It’s Here

I have to hand it to Jim from Smoke on the Water. He has good taste in guns.

A while back, he found a Smith & Wesson 27-2, in 95%+ condition. This means it’s about what you would expect if someone took it to the range once, carried it in a holster for a couple of weeks, and then put it in a safe. He contacted me and told me about it, and I arranged to buy it. And I got a very nice price.

I used a kitchen-table dealer to make the dropoff. He’s a little hard to track down, but I found him today, and I just picked up the gun. Man, is it a beauty. Except for very light holster wear near the muzzle, and some evidence of firing, it looks new. It has the nice old Smith & Wesson bluing you can swim in. The chambers are recessed. The grips are heavy pieces of walnut. Very sweet. I especially like the common-sense 5″ barrel.

I have always liked my 686+, which was probably made in ’99 or 2000. It shoots well, and it’s nice to look at. And it holds 7 rounds. But I can see why people prefer the old guns. Smooth and well-finished as that gun is, this one just seems slicker. And it has nice touches, such as tiny checkering on the strap. The trigger and hammer are wider and more comfortable, too.

It just looks like they worked harder on it.

It’s heavy as hell; it has a big frame, and the cylinder is only hollowed out for 6 rounds. You could save ammunition by beating a robber to death with it.

If the old Pythons are nicer than this, they must be very nice indeed. But they aren’t as tough as this gun. And Dirty Harry didn’t shoot a Colt.

Speaking of Dirty Harry, I feel like I really need a Model 29, just like the one he shot. I guess Eastwood trivia nuts will point out that he actually used a different Smith & Wesson on camera, but he claimed it was a .44 Magnum, so shuddup.

Thanks for the help, Jim. Next time you’re in town, you’ll have to show me how to use this thing.