Tradin' guns 21st century style

Guns Magazine, June, 2005 by John Taffin

Until the passage of the GCA '68 (Gun Control Act of 1968, more often labeled the Infamous Gun Control Act), trading guns in this country was relatively simple. Magazines were filled with ads allowing anyone to order by mail. Thousands upon thousands of military surplus firearms, such as S&W and Colt Model 1917s, Colt 1911s, Enfield and Webley revolvers, along with such long guns as Springfield 1903s, Enfield 1917s, SMLEs, and Model 98 Mausers, were sold with little or no red tape, paperwork, or questions. My first 1911 and Springfield '03 came from the NRA and were delivered to me, a 17-year-old, by Railway Express. They both cost less than $15 each. For nearly 25 years following WWII this was normal procedure and few if any were ever used for criminal acts.

Thirty-five years after passage of GCA '68, there are no more ads offering such useful firearms; a federal firearms license is needed, in most cases, to transfer guns across state lines; and everyone purchasing a firearm from a dealer must either have a concealed weapons permit or go through a background check. Supposedly all of this was set up to control crime but in actuality all it does is put further controls on honest citizens. Welcome to the 21st century.

Also long gone are the days when it was possible to cross into Mexico and trade guns. Remember Skeeter Skeleton's story of trading a new .38/44 for a Colt Single Action Army south of the border? Now anyone taking a handgun into Mexico or Canada has a good chance of never being seen in polite society again. Gun trading surely still exists however in a much different form. I also have to define what I mean by "trading." I rarely trade a gun for a gun. My trading material is normally folding green or small plastic. My wife prefers it this way as her family normally lives into their 90s, while I have long ago passed the life expectancy of the male members of my family. She figures to spend several years, perhaps decades, living off of my guns by trading them back for cash as needed. To her, another gun brought into the house is just another piece of her future security.

Sources

Most of the sixguns I trade for come from two sources, readers and the Internet. There are many readers out there who know what I like and the Internet can be invaluable if one knows with whom one is dealing. In the past several years I have purchased or traded for a half-dozen plus sixguns through the Internet, while finding four more thanks to sharp-eyed readers. In every case, the revolvers I wound up with were as good or better than advertised.

I do not spend hours searching the Internet for bargains nor do I visit auction sites. My so-called surfing has been limited to two sites for the past four years, those being sixgunner.com and sixguns.com. During this time I have found several .44 Special S&Ws. One of the posters had an unfired pair of Model 24s, the 4"Smith & Wessons made in 1983. They were very reasonably priced, so much so that my wife purchased them without any bargaining, very unusual for her, and presented them to me for my birthday. These sixguns were the descendants of the very rare pre-Model 24 4" 1950 Target Models produced at mid century. After 30 years of looking for one of the latter, I actually found one posted on one of the above web sites. Its price was more than the asking price for the pair of Model 24s, however, I was delighted to find one even at that price. It was advertised as being almost new and it certainly was. Its acquisition ended an almost endless longing.

Finally

Another .44 Special Smith & Wesson I have been searching for seemingly forever has been the forerunner of the 1950 Target, a.k.a. the 4th Model Hand Ejector, and that is the 1926 Model or 3rd Model Hand Ejector. Over the years I have seen these in excellent shape with high dollar prices or in beater condition neither of which appealed to me. Then I received a call from a reader in the Northwest alerting me to the sale of another like new 4" Smith & Wesson .44 Special that turned out to be a fixed sighted 1926 Model with the kicker being that it was made the same year I was. The price was in between the pair of 24s and the 1950 Target, and again I was most happy to acquire it.

SAA's

Colt Single Actions, especially 1st Generation "shooters," are a particular personal passion. For me, finding excellent shooting examples without help is almost impossible these days. Enter a reader, in fact one of our advertisers, from Oregon. He called to let me know that a local dealer had three old Colts for sale. Calling him I was informed that they were a 7 1/2" .4440 Frontier Six-Shooter c. 1879; and two 4 3/4" Model Ps, one a .32-20 from 1902, and the other a .45 Colt made the same year the United States entered the Great War. They were described as being in good working order with all the original parts including the grips, however, they had been stored for over 50 years and had very little finish left.

An offer was made without seeing them and I was told by the gun shop owner he would get back to me. He called me later to say he had a higher bid, which I matched, and I heard the gratifying: "They are yours if you want them.". The .44-40 had no finish whatsoever and the "Frontier Six-Shooter" on the left side of the barrel was barely readable. It was however in excellent mechanical shape, the cylinder locked up extremely tight, and it still had the original one-piece wooden stocks. Both of the 4 3/4" Model Ps had some blue and case coloring left with the .32-20 being in exceptionally fine shape.