My "new" S&W 14-1

[spacecoast]

Found this a few weeks ago on Gunbroker for under $300. It has a little holster wear and some scratches around the outline of the old grips, but is in great mechanical shape. Manufactured in 1961, serial # K432xxx, this model was known as the "K38 Target Masterpiece" prior to the introduction of the model number system. I replaced the wood grips with Hogues, and also replaced the trigger rebound spring with a lighter Wolff spring so it has a very nice DA trigger. The gun performed great today shooting DA targets at 25 yards in an NRA 900 match. Single action wasn't so good at 50 yards, but I attribute that to my own lack of skill with SA. Balance is excellent and it's a lot less fatiguing to hold steady one-handed than my full-lug 6" 686-4.

 

[DoctorXring]

.

You did good at sub $300 on that gun if it's right and tight. One of the
finest revolvers ever built.

have fun !

.

 

[Andy Taylor]

Very nice. I love my Pre-14. (I refer to it as my "Adam-12" gun.) They are fantastic revolvers, and you stole that one.

 

[longranger]

You need "rubbers":barf: on a .38 Special ? looks terrible on such a nice revolver.

 

[longlane]

clearly the sa problems are the gun's fault

And I'd hate for someone to have to deal with a bad s&w. I'm sure I could help you out of it should you decide to rid yourself of such a problem piece. LOL

Looks good! Congrats on a great find!

 

[spacecoast]

looks terrible on such a nice revolver

Normally I would agree with you, and still do, but this one is a shooter and the Hogues just work SO much better for me that's it's an easy choice. I try to get a nice high grip like Jerry Miculek teaches and it's been working well for me with the Hogues. In addition, those "rubbers" cover up some pretty significant scratches in the finish. Fortunately those scratches do not affect the gun's operation.

 

[cole k]

You done well!

 

[stevieboy]

Nice gun. A few weeks ago I paid $400 for a 14-2, made in '65, and thought that I'd gotten a good deal. Yours is better. I also put rubbers on mine, Pachmayrs in my case. It's not so much to handle the recoil (negligible with 158gr. LNR) but in order to give me a consistently high grip on the gun. It produces impressive groups at 25 yards, that's for sure.

 

[AzShooter]

Nice grab. I'd love to just see one of those at our local gunshows. I'd pick it up in an instant and retire my 686.

 

[aarondhgraham]

Under $300.00?,,, We hafta hate you just a bit,,,

Find a Model 17 that nice for that price and we'll really have to hate you.

Nice find my friend,,,
I'm jealous.

Aarond

 

[spacecoast]

Find a Model 17 that nice for that price and we'll really have to hate you

I hear ya Aarond, and I doubt if that's going to happen, but I'll let you know if it does . The seller was NR at the time and I have a feeling that helped dampen the bidding a bit.

BTW, any idea why the 17 is 40 oz. and the 14 is only 35 oz? Is it the extra metal removed from the cylinder for the bigger cartridges?

 

[Casimer]

BTW, any idea why the 17 is 40 oz. and the 14 is only 35 oz? Is it the extra metal removed from the cylinder for the bigger cartridges?

Most likely. S&W had apparently gone to the effort to design the masterpiece line so that they were nearly identical in weight and dimension. This was to facilitate their use in target shooting - so your training with one would one carried over to the others.

 

[MrBorland]

Is it the extra metal removed from the cylinder for the bigger cartridges?

And the barrel. And small other things like a slightly different star ratchet, hand...and IIRC, the K-22 uses a frame-mounted firing pin, no? I don't have access to my safe right now, or I'd have looked.

Just for fun, I guessed at the cylinder length and used the density of steel (0.283 lb/cu inch) to calculate the weight difference based only on the chamber and bore differences and came up with 5.4 oz - almost exactly the difference.

 

[MLeake]

rubbers, appearance, and function

I just removed a set of Jordan Troopers from one of my .44mags, because while they looked incredible, they hurt my thumb. I put on a Hogue rubber monogrip, and the problem was solved.

Now, I think I may remove the Coyote fingergroove woods from my other .44mag, and replace with Hogue rubber; same reason. Plus, it will give me identical grip shape, feel, and trigger reach on my Mountain Gun and my 629 6".

I have that same grip on my GP100 4".

Sometimes it's nice to have things at least somewhat standardized.

My uncle was an extreme case of that, when he was doing low-level pistol competitions. His 686 and his 625 had rubber finger-groove grips; so did his Springfield 1911. They all had similar sights. They all had 3.5lb single action pulls.

Transitioning was no problem at all for him.

Now, if one is worried more about appearance than function, then yes - those rubbers are kind of ugly.

But I'm not too worried about that.

 

[spacecoast]

I guessed at the cylinder length and used the density of steel (0.283 lb/cu inch) to calculate the weight difference based only on the chamber and bore differences and came up with 5.4 oz - almost exactly the difference.

Very cool MrBorland - nice catch.

 

[Eagle0711]

I picked up a model 14-4 last summer in excellant shape other than slight holster wear for $300 in a pawn shop last summer.

Since my wife likes only revolvers I'm considering sighting it in for 110 plus P plus HPs. Should make a good set up for a bedside gun.

Chuck Taylor shot a full sized deer at 80 meters with the same gun and load.