I made a deal on a duplicate 629 that was my brother's. Due to a messy divorce, and an assault warrant falsely sworn out by his ex, he had to get rid of all his firearms, so he gave them to me. Three Smiths, a Ruger .44mag semiauto carbine (why did they ever discontinue that?), and a rather beat-up shotgun. That 629 was a dupe, and therefore prime trading material.
You are probably right about the decline in workmanship, and I despise that "safety", and will somehow render it inoperative, but for the rest, I'll have to wait and see.
This must have been my week for trades. I traded my M4E(economy) to my best buddy for a early-80s pre-ban item. Details probably next week, when I sort through all the accessories he threw in.
In both our cases, 30 years ago we had money to buy stuff, but no time to play with it. Now we don't have the money, but we do have the time. I'll build another M-faux or AR57 as soon as I can save $200-300 on a complete upper. Those deals don't come often, but I built each one that way.
In today's world, he figured it was time to reacquaint himself with "America's rifle", since he only fired a few shots from an M16 while he served on a PBR on the Mekong in 1968.
Yep yep yep..... that’s a deal then.
I love old S&W’s. I panic when I see one being sold or traded....:o)
I agree on the time and money concept.
The ruger 44 carbines are nice. I have 1 NIB safe queen and 1 well used one I used to keep on a ATV rack all the time. It’s weathered and shows a lot of use yet still works great. Replaced the stock long ago with a boyds laminate that holds up well against nature. Action was rattle can rustolium’d which works very very well for a “working gun” ......