Posted: 1/25/2010 10:08:33 AM EDT
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I own one Smith & Wesson, a common model #686 with 6 inch barrel. After close examination and 500-600 rounds of mild to hot .357 magnum handloads I found that I like it alot.
Now I'm looking at model 28-2 Patrolman with 6 inch barrel, blue. I don't know much about S&W revolvers. I have never fired a model 28 so I am comparing the Patrolman to the 686 by looks alone. Unless I'm mistaking the stainless model 686 is an 'L' frame and the model 28-2 in an 'N' frame. Is one frame bigger or sturdier than the other? Are all model 28s chambered in 357 magnum? What color should an original finish 28 Patrolman look like? Blue? or more black? What years were 28-2 manufactured ? Very good condition, very good finish, no box no papers...Whats it worth? Any other basic info would be appreciated. Thanks For Taking The Time Here -VonBarky- |
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The Model 28 is exactly the same gun as the much nicer(and more expensive) Model 27. The 28 was created at the request of law enforcement for a cheaper .357 Magnum. It lacks the topstrap checkering and high polish finish of the 27, instead having a simple matte blue finish.
Yes, it's an N frame, which is larger than the L. All are chambered(originally anyway, some have been converted to other calibers) for .357 Magnum. The Model 28 was made from 1957 to 1986. It was originally introduced in 1954 as a named model, The Highway Patrolman. In 1957, all S&W's received model numbers and it became the Model 28. Excellent and very durable guns. The DA trigger on an N frame .357 has to be the best of all frame sizes. The downside to N frame .357's is that they had a shorter cylinder than the K or L frame, and consequently, not all bullets are suitable for use in them if seated to the crimp groove in magnum brass. I don't know of any 158 grain(or lighter) bullets that won't work in them, but heavier than that can be a problem. |
| Value on these guns varies a lot depending on your area, I just paid $600 for a mint Highway Patrolman Model 28, no box or papers, manuf. date 1958. A 28-2 should go for between $400-$500 depending on it's age and condition. Having the original grips is a big plus if it is an earlier gun. They are great guns, built like tanks and a pleasure to shoot. They are also going up steadily in value. S&W Forums has a thread devoted to this gun with a lot of good info, including serial number ranges for estimating date of manufacture. |
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Just posted these in another thread, so what the heck:
M28-2, 4" bbl 
Picked this up late last year for around $550, no box or papers. But, it is in great condition. I'm very happy with it. Easy to shoot, and deadly accurate. 
ETA If you go over to the smith-wesson forum, they have a super thread on the M28 Highway Patrolman, with dates and photos. Well worth a look. |
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I bought this 28-2 for $300 and sold it for $500 less than six months later. I decided I really wanted a Patridge front sight but I wasn't going to destroy the collector value of such a fine pistol so I sold it to a friend of mine who collects S&W's. http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7484/054vzr.jpg http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2761/053nde.jpg http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7484/055roc.jpg http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2117/056ywr.jpg Flame cut line indicates a fair amount of use. 
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Just posted these in another thread, so what the heck: http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d150/2hawk/28-23.jpg http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d150/2hawk/28-24.jpg Picked this up late last year for around $550, no box or papers. But, it is in great condition. I'm very happy with it. Easy to shoot, and deadly accurate.
ETA If you go over to the smith-wesson forum, they have a super thread on the M28 Highway Patrolman, with dates and photos. Well worth a look. IMO there is nothing more sexier than a 4" N-frame S&W (I don't know why I don't get the same feeling when I look at my 4" K-frame  )
Here is mine that has some external wear, but is mechanically new. No flame cutting and still locks up tight as a bank vault. 
Paid $389 for it last October. |
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Quoted:
Just posted these in another thread, so what the heck: http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d150/2hawk/28-23.jpg http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d150/2hawk/28-24.jpg Picked this up late last year for around $550, no box or papers. But, it is in great condition. I'm very happy with it. Easy to shoot, and deadly accurate.
ETA If you go over to the smith-wesson forum, they have a super thread on the M28 Highway Patrolman, with dates and photos. Well worth a look. Is that a -4? I bought a 4" 28-4 last year for about the same price,it is now my favorite handgun.Best shooting .357 I have ever fired. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Just posted these in another thread, so what the heck: http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d150/2hawk/28-23.jpg http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d150/2hawk/28-24.jpg Picked this up late last year for around $550, no box or papers. But, it is in great condition. I'm very happy with it. Easy to shoot, and deadly accurate. ETA If you go over to the smith-wesson forum, they have a super thread on the M28 Highway Patrolman, with dates and photos. Well worth a look. Is that a -4? I bought a 4" 28-4 last year for about the same price,it is now my favorite handgun.Best shooting .357 I have ever fired. Are you sure? To my knowledge, the only Model 28s ever made were the 28 no dash, 28-2, and 28-3 (no P&R). |
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I bought this 28-2 for $300 and sold it for $500 less than six months later. I decided I really wanted a Patridge front sight but I wasn't going to destroy the collector value of such a fine pistol so I sold it to a friend of mine who collects S&W's. http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7484/054vzr.jpg http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2761/053nde.jpg http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7484/055roc.jpg http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2117/056ywr.jpg Flame cut line indicates a fair amount of use. I've never seen a flame cut top strap. Could the line just above the forcing cone on the top strap we're calling a flame cut just be a build up of lead spatter? Anyone have a good pic of a flame cut top strap? I would appreciate that Alot. Thank Yous. -VonBarky- (the OP) |
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I bought this 28-2 for $300 and sold it for $500 less than six months later. I decided I really wanted a Patridge front sight but I wasn't going to destroy the collector value of such a fine pistol so I sold it to a friend of mine who collects S&W's. http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7484/054vzr.jpg http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2761/053nde.jpg http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7484/055roc.jpg http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2117/056ywr.jpg Flame cut line indicates a fair amount of use. I've never seen a flame cut top strap. Could the line just above the forcing cone on the top strap we're calling a flame cut just be a build up of lead spatter? Anyone have a good pic of a flame cut top strap? I would appreciate that Alot. Thank Yous. -VonBarky- (the OP) The angles make it hard to really tell how deep it is, but here are a few. 
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Just to jump in, flame cutting is normal, and if you shoot magnum loads it will happen. The new Nightguards from S&W have a steel shield to protect the alloy frame, but on a steel gun it is generally accepted that it will go so far and stop. Not like your gun is going to fall into two pieces from it.
From wiki (not my favorite gun info source, but it was handy): "Flame cutting is a destructive phenomenon that occurs in some firearms (usually revolvers) as a result of hot gases under high pressure. The most common manifestation is on the underside of a revolver top strap, where the hot, high-velocity gases released when a round is fired begin to cut through just above and in front of the cylinder. In most cases, this is self-limiting; eventually, the depth of the cut will place the undamaged material far enough away that the heat and pressure of the gas will have dissipated to harmless levels. This limiting tends to occur before structural integrity is compromised." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_cutting_(firearms) All it says is that the gun has been used. Nice to have guns without, but hard to have shooters that don't show any. 
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While a little flame cutting is considered normal on a revolver with a lot of use I have found it can happen with very little use on guns with a large(but still factory aceptable) barrel/cylinder gap. And as stated before- it is usually self limiting.
Most revolvers with tight BC gaps will go a long time before getting any flame cutting. |
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My 28-2 with standard grips. I think the trigger on my model 66 is better than this particular model 28.
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll58/jes517-photos/DSC_0291.jpg |
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[ I've never seen a flame cut top strap. Could the line just above the forcing cone on the top strap we're calling a flame cut just be a build up of lead spatter? Anyone have a good pic of a flame cut top strap? I would appreciate that Alot. Thank Yous. -VonBarky- (the OP) The worst flame cut frame I've ever seen on a S&W was a 1917 45 ACP. The frame above the forcing cone had a small football shaped crater in the top frame strap. The gun still shot fine and had really good accuracy. I bought a Model 66 cheap that the owner thought had the frame flame cut badly. A toothbrush and Flitz polish proved it to be more lead splatter than gas cutting. He was shooting a lot of lead 38 Sp out of the gun. The further the gap is set between the forcing cone and cylinder, the more oblong and circular (football shape) the gas cutting will be. The closer the gap is set, the more linear the gas cutting will be. I don't know what the gap was on the 1917 I mentioned above, but it was large I'm sure. The gap on the Model 66 I own is around .004". You have to have a deep pocket to shoot a lot of ammo before the gun will be dangerous to shoot because of flame cutting. I believe it would take tens of thousands of rounds to make an N frame unsafe to shoot because of flame cutting. |
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Where can I get original grips for a Patrolman? OP Ebay or the smith and wesson forum. I'd have to look it up to be 100% certain, but I think M28's came with magna stocks and not targets. Seems ebay doesn't work on my 1999 vintage Dell pc with windows ME. The openeing page comes up then when I try a search the window closes. screw it. In the examples above which are magna and which are target grips? Keep the pics coming. VonBark |
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Here's a link to an ad in the S-W Forum classifieds.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/accessories-misc-sale-trade/120414-kurac-grips-holsters.html He's got a couple of pairs of grips from forum member Kurac, and one is target style with the football relief, the other are magnas. I have couple of sets from Kurac as well, and he does a really good job, putting in the palm swell like the old "Cokes". Very comfortable to shoot with. If you have many questions on S&W's the S-W Forum is a great resource... just sign up, use the search feature on whatever the subject is, and you'll probably get a lot of information. And if you don't, there is a pretty knowledgeable membership there, and they don't mind answering questions. HTH |
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[ I've never seen a flame cut top strap. Could the line just above the forcing cone on the top strap we're calling a flame cut just be a build up of lead spatter? Anyone have a good pic of a flame cut top strap? I would appreciate that Alot. Thank Yous. -VonBarky- (the OP) The worst flame cut frame I've ever seen on a S&W was a 1917 45 ACP. The frame above the forcing cone had a small football shaped crater in the top frame strap. The gun still shot fine and had really good accuracy. I bought a Model 66 cheap that the owner thought had the frame flame cut badly. A toothbrush and Flitz polish proved it to be more lead splatter than gas cutting. He was shooting a lot of lead 38 Sp out of the gun. The further the gap is set between the forcing cone and cylinder, the more oblong and circular (football shape) the gas cutting will be. The closer the gap is set, the more linear the gas cutting will be. I don't know what the gap was on the 1917 I mentioned above, but it was large I'm sure. The gap on the Model 66 I own is around .004". You have to have a deep pocket to shoot a lot of ammo before the gun will be dangerous to shoot because of flame cutting. I believe it would take tens of thousands of rounds to make an N frame unsafe to shoot because of flame cutting. The 1917 had the football-shaped depression milled into the gun to prevent topstrap cutting, my friend. By removing a small amount of metal in this area it allowed the gasses to dissapate. My Colt 1917 and Official Police also have this feature. Rest assured this was intentionally done at the factory and not a result of top-strap gas cutting. |
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The 1917 had the football-shaped depression milled into the gun to prevent topstrap cutting, my friend. By removing a small amount of metal in this area it allowed the gasses to dissapate. My Colt 1917 and Official Police also have this feature. Rest assured this was intentionally done at the factory and not a result of top-strap gas cutting. I didn't know that. It's been a long time since I had my hands on a 1917 S&W or Colt. I shot a lot of them over the years but it's been at least 25, maybe 30, since I shot one. I should have bought one and kept it. At least one of the Brazilian jobs. Thanks for the info. But I don't believe you. You'll have to send me those guns of yours so I will. 
I'll be glad to keep them safe for you.
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Quoted: Since everyone is posting pictures... http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/28-2b-760.jpg $450 last year. The guy threw in the Cokes since he had no use for a set of old take off grips... I fookin' hate you. |
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Since everyone is posting pictures... http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/28-2b-760.jpg $450 last year. The guy threw in the Cokes since he had no use for a set of old take off grips... I fookin' hate you. Yeah, I get that a lot.
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Since everyone is posting pictures... http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/28-2b-760.jpg $450 last year. The guy threw in the Cokes since he had no use for a set of old take off grips... I fookin' hate you. Yeah, I get that a lot. You bought a set of grips and got the gun for free. Why can't I find deals like that? 
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I've seen cokes on e-bay with bidding up to $700!! Yeah, but they were a lot fancier than those plain Jane slabs I've got. I figure these are probably $300 - $400 depending on the day. Believe me, I'm not all upset about that or anything. They turned a good deal into a pretty sweet deal.
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