A 686 Spoon

[charleskieffner]

i was raised with..............

revolvers from smith und wesson-bueno
semi-autos " " no bueno

and the walther ppk/s DEBACLE/RECALL since smith und wesson acquired them bears me out.

sorry i call them the way they affect me.

just got done lovingly cleaning my smith und vesson 629-6,dual magna-ported,nelson ford super-smith job,pachmyer combat gripped , stainless dirty harry "happy" edition.

nice find. good investment.

[Taz's Master]

I'm not questioning tab's taste in weaponry (I wish I had his knowledge in that area), nor his investing accumen, but rather his line of thinking.

[porsche4life]

If I am not mistaken buying/selling high grade weaponry is one of the ways that Tabby makes a living. Great gig if you can get it.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Taz's Master

tabs, this is a serious question: In a different post you suggest that shortly we will all be seeing how long we can make our cars last. You are consistently negative in your economic forecasts. Why are you investing in "collectible" firearms, rather than focusing on larger quantities of functional firearms? I understand the value of a quality firearm, but if you are showing us these revolvers to impress us with NIB, and date of production, obviously you believe that the future returns on these investments will be determined by their collectibility, not their function. So are you saying that you believe the economic future is pure crap except for collectibles, or your collectibles investments are hedged by being firearms rather than say Lladro figurines, or are you simply not able to discipline yourself (I could have gotten 3 GP100's to sell after the Apocalypse, but really who wants a closet full of those, when I could have something pinned and recessed with hangin' tags), or do you really not believe what you write about our economic future?

I have no disciple that is FOR SURE. My Spoons are something I like and as I knew it would 30 years ago have turned out to be an investment and a hedge in my portfolio (they may not bethe best investment but never the less are). I also as you probably know have some art and other things. In this current financial debcle Collectable Spoons HAVE NOT SUFFERED. On October 5th whichwas the day the Stock Market crashed and burned Julias sold a Walker Colt for $980,000.00, which was a record. Other areas of collecting have gotten soft in the current market.

Spoons are great in inflationary times. With a debasement of the currency and increasing National debt we are looking at a period of hyper inflation in the coming years. Spoons as it were seems to be the hedge of choice, along with Gold (650 to 950) and Silver.

[Taz's Master]

Thanks. I see firearms more as functional tools, and consequently I'm not into all the spoon threads you start. However what you know and share can be interesting and fun, and possibly quite valuable.

[tabs]

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.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally Posted by tabs

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.

A sad day.

But not as sad as the day this made its debut:

[tabs]

I won't buy one of those...nor a 7 shot.

That is why I wanted an early 686. with the firing pin on the hammer. just like good old Dads S&W.

[on2wheels52]

"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."
I had the idea that the elimination started in the late '70's, perhaps '82 was the last year ANY of their revolvers had this feature? I was thinking the 686 came out in '80 but that none were ever p&r'd.
I think I may need some education on the 'dashes' also. I had it that they applied independently to the individual model series (19, 29, 36, etc.) rather than to the S&W line as a whole. ie, I have a model 66 with no dashes, and it certainly wasn't made before 1960. Tabs, why don't you just send me that Third Catalog of S&W for a month and I'll be up to speed?
Jim

[tabs]

Before 1957 S&W models were named. Highway Patrolman, 357 magnum, 44 mag., K22, K38, K32 etc.

With the advent of eliminating the top sideplate screw they became a numbered series...The Highway Patrolman became the model 28, the 357 mag became the model 27, the 44 mag the model 29, the K22 the model 17 etc...

Then a few were marked 29-1

With the elimination of the screw in the front of the trigger guard around 1960 they became the 28-2, 27-2, 29-2 until 1981 or so.

Then they became the 28-3, 27-3, 29-3

The orginal 686 was introduced in 1982 as the 686.

Further engineering changes created further dashes....