Buying a used revolver?

the spank

the spank

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I haven’t owned a revolver now since 1992 and at the time had a pair of S&W’s in 357 which I purchased brand new. I shot them very little and honestly have extremely limited knowledge of hanguns period. I have decided to upgrade my PAL to an RPAL and look for a used revolver or two. What kind of things do you check for when purchasing a used revolver? What kind of pertinent questions would I ask sellers in the EE if interested in a particular item they are selling? I see a few 686’s and 629’s that have caught my attention if that helps?
 
It is pretty hard to wear out a quality handgun such as a S&W or Ruger etc.

Check for damage, particularly for a 'ringed' barrel or damaged crown. If you are inexperienced, you may want to go through a local gun shop instead of an online purchase for your first buy.
 
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A little while back, retailers were selling new S&W 686 for $729. Not sure if that's the case now but it was as much or cheaper than a used one off the EE (before taxes in some cases).
 
Check for cylinder play when locked up. Try to "push off" the hammer to see if it will fall while cocked. Look for cracks/erosion around the forcing cone. Check for gas-cutting of the top strap at the forcing cone, not a real issue, just an indication of use. Check the crane for straightness when locked up.
 
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the spank said:
I haven’t owned a revolver now since 1992 and at the time had a pair of S&W’s in 357 which I purchased brand new. I shot them very little and honestly have extremely limited knowledge of hanguns period. I have decided to upgrade my PAL to an RPAL and look for a used revolver or two. What kind of things do you check for when purchasing a used revolver? What kind of pertinent questions would I ask sellers in the EE if interested in a particular item they are selling? I see a few 686’s and 629’s that have caught my attention if that helps?
Click to expand...

Check the timing of the cylinder. Check the cylinder gap. Best with feeler gauges and rotating the cylinder by hand.

Hard to show in photos.
 
Have I got a deal for you...just kidding. Unless somebody has actually broken the revolver, the chances of buying one that's worn out are pretty slim.
At 10K rounds I made the mistake of getting all worried about timing and end shake and found this http://www.friedmanhandguntraining.com/Gun_Maintenance/S&W_revolver_inspection.pdf
I might check mine again at 20K rounds, maybe.. Either one of the guns the OP is considering should last virtually forever with basic maintenance.
 
For a S&W, have a close look at pictures of the sideplate screws to see if they look like they've been removed with an incorrectly-sized screwdriver. The sideplate should fit absolutely flush, too. if it doesn't it may have been incorrectly pried off the frame and slightly bent.
 
The checks the others described are a good way of checking out a gun. But it sort of assumes you have the gun in your hands to do the checking. So that limits you to shopping locally where you can actually handle the revolvers you are considering. Sort of takes the idea of shopping on the EE out of the options.

Now if you're fussy you should look for guns with a good tight lockup that hardly have any play at all. You likely won't be happy if you don't have that.

But a little shake and a little end play isn't the end of the world if what you want is an everyday shooter. A Model 28 Highway Patrolman that I bought early on before I knew about how to test stuff on them has an amount of both that likely would have worried me enough to hand the gun back and keep moving. But in the end it has proven to be a superb shooting gun which works as well as my "tight" S&W's

And in fact some sources will say that a S&W that locks up TOO tight is not going to be smooth on the trigger.
 
In front of the owner make sure to open the cylinder, spin it fast and then slam the cylinder closed by flicking your wrist like the detectives in the movies and on TV shows.

It provess you are a real pro and the owner will love you for it..........
 
Check for excessive cylinder notch peening.
If the Revo has been used for competition where speed is everything, they can peen over time and cause the cylinders to skip.

Nobody likes when skip shows up, he's an a**
 
While it's been stated that buying a bad used revolver probably won't happen, I would not agree. In recent years, in my experience, it has not been that unusual to encounter a Ruger single action Vaquero or Blackhawk with slow timing, right out of the box new.

While not that much of a problem if you #### them normally, because inertia and hammer over-travel will effect safe cylinder lockup, cocking one of these quite slowly may not effect cylinder lockup. Disturbing and undesirable, if not completely unsafe. And not acceptable.

It's something to check for. Also such revolvers that have been heavily used may exhibit excessive cylinder endplay from heavy magnum loads, as well as a timing problem.
 
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