How do you feel about the S&W 12-3 2" airweight?

A buddy at work has a nice one, ser #4DXXXXX, manufactured around 1978/79. He just inherited it and has no idea what it is.

It is an alloy, so not sure if it is blued or what. The cylinder is steel, blued. All very dark and it has some minor holster wear on the end of the barrel.

I am not familiar with the KA frame. I hear it has hard to find parts and the gun can have stress cracks on the narrow grip frame. Although this one has no cracks.

If I could get one right I would feed it wad-cutters, both for practice and serious social use.  I would keep an eye out for parts kits, they turn up from time to time, occasionally cheap.

I’ve always wanted a 2” Model 12 - never actually came across the right deal. I do love my Airweights.

I'd love to own once because "cool" but I wouldn't carry it or have any real purpose for it.

12-3 is desirable from a functional standpoint because the standard K-frame grips fit perfectly.
Do not shoot Plus P and keep an eye on the frame just under the barrel, because they would crack there.
Don't send it in to S&W because they will want to destroy the frame and give you a new J-frame in exchange.

As mentioned the place to be concerned for frame cracks is inside the yoke cut under the barrel ( the part of the frame the barrel screws into)
It seems to be an issue across all ages of these guns and while I agree these should be standard pressure ammo only guns, the general consensus is these cracks are NOT related to shooting but issues with the barrels being torqued into the frame.

Age or general condition of the gun is NOT a way to determine crack risk . It is not unheard of for guns that are or look brand new in box to have th3 crack, and others carried and shot extensively to be fine.

While I have been interested in a model 12 for some time , my general rule is to only consider purchasing one I can personally inspect ( with bright flashlight and magnifying glass ) to confirm no frame crack. So far I have not had a chance to come across one in person at a decent enough price.

To a lesser degree, the same issue occurs in J frames as well.

In some cases the crack is so fine and so straight people think it is normal .

I read a report of a cop in an agency that used alloy frame 38’s for bugs, department issued. After the RO’s gun developed a crack, he had all the troops carrying alloy guns to hand them over for inspection. About 25% of the guns in service had frame cracks

It's the 12-4 which uses the normal K-frame grips. The 12-3 and earlier are made with the KA frame.

Would not bother with it myself, then again I buy revolvers to shoot (a lot) so it would really have no purpose in my collection.

If you want an interesting conversation piece, certainly pick it up.

I had a Model 12 and it was very accurate. It belongs to a relative now.