Being old and somewhat conservative my gun purchases tend to reflect this and I usually prefer older designs and models. Being a cheapskate I also seek out good deals, often spending years looking for the right deal on a desired item. Since I am a shooter and not a collector I generally eschew the pristine examples and wind up with guns that show a lot of character.
At a local show this weekend I came across something I sort of wanted for a long time (my wife calls these protracted decision-making exercises and subsequent searches as falling under the "10 year rule" referring to how long it sometimes takes to procure a gun I want). It was a 4" Colt Trooper 357. These shot up in value a few years ago like all Colt revolvers and I've generally seen these going for around $400 recently and I didn't want to pay that much. The specimen I found yesterday was priced at $225 for good reason. It looked very sorry, indeed.
The barrel was nearly brown from blue loss and the sides of the frame were speckled with corrosion. It carried the optional target hammer and stocks but the stocks were broken. On the good side the timing and lock-up were perfect and bore was clean with sharp rifling. I tried to dicker but I think the seller got the better of me when all I could manage was a $10 reduction in price and I took it home for $215.
Things took a turn for the worse when I removed the stocks. The gun had gotten wet recently and the insides of the stocks were still damp, trapping the moisture and causing the frame to be covered with new rust. Most of this did clean up. The chambers were another matter. Obviously somebody has been shooting this thing a lot… with .38 Special ammunition. There was a ring of crud built up in each chamber caused by using the shorter ammo and it was the most pronounced that I have ever seen. I seriously doubt that .357 cartridges could have been loaded the way it was. I scrubbed and scraped for half an hour and they aren't all clean, yet. More work will be required on this. Most of the surface corrosion came off with some scrubbing but more effort will be needed here, too.
Gee, maybe buying guns cheap isn't such a good deal, after all?
I chucked the damaged stocks and dug through the box of spares for something appropriate. All of my extra Python stocks (same as the early Trooper) were of the newer style and were too good so they would look out of place on the worn gun. But I did have one set of stocks from the 1955-1961 period that were worn and slightly damaged and looked right at home. They aren't correct for this exact gun with its DoM, but this model certainly used them at an earlier date so they will work.
I checked my Colt book and this revolver was one of the very last ones made in 1968. This model was made from 1953 to 1969 and given its appearance I really expected to find that it dated from the mid-1950s but it proved to be much newer. The neglect and abuse it had received was worse than I thought.
In retrospect I paid too much for this gun. It was really worth no more than $150 but sometimes I get caught up in the moment and pay more than I should. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Things got worse late on Sunday when the guy at the next table dragged out an early post-war 2" M&P. Priced at $250 I waited a couple hours before waving a pair of Franklins at him. Too bad he took them. At home the gun looked worse than it did at the show. Oh well, another project. The good thing is that this one is C&R so it will be easier to sell.
At a local show this weekend I came across something I sort of wanted for a long time (my wife calls these protracted decision-making exercises and subsequent searches as falling under the "10 year rule" referring to how long it sometimes takes to procure a gun I want). It was a 4" Colt Trooper 357. These shot up in value a few years ago like all Colt revolvers and I've generally seen these going for around $400 recently and I didn't want to pay that much. The specimen I found yesterday was priced at $225 for good reason. It looked very sorry, indeed.
The barrel was nearly brown from blue loss and the sides of the frame were speckled with corrosion. It carried the optional target hammer and stocks but the stocks were broken. On the good side the timing and lock-up were perfect and bore was clean with sharp rifling. I tried to dicker but I think the seller got the better of me when all I could manage was a $10 reduction in price and I took it home for $215.
Things took a turn for the worse when I removed the stocks. The gun had gotten wet recently and the insides of the stocks were still damp, trapping the moisture and causing the frame to be covered with new rust. Most of this did clean up. The chambers were another matter. Obviously somebody has been shooting this thing a lot… with .38 Special ammunition. There was a ring of crud built up in each chamber caused by using the shorter ammo and it was the most pronounced that I have ever seen. I seriously doubt that .357 cartridges could have been loaded the way it was. I scrubbed and scraped for half an hour and they aren't all clean, yet. More work will be required on this. Most of the surface corrosion came off with some scrubbing but more effort will be needed here, too.
Gee, maybe buying guns cheap isn't such a good deal, after all?
I chucked the damaged stocks and dug through the box of spares for something appropriate. All of my extra Python stocks (same as the early Trooper) were of the newer style and were too good so they would look out of place on the worn gun. But I did have one set of stocks from the 1955-1961 period that were worn and slightly damaged and looked right at home. They aren't correct for this exact gun with its DoM, but this model certainly used them at an earlier date so they will work.
I checked my Colt book and this revolver was one of the very last ones made in 1968. This model was made from 1953 to 1969 and given its appearance I really expected to find that it dated from the mid-1950s but it proved to be much newer. The neglect and abuse it had received was worse than I thought.
In retrospect I paid too much for this gun. It was really worth no more than $150 but sometimes I get caught up in the moment and pay more than I should. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Things got worse late on Sunday when the guy at the next table dragged out an early post-war 2" M&P. Priced at $250 I waited a couple hours before waving a pair of Franklins at him. Too bad he took them. At home the gun looked worse than it did at the show. Oh well, another project. The good thing is that this one is C&R so it will be easier to sell.
this is just one more example of what sort of price/performance range is available if you do the checkout.
