Well, I bought it.
Okay, turns out it is a M13-2, S/N 8D47XXX, which indicates 1981 production. My dealer friend, name of Mike, showed up with this and a couple of other nice items, but this was the object of my attention. The tag he had on it was $345. He said the $325 he quoted on the phone WAS my discounted price, 'cause I'm a pretty good customer.
This was one of several nice S&Ws he'd picked up in a collection recently - - I'd seen some old pre-model 10s, a fairly early Combat Masterpiece (pre-15,) and an early 1960s M19. This and a few others had been toward the bottom of the crate.
At first glance, the 13 does look primo - - No blue wear even on sharp corners, pristine stocks with sharp checking, no cartridge case rubs on the standing breech. Under strong light, the cylinder front shows it's been fired, probably with non-magnum loads. A turn line barely shows on the blue of the cylinder, but no bare metal shows. Matching small rub marks on the muzzle and toe of the butt, but no rubs on the cylinder, so it had probably set in the box on the brown VPI paper wrap.
The heart breaking part: It looks as if someone bled on it - - a series of rough spots on the R side just above the trigger, one about 1/4" and several others from 1/16 to 1/8". There is one such 1/8" spot on the opposite side. These spots drop the condition from a strong 99% to about 95%. Oh, well - - So now I won't feel bad about shooting it.
Really, the $325 price wasn't bad, but I HAD to haggle a bit. Pointing out the bad spots (which one could easily overlook in poor light, while examining a dozen other firearms,) and bewailing the local 8.25% sales tax, PLUS the danged form 4473 - - I wrote a check for $320. (Of course, I prefer to think of it as $295.61 plus tax.)
I'll try to get a couple of images. If not, well, you all know how a blue model 13 looks.
Best,
Johnny
