Where have the revolvers gone?

RedneckFur

RedneckFur

Smith & Wesson is a religion of peace.
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For quite some time now, I've been wanting to pick up a round butt 66 or 686 Smith 357 with a 2.5" barrel and adjustable sights. Nothing tactical. Nothing ported. No funky features. Just a classic, basic revolver.

For the last two years or so, I've not seen any at local gun stores, and the few I've seen at gun shows are overpriced older guns that don't appear to have seen the greatest care.

What gives? Are everyone snapping them up ASAP? Has S&W stopped making them? I've tried googling it, but haven't found any answers to my questions. I figured some of you fine folks might have a little more info.
 
frakncylons said:

Firearms

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Man that was quick! I've got email reminders set up for a lot of sites, but here you go find them in stock! Thanks!
 
I own quite a few used wheelies including police trade ins. Used gun cases used to be packed with them.
Production used to be 80% revolvers nowadays it's 95% autos.

They make what sells and just like cars used inventory follows behind new production.
 
Stopped at my favorite LGS today - which I haven't visited in months. Only a couple of small .22 revolvers. Shop owner says the ammo for them has dried up, as well as the revolvers.
 
......i love revolvers, but not everyone does.

Wheel guns are easier to reload for, can withstand higher pressures for a hunting sidearm and tend to have better triggers. They are typically much more pleasurable to shoot than most semis.......however a nice 1911 or CZ75 is also nice.
 
I keep meaning to post up a couple, just haven’t gotten ‘round to it!
 
THE PUNISHER said:
I just need a 16+1 in a revolver and I’ll be set....
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When you gotta hit the local Stop 'n' Rob for a gallon of milk after dark in the summertime, this goes in the pocket quite nicely (J-frame Taurus .357).

100-7599.jpg
 
Less produced and demand high for any gun. Revolvers have taken a back seat in the last two generations.
 
I've been trying to expand my own collection. 44 mags have become my favorite, and I've fallen in love with my 3" 629. Its one of the most natural pointing handguns I've ever shot.
 
There are still plenty of revolvers around, but you have to look a little harder these days and the true “revolver guys” are slowly dying out. Thankfully there are some young people that are showing some interest. I am amazed when working a gun show how many people that walk by a case loaded with 20-25 beautiful revolvers and not even slow down or give them a 2nd glance. I’ve got to where I can predict with at least 95% certainty whether a guy will stop and look at my Revolvers or walk on by.
 
The plastic nines seem to rule the day
I get beter deals.on revolvers unless it's a really sought after model like a 19 cause lgs guys know it's gonna sit there for a while unless the right buyer walks in.
 
Etruett said:
There are still plenty of revolvers around, but you have to look a little harder these days and the true “revolver guys” are slowly dying out. Thankfully there are some young people that are showing some interest. I am amazed when working a gun show how many people that walk by a case loaded with 20-25 beautiful revolvers and not even slow down or give them a 2nd glance. I’ve got to where I can predict with at least 95% certainty whether a guy will stop and look at my Revolvers or walk on by.
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@Etruett I wanna share a story that has nothing to do with revolvers but which might make you chuckle.

A very long time ago, I was working a furniture show in Milan, Italy. Watching people check out furniture, I can immediately spot experts just like you immediately recognize I don’t know anything about guns when you watch me pick one up.

Two guys walked into our booth and I observed them from a distance. It was obvious that they were American furniture manufacturers there to “take inspiration“ from the trendy new Eye-talian designs. After a while, I approached them and asked, “Howdy, where y’all from? They were stunned. Turns out they were from Hickory, NC which was then the center of US upholstered furniture.

Eventually, they asked how I had recognized them as American furniture guys. I pointed down to their feet and asked, “Seen any other wing tips here in Milan?”

BUSTED!!!!! 🤓
 
Jeppo said:
@Etruett I wanna share a story that has nothing to do with revolvers but which might make you chuckle.

A very long time ago, I was working a furniture show in Milan, Italy. Watching people check out furniture, I can immediately spot experts just like you immediately recognize I don’t know anything about guns when you watch me pick one up.

Two guys walked into our booth and I observed them from a distance. It was obvious that they were American furniture manufacturers there to “take inspiration“ from the trendy new Eye-talian designs. After a while, I approached them and asked, “Howdy, where y’all from? They were stunned. Turns out they were from Hickory, NC which was then the center of US upholstered furniture.

Eventually, they asked how I had recognized them as American furniture guys. I pointed down to their feet and asked, “Seen any other wing tips here in Milan?”

BUSTED!!!!! 🤓
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I did get a huge chuckle. People that are successful in sales are probably more observant of people than the best detective out there.
 
I buy S&W revolvers when I can find them at the right price . Problem is that people that have them want 5 times more for them than they cost new🙄.I have sold a few and made money on them . Buy I have to be hard pressed to sell one anymore .I've only been able to get around 5 in the last year or so. Cause @BatteryOaksBilly , @Jeppo ,@Etruett and @Prosecutor bought most of them.
 
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CZfool68 said:
I’m your huckleberry. 👻
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Here's an interesting tid bit....If you want your tid bit.....I read recently a statement from the actor who played Texas Jack [supplied most of the leather gear] from the movie Tombstone about the famous line ....I'm your Huckleberry......Val did not deliver the line as Written. It seems in those days a casket had handles on the side and they were called "Huckles" to carry the casket by. The line was ....I'm your Hucklebearer, that's Just my game.
In other words....I'll carry you to the graveyard.
The common word for Pallbearers in the 1800s was Hucklebearers. I thought that was interesting...
 
As evidenced but this thread - Revolvers have made a comeback. You see more and more folks buying them, more companies are producing new models.
 
Have gun-will travel said:
I buy S&W revolvers when I can find them at the right price . Problem is that people that have them want 5 times more for them than they cost new🙄.I have sold a few and made money on them . Buy I have to be hard pressed to sell one anymore .I've only been able to get around 5 in the last year or so. Cause @BatteryOaksBilly , @Jeppo ,@Etruett and @Prosecutor bought most of them.
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Older pre lock guns command high prices from collectors , but if you can get past the appearance of an extra hole - the new S&W are pretty nice guns. I picked up a 8 shot 627 , dropped a spring kit from Wolfe and it is a shooter.
 
BrettB said:
As evidenced but this thread - Revolvers have made a comeback. You see more and more folks buying them, more companies are producing new models.
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Number 1 producer of revolvers in the World?????????????????????????????????????????????? Heritage.
 
BatteryOaksBilly said:
Here's an interesting tid bit....If you want your tid bit.....I read recently a statement from the actor who played Texas Jack [supplied most of the leather gear] from the movie Tombstone about the famous line ....I'm your Huckleberry......Val did not deliver the line as Written. It seems in those days a casket had handles on the side and they were called "Huckles" to carry the casket by. The line was ....I'm your Hucklebearer, that's Just my game.
In other words....I'll carry you to the graveyard.
The common word for Pallbearers in the 1800s was Hucklebearers. I thought that was interesting...
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I thought that too, but Val verified that he said what we think he said.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
DA revos are my favorite handguns to shoot. I just find it fun and challenging rowing a smooth DA trigger. I feel like if you can do that well, every other trigger feels easy.
Unfortunately, I don’t even own one. Had a sweet no-dash 686 and sold it cheap to a friend who wanted it. Regret it often.
But it sat in safe as I was throwing money at 3gun and wanted a limited major gun.

Meh. Should have kept it. Bad gun decision, among quite a few. Had a fairly pure hatred of that stainless ramp tho and had I kept it I would have shamelessly molested it with machine tools.
 
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Have gun-will travel said:
I buy S&W revolvers when I can find them at the right price . Problem is that people that have them want 5 times more for them than they cost new🙄.I have sold a few and made money on them . Buy I have to be hard pressed to sell one anymore .I've only been able to get around 5 in the last year or so. Cause @BatteryOaksBilly , @Jeppo ,@Etruett and @Prosecutor bought most of them.
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We probably won’t live long enough to see, but one day revolvers will be available everywhere. The revolver lovers like us are dying out. Every time I set up at a gun show the number of people that stop and look at my revolvers gets less and less. Prices went Way up during the shortage like everything else, but if you watch Gunbroker, the number of guns with no bids is growing larger every day. I’m expecting prices to start falling soon except for the really nice collectibles.
 
We have legislation to thank for the shortage of revolvers, among other things.

When the SAFE Act passed in New York as well as other bills in various states, the allowable magazine size was reduced. Suddenly, a six shot revolver (or perhaps even a 7 or 8 shot) was a viable option equal or better than the "bottom feeders".

Prices went way up on revolvers in those states. Gun dealers aren't stupid, and realized that they could get more selling those revolvers on Gun Broker than they could here. Especially when the 1.5 stacks came out like the 365, hellcat, 43X, etc.
People watching the riots and so forth realized that more capacity might not be such a bad idea. Lots of folks, me included, did a reassessment of their carry gun and "upgraded". At the same time, in the "ban" states, people were scrambling to arm themselves. People, I might add, that aren't necessarily on the pro-gun side of the political spectrum. For many of them, a Smith and Wesson revolver as a more socially acceptable firearm choice than a Glock. And they couldn't own the new higher capacity carry guns anyway.

So demand was super high and those folks were willing to pay it. I received reports from friends in those areas of revolvers selling at prices I found eye watering. It was bonkers.

Add to that the fact that Smith and Wesson is putting out some really poor quality revolvers. Not in every model, but even with the 642s I'm seeing ugly gaps between the frame and the crane. Just some super ugly stuff. Rough forcing cones that have sharp burrs on them. You name it.

That means the well made revolvers of the last century are in even higher demand. All of these things combine to make it hard to find the $300 Model 10s and 15s that used to litter the gun show. In the early 2000's I bought a perfect condition Model 15 made back in the 1960s. It is gorgeous. I paid the princely sum of $285 to Doc's Pawn Shop. He had a big display case taller than I was that was on wheels. Wooden dowels were stuck into peg board and the revolvers were hung there by sliding the barrel over the dowels. I don't recall a single one of them over $450.

OH that I had a time machine!
 
Etruett said:
We probably won’t live long enough to see, but one day revolvers will be available everywhere. The revolver lovers like us are dying out. Every time I set up at a gun show the number of people that stop and look at my revolvers gets less and less. Prices went Way up during the shortage like everything else, but if you watch Gunbroker, the number of guns with no bids is growing larger every day. I’m expecting prices to start falling soon except for the really nice collectibles.
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I think I will survive long enough to see this happen. LOL

The way I see it when gun makers stopped producing a large number of quality revolvers people started to covet the older ones. People declared guns which were produced in high numbers as rare, collectible and overall better than what you could buy new if you could find it. FOMO kicks in and prices skyrocketed. For the big manufacturers the price and demand for new revolvers did not keep pace so no increase in new production. The cycle rinses and repeats until lots of people are priced out.

Now I agree over time as the world turns and tactical plastic gets smaller lighter and cheaper many new and existing shooters move in that direction. Revolvers like classic muscle cars primary buyers are dying off and not being back filled so there will be a cliff where prices fall off. We are not there yet. The GB auctions and ads I see that go unsold are always on the high end of pricing. The same is true for “collectible” metal semi autos. If you have time you can afford to wait if you need to sell now you have to lower your price.

I see in the next 10-20 years large gun estates full of revolvers will flood the market. Selling 25 revolvers at the same time is always harder than selling 2. Prices will be set accordingly too often by those who don’t know the true value or don’t care enough the pay for someone else’s help and expertise. That will be the time to buy IMHO.
 
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Interesting to hear that Heritage is the biggest producer of revolvers. We've got one of the basic 4 inch models and it's fun. Apart from its use as a teaching tool for youngsters (our main purpose with it), it's basically just a toy, though. "Oh, cool, a cowboy gun." Then there are the old, beautiful, heirloom-type revolvers. I like those sure enough, but I'm not at a point in my life where I can afford to buy pistols just to have them.

A different side of the revolver world is represented by people like the Lucky Gunner guy, who has done a lot of content about revolvers as carry guns. There seem to me to be a lot of serious shooters who carry 642's or LCR's as backup guns, and even a pretty good number of gun hipsters carrying revolvers as their primary. The makers, apart from S&W and Ruger, are responding to that, too. Colt, Kimber and Taurus have small framed 3" 6 shot revolvers now with decent sights. They must be selling some of them, but to my eye a big problem with buying these guns as primary defensive firearms is accessory availability. For example, you can easily find good holsters for J frames, but these newer guns get no love yet. A few years ago, I thought about buying a Charter Arms Professional, which was a 7 shot 32 H&R Mag revolver with decent sights. I thought it was a neat idea, but there was not a single speedloader made for the gun. How can hope to you sell a defensive revolver without any speedloader support? At least these newer 6 shooters can generally use already-existing speedloaders.

As much as I enjoy working with defensive revolvers, I don't actually carry them. I just try to maintain a decent level of familiarity and skill because I teach a lot of beginner shooters, and a lot of beginner shooters have revolvers. The reality is that my carry gun isn't an accessory that I pick because I dig it, it's a tool that I pick because it is the best suited thing for my purposes.
 
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