How much are you likely to shoot over the lifetime of owning the gun? How many will be full house magnum loads?
How much are you likely to shoot over the lifetime of owning the gun? How many will be full house magnum loads?
Another thing to consider is that resale value on Taurus, Charter and EAA guns is horrible, so if you ever want to sell or trade it in, you are going to take a big hit. One local gunstore I frequented simply refused to take a trade in Taurus. Guys would walk in and try to dicker around to even get $50 bucks in trade towards something that wasn't a Taurus and the owner would flatly refuse, even if it meant he lost a sale.
On the other hand, if you buy a decent used Smith or Ruger, you can shoot it quite a bit, and as long as you take decent care of it, you can sell it later for about what you paid for it, or if you hang onto it long enough, even make a little money on the deal.
I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.
http://www.gunbroker.com/All/Complet...1&SearchType=1
A completed auctions search on Gunbroker.com for Ruger Security-Six revolvers. You can see what price they really commanded nationwide, and you can do a completed auctions search for all your choices to see where the sweet spot is. That said, make friends with a couple of gunshop staff, be patient, and you'll do well.
Last edited by Lex Luthier; 02-03-2017 at 04:12 PM. Reason: put-and-caste issues.
"If I ever needed to hunt in a tuxedo, then this would be the rifle I'd take." - okie john
"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself." - Michel De Montaigne
I've had charters, tauri, rossis, etc. the only thing (aside from vintage pieces) in my safe now are Smiths and Rugers. There is definitely a reason for that. With prices on used model 10s in the 3 bills range, e.g.
http://www.jgsales.com/smith-wesson-....-p-84562.html
You'd have to be nuts to buy outside the American brands with proven track records. JMO.
Last edited by Totem Polar; 02-03-2017 at 03:42 PM.
My one Taurus revolver seized up solid after being bought. Got rid of it. They might be good underwear drawer guns - never to be fired for the majority of purchasers. My one Taurus semi was a horror. But to be fair, my SW 1911 bellied up at a match and a friend lent me his Taurus 1911 truck gun beater and it ran fine.
If you go this route, keep in mind that Ruger does not always have parts for the Six series, as they were discontinued decades back. You may never have an issue, but if you do, and can't scrounge the parts and do the work yourself, you may be out of luck. Same for any discontinued platform long out of production though.Originally Posted by Lex Luthier
Last edited by Willard; 02-03-2017 at 04:25 PM.
Thanks, guys. ALL good advice.
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That is an excellent point, Willard, thanks. I wasn't aware that it was getting so dry for the Six-series revolvers, but all good things eventually come to an end.
"If I ever needed to hunt in a tuxedo, then this would be the rifle I'd take." - okie john
"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself." - Michel De Montaigne
There are too many used S&Ws and Rugers to buy a cheap off brand. I had a friend that had two identical Taurus. One was always in for warranty repair or replacement. I don't know how times they replaced his revolvers instead of repairing them. I had a new S&W lock up. They fixed it. I just bought a very nice S&W 586 for 350 bucks this week.
I have never had an issue with what I received when buying used or new semi-autos online.
I have tried to buy four revolvers online, one used and three new. The used one and one new S&W were returned to the sellers as unserviceable. As reported elsewhere on this site, the seller of the new S&W had their in-house gunsmith inspect a a few more from their inventory, and said they were all the same. It appears from the outside that they returned a significant quantity of J frames to S&W soon after.
One new S&W I kept, but the trigger is crunchy and it will need the attentions of someone knowledgeable and skilled to approach the smoothness of the ones at the local Gander Mountain that got me excited about trying it in the first place (and were priced ~$300 higher than I paid, which I suppose should about cover the work).
The last one was a Ruger. I wasn't able to identify the show stopper issue until I got it home. Ruger paid to ship it back to themselves, reworked it, and returned it. It's quite a bit nicer, with some extra hand detailing that most don't have, but it's also now cosmetically imperfect due to their work. And the biggest piss-off about it is something fundamental that they weren't able to correct. It doesn't seem to be a functional problem, but is enough of a cosmetic issue that I wouldn't have bought it at normal brick & mortar price if inspecting it in a local shop's inventory (for hundreds more, so I live with it).
Unfortunately, based on the reports of other knowledgeable people here, it's not just S&W's regular production that's variable. Even the result of sending their product back for a Performance Center action job is likely to vary noticeably from unit to unit.
Just a note - if you read the reviews at the JG Sales link above, they range from being very happy to receiving something that was basically in need of a rebuild.
FWIW, I'm personally at the point of not buying a revolver unless I can inspect it in person before making any kind of commitment or having any skin in the game (like non-refundable shipping or freight insurance), or have a comfort level with the knowledge and character of the individual seller. That requires resetting expectations about how much things cost, which will likely make further revolver purchases far less interesting.
Essentially, the online-shopping benefit of being able to find something unusual without waiting months or years for a local shop to actually get it in, or being able to get it at a substantially better (~20-30%) price, seems to be at best a much lower-odds lottery with revolvers than with semis.
Writing both as an observer and based on my experiences outlined above, it seems the people with the best revolver experiences have a working relationship with a trusted revolversmith or two, or some level of skill themselves. It may not be required on every unit, but it seems wise to budget a reserve for some additional work beyond the purchase price if you want to take a trip down Revolver Road.
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Not another dime.
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