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I have my shooters and my collectors. I have had some of my Shooters so long that they have turned into collectors..case in point is my S&W Mdl 29-2. The ideal world is where you can shoot a collector piece. That is usually possible on a limited basis unless the condition is so pristine that the value would be affected by the slightest scratch. The boxed S&W would fall into that catagory. Luckily later varations of that mdl are available to satisify that function.

Ironically since the price structure of the above pistol in the box has gone up, later variations have also caught on and are now considered to be desirable collectors. The 686 above is a Shooter for me, so while crisp condition was important, it was somewaht secondary to price.


Prewar S&W's have climbed in value with some models into the stratosphere. As such the postwar 5 screw models which have been mostly affordable collectable for years have kicked up in price now to be followed by the 4 screw variations starting to command some serious money. My bet is that the early dash 2 with the "S" preifx are going to be next. Serial No.s S220,000 through S380,000. So it would be a good idea to snag all the Mdle 25's 27's, 29s, 57's in really good condition that you can especially in the rarer barrel and finish configurations. Then if you have a little longer time horizon all the dash 2's will really start to go beserk.

Two weeks ago I saw 2 S&W 4 screw mdle 29's sell at auction both had 4 inch barrels. The one in the wood box went for $3000 and the other without a box went for $2000. They were both bought by a S&W dealer.

BTW S&W made the 4 screw variation from 1956-7 through about 1960. They can easily be identified by the screw in front of the trigger guard. If the pistol has a screw in the side plate (rt side of the pistol) by the hammer and the screw in front of the trigger guard it is a 5 screw. From 1960 on they eliminated the screw in front of the triggerguard and those are known as the dash 2's or second engineering change models. The next big change for S&W came in 1982 and that was the eliminate of the barrel pin and recessing the heads of the cartridges in the cylinder. These were cost cutting moves.