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Thread: A sad state of affairs

  1. #21
    Member Buckshot's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lon View Post
    Today I decided to go gun shop hopping. I'm looking for a couple different K frames (model 14 4" & a 2" model 15) so I decided to see if I could get lucky. I went to 9 different shops a various sizes. Most I hadn't been to before. 9 different shops full of almost nothing but soulless plastic bullet pushers. Most of them crappy soulless bullet pushers. I did not find a single used K frame in any of them. Only 2 used Smiths - a 325 Thunder Ranch and a post lock 686 4".

    At each store I also asked if they had any old junky K frame RB grips in a box in a back room. I need a pair to use as a guide for fixing the hack job SB to RB conversion on my M10. Nada. Only 1 had any old school grips at all.

    I guess I got spoiled growing up in and working in my brother in law's shop. They have old grips, old hard to find parts, old stocks, screws, etc. that they've accumulated over the 40+ years they've been in business. There just aren't very many shops like that around here anymore. Kinda sad.
    I've got one of those junky old shops with lots of old S&W parts, but I can't afford to sell them for what most people think an old sideplate screw or a clean j frame hammer is worth! See, no more of those parts are just rolling in here anymore, so I hold most of it back for my long-term clientele (or myself, in some cases). These days, I'll often buy a whole cut up seizure gun just because I need one or two parts. some of the smallest, simplest S&W parts are nearly extinct for the pre-mim guns. Try finding crane screws, hammer noses, rivets and bushings, some of the ejector rods, many trigger styles, etc.. The stuff is dwindling away fast & its getting less & less fun to work on them each year because of all the lost hours spent hunting down those damn parts.

  2. #22
    Site Supporter Lon's Avatar
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    Apr 2011
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    Dayton, Ohio
    I hear ya. Been thinking of buying some parts just to have.
    Formerly known as xpd54.
    The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
    www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buckshot View Post
    I've got one of those junky old shops with lots of old S&W parts, but I can't afford to sell them for what most people think an old sideplate screw or a clean j frame hammer is worth! See, no more of those parts are just rolling in here anymore, so I hold most of it back for my long-term clientele (or myself, in some cases). These days, I'll often buy a whole cut up seizure gun just because I need one or two parts. some of the smallest, simplest S&W parts are nearly extinct for the pre-mim guns. Try finding crane screws, hammer noses, rivets and bushings, some of the ejector rods, many trigger styles, etc.. The stuff is dwindling away fast & its getting less & less fun to work on them each year because of all the lost hours spent hunting down those damn parts.
    Sounds like a good reason to limit my revolver trigger time on my pre-lock Smiths and use my Ruger GP for dry fire and most range sessions....

  4. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Lon View Post
    If you know of any old school gun shops in southwest Ohio, please let me know.
    Have you tried SmartGear Firearms (1417 E Main St, Eaton, OH)? I stopped by there a few weeks ago, they have mostly old stuff, unfortunately for me, it was the weekend of the Ohio Gun Collectors Association show, so much of their inventory wasn't at the store at the time.

  5. #25
    Site Supporter Lon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JN01 View Post
    Have you tried SmartGear Firearms (1417 E Main St, Eaton, OH)? I stopped by there a few weeks ago, they have mostly old stuff, unfortunately for me, it was the weekend of the Ohio Gun Collectors Association show, so much of their inventory wasn't at the store at the time.
    Nope. But I will. Never heard of them before. Thanks.
    Formerly known as xpd54.
    The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
    www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com

  6. #26
    Phone is 937-472-1000 if you want to call them.

  7. #27
    Site Supporter Lon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JN01 View Post
    Phone is 937-472-1000 if you want to call them.
    You da man. Thx again.
    Formerly known as xpd54.
    The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
    www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com

  8. #28
    Site Supporter Tamara's Avatar
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    In free-range, non-GMO, organic, fair trade Broad Ripple, IN
    Quote Originally Posted by Buckshot View Post
    I've got one of those junky old shops with lots of old S&W parts, but I can't afford to sell them for what most people think an old sideplate screw or a clean j frame hammer is worth! See, no more of those parts are just rolling in here anymore, so I hold most of it back for my long-term clientele (or myself, in some cases). These days, I'll often buy a whole cut up seizure gun just because I need one or two parts. some of the smallest, simplest S&W parts are nearly extinct for the pre-mim guns. Try finding crane screws, hammer noses, rivets and bushings, some of the ejector rods, many trigger styles, etc.. The stuff is dwindling away fast & its getting less & less fun to work on them each year because of all the lost hours spent hunting down those damn parts.
    As far back as '05 or so, rumor had it that one of the biggest customers for that stuff on eBay was S&W themselves.
    Last edited by Tamara; 04-08-2017 at 02:50 PM.
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  9. #29
    Member Buckshot's Avatar
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    Denton, Texas
    Quote Originally Posted by deputyG23 View Post
    Sounds like a good reason to limit my revolver trigger time on my pre-lock Smiths and use my Ruger GP for dry fire and most range sessions....
    GPs & LCRs are my hard use wheelies nowadays. However, I must admit I'm sitting at my desk with a Dayton Special at my right hand as I type this.

  10. #30
    Site Supporter entropy's Avatar
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    Apr 2012
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    Far Upper Midwest. Lower Midwest When I Absolutely Have To
    Does First (Furst?) carry/make any of this stuff? If I recall correctly he was manufacturing internal extractors for the older BHPs.

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