Posted: 1/17/2012 7:39:44 PM EDT
| I have a chance to buy one of these little guns. Any input on them? good bad, whatever your experiences ar, please speak up |
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I'm not an expert on the 61, but I I just picked one up in superb condition, It is the later version, the 61-3, with the box and paperwork and it looks nearly new. I bought it as a collector/fun gun. Not for carry.
It was only $180 from a dealer and he said nobody has even looked at that little gun - He has a very small shelf for used guns and this was sort of buried in with a pile of junky used jennings & the like pocket 25s, etc. So I think it was simply ignored. After cleaning & lubing, I went & shot it with CCI minimags and a few stingers. I only shot 60 rounds through it - (It has only a 5 shot mag) but it cycled fine. I have read they can be finicky about ammo which is why I tried the CCI. Will do some tries with the bulk ammo to see how it does. The guns were short lived, made from like 1968-73 (or something like that) but had several design modifications - 61 had the aluminum cheap metal frame, 61-2 had mag safety added, 61-3 was a forged frame. None of them were popular. While they apparently had some teething problems, it demonstrated an interesting attempt for S&W to do something different than what was its "bread & butter" police guns & revolvers at the time and has some S&W collector interest, but not a lot. Prices are all over the place from what I can find, I would say market conditions in my area would be $150- $300 depending on condition. I have seen Gubroker prices from $150 to $400+ for nicer examples with factory boxes, etc. (usually chromed command a better price). If you can get it for a decent price, its probably not a bad investment as a collector/fun curio item. There are far better choices for a carry gun or plinker 22. Best of luck |
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YES - The Model 61-2 & 61-3 have a muzzle nut. I have a nice 61-3, and its got the nut. The earlier ones do not.
If your looking at one, the guns are marked on the heel of the frame as 61-2, 61-3, You can see the cut notches on the muzzle to verify You would need a spanner or tool to get it off and I'm not sure if the threads are the same as a 422 and if the 422 adapters are interchangeable. The escort had a reputation for jamming with some ammo. I haven't tried the escort with subsonic yet, but they are so far good to go with high velocity CCI stingers, CCI AR bulk and stingers - WARNING - stingers are extremely loud out of that short barrel - like a 357 going off definitely not suppressor fodder (  duh) but a fun noise maker.
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