I want a no lock 66 4” and happened to see one for about $600 a few days ago but the cylinder stop notches were a bit battered.  Not horrible but you can tell someone had fun with it.  Overall medium good condition, Pachmayr grips.  

I seldom see them and left it at the distant store.  

I am wondering if I screwed up.  

Depends on if you could fix or have someone local work on it.   It is so expensive to ship guns these days which can increase the cost to get a useable revolver.   If you were only going to occasionally shoot it maybe it would’ve been worth the price.  The price of S&W revolvers is going through the roof.

If you were to rarely fire the revolver the value will likely increase with time if you don’t let it deteriorate.   If you had to find a Stainless Steel cylinder then it could be real expensive.    A Friend in an Agency I worked was the armorer and full time Range Officer.  He commented on how much more maintenance the model 66’s required compared to the 439’s for the same number of rounds.   When our Agency used Gen 2 & Gen 3 S&W 9 mm they required very little service from Armorers but they did regularly replace the recoil springs.


In my experience revolvers in the 60’s to 80’s will not sustain the volume of shooting as most service pistol will provide.

I wouldn’t invest the money in a new cylinder.  Recessed cylinders are likely unobtainium.   I think there were at least three cylinder variants as they moved gas seals around, deleted the recess for the rims.  

I didn’t even finish the rest of the inspection where I usually check for end shake and timing issues.   I should have kept going, right now I couldn’t say about forcing cone condition or frame cutting.

It sounds like some moron was spinning the cylinder and then flicking his wrist to snap the crane back in the frame.  A fully loaded cylinder has a lot of inertia and when the cylinder stop drops into the recess that energy has to go somewhere,

As long as it locks up reasonably tight and doesn’t spit any lead out the sides of the forcing cone just shoot it and don’t worry about it.

At the price you paid you probably won’t lose money on a -1.  

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Revolvers in general can require a little more maintenance than some semi autos, but things like timing issues are related more to mis use and abuse than anything else.  The hammer mounted firing pins can break from excessive dry firing, so get some snap caps if you plan to do much of it.  Otherwise, close the cylinder into the frame like you would close a book, use your thumb to nudge the cylinder to index it into the next notch rather than spinning it, and learn how to properly reload and use the ejector rod, and you are not going to break it.

Oh you misunderstand.  I didn’t buy it.

Yea, totally wary on guns that have been misused,... on smith revolvers I normally check

cylinder stops
recoil shield
ejector rods for smoothness and no bends
forcing cone condition
top strap for cutting
end shake
lockup on all six notches
buggered screw heads and pry marks on the side plate that indicate access by incompetents to the inside

I am not the smartest revolver guy but I have increased my knowledge through the years.   I am of the LE era that just missed revolver training but ten years in made myself get competent with them, ie like knowing how to drive auto and manual transmissions.

I think I have 7 S&W revolvers and a Python.  The 4” 66 is what I view as the perfect practical revolver.


ETA,...I didn’t finish the inspection, I wish I had, the firing pin bushing in the recoil shield looked a little rough looking too.

You did not miss anything.  You may pay more for one that in better shape but not having to get an abused one up to snuff is better in the long run

Thanks, I think you’re right.   Looking at all my other S&Ws this morning none of my firing pin bushings looked to have that much of a gap around them.  I think it was probably a good pass on it even if that 66 4” is one of my grail guns.  Wants pushing the brain around.

Ideally I’d run into someone wanting to trade for my 28-2, mint condition gun for mint condition gun.

I think the prices on highway patrolman revolvers are going up faster than K frame prices.
I personally much prefer blue over stainless.
66’s were pretty popular, wait for the right one.

I don’t think revolvers need more maintenance- most of my routine users are from the 1950’s and are holding up just fine.
I saw it written somewhere and it is true:
Revolvers handle neglect better than autos, but autos handle abuse better

Thanks and I agree on the last bit of wisdom.  

A minty 4” 19 would be a happy substitute.  I like blued guns fine!

I'm very careful on buying revolvers, I pretty much am only interested in creampuffs that have spent their life in a drawer unless it's a reasonably rare model or in a not so common barrel length.

I see plenty of beat to hell one's that were neglected for 50 years, I don't want to spend weeks trying to run down good parts after I spent good money on something I could likely find in far better shape for not that much more money.