quote:

Originally posted by KML:
I do not consider any NEW S&W a safe queen or investment gun. Now if want a safe queen and are willing to spend the same amount of money a new S&W cost and a little time to find and buy a older S&W then yes.

^^^THIS^^^

I wouldn't consider any S&W revolver with a lock as collectible.

I can sort of see someone buying truly collectible guns and not shooting them. But buying new guns for this purpose makes zero sense.

Just stick your money in the safe, it's a better bet.

The price of those guns will go up. The value of them at resale won't. At least not until you , your children and possible your grandchildren have come and gone.

Don't think any of the S&W revolvers with the lock will appreciate at all.

If you want collectability, I’d rather buy one $5000 Registered Magnum in good shape than 7 $700 current Smith’s. The Registered Magnum will likely be worth at least what you paid for it immediately. And, is increasing in value.

A brand new $700 Smith will be worth less than you paid for it as soon as you buy it. After that several year dip, it will slowly rise in price. Likely just barely keeping up with inflation.

You will have to wait for that model to go out of production and then hope that particular model gains a little collector traction sadly, unless you’re in your 20’s, I don’t think that will happen in your lifetime.

I bought a new 4 inch M27 to go with my decades old 8&3/8 and 6 inch M27’s. The new gun has the worst single action trigger I have ever felt. Can you imagine a S&W revolver with a lousy single action trigger? Not me, at least before this piece. Never again. No basic quality control.

If S&W wishes to market new manufactured guns and benefit from the moniker of Classic, they should make them like a classic, no MiM parts or internal locks.

quote:

Originally posted by rpm2010:
Don't think any of the S&W revolvers with the lock will appreciate at all.

feel the same,

unless there is a small or specialty run, most will be worth the same as they are now, or less,


however in 20-25yrs, I may be wrong, maybe,


personally, I do not care for the type of blue, (most look dull black, and I'm not talking about coatings, I'm talking about blued guns) and the wooden grips are off to me,

but honestly, I think most people replace grips regularily

Dont wipe those "classic" current production "s&w"s with Hoppes 9. The "blue" will come off.

And when that happens the clocked barrel really stands out. Regards 18DAI

I bought a used S&W 686+ several years ago.
Not a collectible by far, but I don't shoot it much.
I do like it so much I bought another new one and sent it off to S&W for trigger work and a polish.
My intention is to give the used one to my future son-in-law when my daughter marries.



She gets a mint Sig P228, the first gun she ever shot.
A safe queen since I bought it several years ago.




As far as blued and walnut, it took me awhile to find this 870 Magnum with that set up.
Made in 1987.
I did buy it as a collectors firearm.
Even if it's only value is in my head.

Those of us of a certain age will forever hate and despise the infernal lock. Hell, even a person like me who was never into revolvers until quite late in life harbors this bias. However despite this, we ourselves are not forever of this earth. As us in the codger class age and pass on, different attitudes can and often do arise. We see it in all sorts of products; why not with S&W revolvers?

Now with my bias I do tend to believe that an IL version will never fully gain the desirability of its pre-lock predecessor but it still may someday rise in value regardless. Certainly S&W doesn't make and sell their revolvers at hand-over-fist quantities in this age of semi-auto everything. They make most of their income from tupperware, and while they still churn out popular models such as J-frames, Governors, 500s and 686+s, not all of their lineup sees large or frequent factory runs. Future collectors can just as easily view this as a factor that makes some current lineup models desirable even with the IL in place. Certain brand lines like the Jerry Miculek specials could easily find favor with collectors (hell, they do now), particularly when the day comes when HE is no longer of this earth.

Plus there are the occasional models that by their continued reengineering I'd rather own and shoot hot house loads with over their earlier, more fragile forebearers (M66, for example). And as much as it pains me to say this because of their often sketchy QC, certain Performance Center models with their relatively limited runs could be among the most likely to find favor and higher values down the road, just for those guys who want to collect one of everything.

And besides as we've all seen, all it takes in a one tie-in to a popular Hollywood show or character for a gun to go nutso among the future cognoscenti. And with that popularity it could drag the rest of the line up with it.

As for the comment regarding current semi-autos and future values...the pickings may be slim but I think the M41 is one that will at least hold its value; people continue to want them despite their tendency towards being finicky with ammo. And I do believe the Victory WAY down the road will be as coveted as the Ruger Standard is today, despite its somewhat odd appearance. There's no denying guns that are great shooters.

How likely will any of this occur? Sorry, my crystal ball has been on the fritz for some time; in the meantime it's all WAGing. And besides, it's not good to receive advice from someone currently suffering from a bout of insomnia...

I collect pinned and recessed Smiths. I've bought many in pristine shape and I shoot them all the time.

I couldn't imagine buying the supposed classics and not shooting them.

There’s an important angle to collecting many overlook.

I’ll use GI Joes as an example. Many of us here played with GI Joes. We remember how it felt when we got a brand new GI Joe at Christmas. Unwrapping it, playing with it until it was flat wore out. Eventually, we outgrew it. It was given away or thrown away.

Fast forward 30 years. That kid now has a stable job, good money. Expendable income and, he sees a brand new, mint condition GI Joe on Ebay. He remembers all the feelings he had when he got that GI Joe as a kid. And he buys it.

When he is 75 years old and decides to sell it, the next generation of collectors doesn’t know what it’s like to get a brand new GI Joe for Christmas. And, the prices start dropping.

Most new shooters didn’t grow up seeing revolvers in duty holsters. They didn’t watch Adam 12 and Dragnet. They never bought that brand new blued Smith and unwrapped that brown wax paper. They didn’t save for a couple months to get it. They don’t have the kinship to an old school revolver.

NO idea what the real, street price is on the Smith "Classics" line. I see what the retail is and it's pretty high.

I'd suggest #1 , for the OP to get educated on S&W revolvers. Buy the latest Supica and Nahas, "Standard Catalog of S&W" the 4th Edition.

Join the S&W Forum and start looking at posts there regarding older revolvers.

The array of Smith revolvers is so vast You really need to figure out what appeals.

My suggestion....Buy some older, P&R revolvers. You can buy a K-22 or K-38 and shoot it quite a bit and if well cared for it will be damaged or compromised very minimally.

IMHO the new Classics are not at all like the old timers.

The only new classic model I see being collectable is the 18-7. It was made only for a year and then discontinued, so it's very scarce and the 18 was always more collectable than the 17, unless you go all the way back to 5 screw models before the 18 was conceived and the 17 was still called the K22.

Guns are for shooting.

buying a "Classic " line S&W is like buying a Cobra kit and putting it on a VW.