinder gap and kind of worn forcing cones in cylinders.
So, that left police trade-in 66 #3. Cosmetically the worst trade-in. Not terrible, just obvious holster wear and some scratches. BUT "welded to the frame" lockup, smooth trigger, cylinder gap of .004 (and a tight fit at that), beatiful looking barrel, no hammer wiggle and perfect timing.
So, after 45 minutes of evaluation and paperwork, I walked away with a "new" used S&W 66 for $275. Thanks to Mr. March's information, I walked away feeling like I had gotten a good specimen. If it weren't for Mr. March's post, I probably would have avoided the 66 that I got based just on its cosmetic appearance. I probably would have ended up getting the 686 with a huge cylinder gap and front-to-back cylinder play just because it was cosmetically unblemished.
Thanks, Mr. March, and how did I do?
I just wanted to write to thank Mr. March and let others know how his information helped me out last night.
I'm not a wheel-gun guy. I'm much more familiar with semi-autos. However, I finally realized that a good revolver is hard to beat for a nightstand gun. So, after taking notes from Mr. March's post and after arming myself with a bore light and set of feeler gauges, off I went to the gunshop last night to see what they had in revolvers.
They had a large selection, but I narrowed it down to five guns, all S&W's, to wit:
A new 640
A consignment 686 and
3 police trade-in 66's
So, I whipped out my bore light and feeler gauges and went to work. (Fortunately the sales guy was getting paid by the hour and not on commission).
First the 640. Nope. The front of the cylinder face was uneven. Just turning it while held up to the light I could see the cylinder gap narrow then widen as the cylinder turned. At one point the cylinder face would actually touch and bind slightly on the barrel. No thanks. And that on a new gun.
Second, the consignment 686. Looked beautiful and was really the one that caught my eye at first. Then I went through some evaluations. Put the gun in lockup and low and behold, back-to-front cylinder play. Not a good sign. Timing was good, barrel was good, trigger was decent. But then I checked cylinder gap. I started with a .004" feeler gauge. Nope. Lots of room left. Next tried .005, then .006, then .007 . . . until I got up to a .008" feeler gauge and was still able to slide it in - not force mind you, but slide it in.
Given than according to Mr. March a desirable gap is .004 (maybe .005) or less, I knew to pass on this one. Next, police trade-in 66 #1. Nope, timing problems. Cylinder wasn't always locking into place before the hammer dropped.
So, onto police trade-in 66 #2. Best looking trade-in and nothing drastically wrong like the above three, but some cylinder play at lockup, a .005 cylinder gap and kind of worn forcing cones in cylinders.
So, that left police trade-in 66 #3. Cosmetically the worst trade-in. Not terrible, just obvious holster wear and some scratches. BUT "welded to the frame" lockup, smooth trigger, cylinder gap of .004 (and a tight fit at that), beatiful looking barrel, no hammer wiggle and perfect timing.
So, after 45 minutes of evaluation and paperwork, I walked away with a "new" used S&W 66 for $275. Thanks to Mr. March's information, I walked away feeling like I had gotten a good specimen. If it weren't for Mr. March's post, I probably would have avoided the 66 that I got based just on its cosmetic appearance. I probably would have ended up getting the 686 with a huge cylinder gap and front-to-back cylinder play just because it was cosmetically unblemished.
Thanks, Mr. March, and how did I do?
. And the scratches and such drove the price down. The proof is in the shooting of course