At a small gun store yesterday I visit irregularly, I came across a bunch of old S&W revolvers, including 10s, a 12 and 14, 15s, etc. They had a 2.5" model 19-7 for $550 also, which I plan to make mine on Tuesday (they're holding it for me). Apparently, a customer had recently died who had something like 1k of guns in his collection and some of them went to this shop. The 19 looks practically brand new, with only the barest hint of a turn line around the cylinder; it's VERY clean. For something in this condition that they're not making any longer, and never will again, I figured $550 is, while not smoking hot, a pretty decent deal. Sure, it's not a 19-3, but it is still not something I see everyday around here (YMMV). One thing I really like is the smooth trigger face of the 19-7, something my long-gone 19-3 didn't have.
It looks like I'm going to have to put my 3" model 64-3 up for sale to help finance it, but I can live with that, seeing as how I still have my wonderful 4" model 64-3.
DAL357