.44 Magnum Values

[Confederate]

Okay, I've got two .44 mags. Neither is for sale, at least not yet, but I'd like to know a little bit about their value in today's market.

The first is a S&W 629, pinned and recessed, NIB. I've got the "blue" box it came with, but the wood box's "foam" finish disintegrated like the inside of an old set of hearing protectors. The wood is fine, though, if it matters. The trigger is as light as a spring breeze and as smooth as ice. The grips are factory grips, but smooth. Oh, and this was one of the last line that had the stamped sideplate. Don't know if these will bring a premium or not.





The second is an ASTRA .44 mag stainless steel revolver, also NIB, also pinned and recessed. Very light, crisp trigger with both factory and Pachmayr grips. Super polished.









Although neither of these guns have been fired, I have fired 629s and Astras before. Comparing them side-by-side, I've wondered if the Smith was really worth the extra $$$. Both are similar in size, weight, heft, and the workmanship and accuracy of both are exceptional.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone here have an ASTRA .44 magnum (or even a .357)? I'd love to get your views. Aside from being as ugly as a brick, the other ASTRA revolvers seemed to be quite good bargains.

Thanks!

 

[Moonclip]

The S&W 629 P&R and 8 3/8 NIB/ANIB a friend bought one in CA for $550 in 2005. Some may pay a healthy premium for P&R though.

I saw a blued Astra for sale recently in good shape for $250, .44mag, 6" blue, I felt this was a good price.

I'd love a Astra .357mag especially with a extra cylinder in 9x19 as they do exist, some Astra revolovers also have a unique mainspring housing that has a ring that you can use to adjust trigger pull.

I'd also love a Astra revolver in .45acp or maybe .41mag or .45lc but I've never seen one in person.

IIRC stainless .44mag Astras only come in 6".

 

[Oro]

Don't know about the Astra, but the S&W is nice. The P&R feature is desirable, especially as these were only made that way two years or so. The smooth targets also add a bit. If you have the original box, do you also have the original cleaning tools and papers? With all of these features, it might fetch $650 to $700 to the right collector, maybe more. "Clean" ones without the box, accessories and plain targets will do $500 to $550. Unfired in the box is worth a good premium.

 

[Moonclip]

I think I spy a bit of a turn line on the cylinder though. I'd not cock,open or dry fire this gun at all if trying to sell it.

 

[Confederate]

Yes, I have boxes and papers for all, though I most likely will keep them, especially the Astra. I had a friend who owned one years ago and he beat the thing to death and it still remained tight and true. I shot it and it was quite accurate, so I got this one and never got around to firing it.

Thanks for the comments, though. The turn lines on the cylinder come off very easily with stainless steel. A medium scratchy pad and some semichrome, and the whole gun glows. I hate cylinder lines on blued guns, however.

 

[Virginian]

I had an Astra years ago, and it shot very well. The machine marks inside reminded me of an AK-47 - not gorgeous to look at but deadly as hell.
All revolver designs that employ a drop and drag cylinder bolt design create the unsightly line. I don't like it either. That is to say everything but the Colts and clones, as far as I know, and they can easily over rotate if operated improperly. If you polish (and I mean like buff polish, and good) just the contacting edge of the bolt, on blued guns the effect will really be minimized.
P.S. - And you do not need to polish the side of the bolt down to where it engages the cylinder, and negatively affects lock up.

 

[Confederate]

I used to worry more about cosmetics when I was younger. At the end of a shooting year, I'll normally clean the face of the cylinder and take care of the rings, but most of my guns don't put rings around the cylinder much. Of course they're all stainless. I hate rings around blued guns, though.

I have a friend who has a beautiful S&W Model 17, and for years he tried eliminating the ring around his cylinder with cold blue. It looked like hell, but he liked it better than the ring.

 

[MM]

That is one clean lookin' 629, beautiful!
MM

 

[ImARugerFan]

Take these guns out and shoot them already!

 

[Moonclip]

If you don't mind. take off the grip oif the Astra and show us a pic of the unique mainspring.

 

[Confederate]

Sorry it took so long, Moonclip, but here are some photos. I had a friend a number of years back who had a .357 Astra. I advised him to keep it on the default setting from the factory since he was going to use it for home defense. He liked the lightest trigger pull, however, and set it there. Months later when we went shooting, he would get about one misfire per cylinder. We set it for the next one up and it worked fine, though I still advised him to leave it on the factory setting for defense.






The ring can be removed and rotated to any one of
four settings (green arrows). Each setting is drilled to
a different depth, the deepest resulting in the easiest
double-action trigger pull.




Here's a different view. I've always left my gun set
on the heaviest (most reliable) setting. If one exper-
iences misfires, the spring tension should be in-
creased by setting the spring in a shallower
detent.

 

[Moonclip]

That is so neat. I need to pick up an Astra .357 eventually.

 

[Beagle-zebub]

How much is that, as well as other, Astras, and where can they be had? Gunsamerica doesn't look to have anything but their autoloaders.