The photo at left is from an on-line forum and depicts an early Model 58 in fabulous condition.That Model 58 stayed with me for almost 30 years until a burglary in 2004 and it was one of 4 guns I really wanted to get back. So far, no luck there.
In January of this year, I found a Model 58 with goodyear grips and wearing a nickle finish in a bay area gun shop. Since these are scarce as turkey lips, bought it. Just handling it brought back fond memories and shooting it showed that it was just what I had come to love about the gun.
With the "Police" loading - a 210 grain bullet at just under 1,000 fps - it delivers over 450 ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle. That's between 20% to 30% more power than .45 ACP or .38 +P. The only problem was that it had a nickle finish. Beautiful as it is, I'm not a big fan of nickle guns. The constant worry that the finish can be chipped, the shiny finish can reflect light at a critical moment, either into your eyes or enough that your opponent can locate you in the dark and cleaning them requires a little more care to avoid scratches.Then, last week a friend of mine emailed me to inquire about a blued Model 58 he'd seen in a local gun shop. It was an older gun with an "S" serial number prefix and he said it had a mild case of rust-freckling on the backstrap and part of the frame. So I drove 80 miles to look it over. With gas prices here hovering around $3.30 a gallon, a Model 58 is one of the few guns I'd drive my green gas-hog pick-up truck to see.
In the ambient lighting of a gunshop it didn't look too bad. But I pulled out my Surefire 6P flashlight and the Xenon lamp revealed the true extent of the corrosion. Sadly, the gun didn't only have rust-freckling but some larger areas of corrosion under the triggerguard. It appeared that it sat in a drawer at one time, probably near a bathroom where moisture from the shower could reach it. But none of the rust appeared to have pitted the gun...yet. Reluctantly I paid a princely sum for a gun in this condition, but with nearly new specimens hitting the $800 range (or more!) I thought this might be a decent shooter. If necessary, I could always clean it up and send it to either S&W or Ford's custom gun refinishing for a professional job. And I justified all of this by reminding myself that my birthday was coming up in four days.
Not that I'll be able to have it on my birthday, however. California has a ten day waiting period. Thus, I'll pick up this S&W hand-cannon the day before Independence Day. But those ten days are agonizingly slow, especially since I feel like a kid with ten days until Christmas. I can only imagine how it feels to someone who is waiting those ten days because they need a gun now. I wrote previously about Global Warming and I can make a lot of comments about the stupidity of attempting to "fix" it. But it seems to me that California should repeal this 10-day waiting period and use NICS because of Global Warming. Why? It would elminate a second trip to the gun shop - especially ones far away - and lower pollution while saving oil! If most states can rely on NICS, why can't California? (Yes, we all know it is really to inconvenience gun owners and has little to do with "safety".)
Once I get this previously owned and slightly neglected Model 58 out to the range, I'll update here with a range report. For those of you who are fans of the .41 Magnum and the Model 58 in particular, read Payton Miller's article in the June issue of Guns & Ammo on this gun.
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