New revolver

[The Wiz]

I been thinking about getting a wheeled range gun for awhile. It was a matter of caliber, reliability, looks, and price. After much thought, I bought a S&W Model 67, the original police gun of .38 caliber. I picked it up today , and after a quick cleaning, ran about 50 rounds. My groups were about 7 inches at 24 yards. The gun has adjustable rear sight for elevation and windage but I didn't play with it. I just wanted to shoot the thing and have some fun. I did have fun! It is a hefty gun with little felt recoil, with a heavy trigger pull in DA but SA was so sweet!
I'll sight the gun in the next session and I am sure I can tighten up those groups. Maybe some pictures too. I traded In my LCR on it and got a decent price on the gun. The LCR was nice but really no fun to shoot and my priorities have changed in regards to conceal and carry. Stay tuned for further reports on my new baby.

[JEBar]

congrats indeed .... looking forward to the pictures an continued reports

[Mistered]

You have one of the FINEST S & W revolvers EVER made. The mod 67 has been a 'sleeper' in the world of S & W and is beginning to be recognized as a 'player' - I have a mod 66 no dash which is one of the 'quintessential' collectible Smiths but I am currently keeping my eye out for a 67 as well. What is the 'dash' # of yours? Think about a Wolff spring kit for it and maybe polish the trigger parts. My 66 has a Wolff kit and the DA trigger pull is about 7 lbs and the SA is about 1.8 lbs. with no creep or take up.

[PT7]

To "have fun" is the best way to spend time on the range, Wiz. You got it!

And congrats on your new S&W wheel gun. Even today there are a lot of Smith revolver models being produced. They are keeping us revolver lovers quite content! I really like their "classic" line ....always dreaming when I look over their web site.

Looking forward especially to some photos along with your future thots/comments.
Enjoy!!

I been thinking about getting a wheeled range gun for awhile. It was a matter of caliber, reliability, looks, and price. After much thought, I bought a S&W Model 67, the original police gun of .38 caliber. I picked it up today , and after a quick cleaning, ran about 50 rounds. My groups were about 7 inches at 24 yards. The gun has adjustable rear sight for elevation and windage but I didn't play with it. I just wanted to shoot the thing and have some fun. I did have fun! It is a hefty gun with little felt recoil, with a heavy trigger pull in DA but SA was so sweet!
I'll sight the gun in the next session and I am sure I can tighten up those groups. Maybe some pictures too. I traded In my LCR on it and got a decent price on the gun. The LCR was nice but really no fun to shoot and my priorities have changed in regards to conceal and carry. Stay tuned for further reports on my new baby.

[North Country Gal]

That is such a classic revolver, Wiz. You made a great choice. For those of you not familiar with Smiths, the Model 67 is the stainless version of the very famous Model 15 in blue, the quintessential Combat masterpiece 38 Special revolver. The 15, itself, is the adjustable sight version of the fixed sight Model 10 S&W 38 Special revolver, which has been produced in greater numbers than any other revolver in history. In fact you can still buy a Model 10 in the Classic series.

All of these are K frame revolvers, which is really home base for the 38 Special. If you just want to enjoy shooting the 38 Special, you cannot do better than a K frame Smith. It's the perfect match for the 38 Special.

Note that the new vintages of J and K frame 38s are rated to shoot 38 Special +P. If you have an old vintage Smith prior to the development of the 38 +P, I'd recommend only using standard 38 loads.

[GFK]

I have the 65 model. And yes, the SA is sweet. I very seldom shoot it as DA. I guess I should. Congratulations on your purchase, and thanks NCG for the history lesson.

[Mags]

I don't like to shoot DA either. Throws off my aim.

[Mistered]

Note that the new vintages of J and K frame 38s are rated to shoot 38 Special +P. If you have an old vintage Smith prior to the development of the 38 +P, I'd recommend only using standard 38 loads.

'Technically' any .38 Special Smith with a MODEL NUMBER can be shot with + P (even S & W says this) HOWEVER I, like NCG recommend the same - standard .38 Special only!

Model 10 S&W 38 Special revolver, which has been produced in greater numbers than any other revolver in history

This is true - and here is one of the 'Historical' ones - my dad's 'Duffle Bag' Victory model from 1942.

SampW-1 (1).jpg

[Mags]

Nice. I like the older S&Ws.

[North Country Gal]

Love those old Victory guns, too. What tales they could tell.

[Mistered]

Love those old Victory guns, too. What tales they could tell.

'Rule of thumb' is if ANY military gun is in this good of condition it most likely wont have many 'tales to tell' ! - most likely never went overseas!
Kind of like my 1899 Mod 94 I bought a couple years ago - I don't think it made it much past the woods outside of the Bay Area back in the day!

[The Wiz]

You have one of the FINEST S & W revolvers EVER made. The mod 67 has been a 'sleeper' in the world of S & W and is beginning to be recognized as a 'player' - I have a mod 66 no dash which is one of the 'quintessential' collectible Smiths but I am currently keeping my eye out for a 67 as well. What is the 'dash' # of yours? Think about a Wolff spring kit for it and maybe polish the trigger parts. My 66 has a Wolff kit and the DA trigger pull is about 7 lbs and the SA is about 1.8 lbs. with no creep or take up.

My Model says it is a 67-5. I have no clue what that mean. I am going to do what you suggested as the dealer also suggested to get the trigger parts polished. Just need to find a gunsmith now. I am surprised at of all the comments on it. I did not know it had such passionate followers. I chose well.

[Mistered]

My Model says it is a 67-5. I have no clue what that mean.

Typically Every 'dash' number means some sort of design change - usually something subtle in the parts or action but nothing that is really noticeable. For example I have a Mod 66 'no dash' which means initial design of first year of production. A mod 66-1 was the same gun only with a blued rear sight to replace the original stainless steel rear sight on the no-dash due to complaints of the SS being hard to acquire a sight picture due to glare (and this is true! I recently found a nice used blued rear to replace mine)

I am going to do what you suggested as the dealer also suggested to get the trigger parts polished. Just need to find a gunsmith now.

No gunsmith needed! If you are relatively mechanically inclined (and patient) replace the springs and polish the parts yourself - maybe watch a video or study up on it - lots of good info online.

My Mod 66 & Mod 60 'No Dashes'

IMG_0270_3.jpg

[PT7]

That's a fine-looking pair, Mistered. Love the wood grip on the top .357 Magnum....shows beautifully!

[Mistered]

Love the wood grip on the top .357 Magnum....shows beautifully!

Yep - I love 'em also - but it shoots much better with Pachmayr Presentations on it and the 60 now has Diamond Pro !

[North Country Gal]

The -5 indicates your 67 is a fairly current production version of the 67. That's not a bad thing. Just means the way your current 67 has been made differently than a vintage 67. New Smiths are CNC machined to tighter tolerances than vintage Smiths, which, in turn, means less hand fitting of parts required, compared to vintage Smiths. That hand fitting of parts, however, is one of the reasons vintage Smiths are so loved by Smith purists. They really don't make them like they used to.

Having owned a lot of vintage Smiths and new production Smiths, both, I can tell you that it's been my experience that the new CNC machined Smiths are very accurate. You'll lose nothing to vintage Smiths in the accuracy department. I can also tell you that new production Smiths can be a little gritty in their DA pull, but they will smooth up, nicely, with use. As Mistered, says, though, you can speed up the process with a little polishing work, yourself.

Being a newer production gun also means that you might as well shoot the snot out of it. No need to worry about adding wear and tear as with a vintage gun. In fact, that's exactly why I have some of these new production Smiths. They get the hard use and my vintage Smiths only get light use. Your 67-5 is a shooter so get out and have fun with it,

[PT7]

Spot-on about vintage revolvers, NCG. Pretty often hear the sigh and lament, "They really don't make them like they used to." Usually stated by the older folk (my elder age) standing behind the LGS gun counter.

[Mistered]

AND - just for the record the dash numbers only changed with particular models and some retained relatively low dash numbers even to somewhat 'modern' times, while some Smiths have double digit dash numbers. One particular example is the Mod 60-4 which is the last 'dash' number Smith that was a true 'J' frame .38 Special and had a 3" full underlug barrel with adjustable sights and I think ended production in 1991 with a fairly low number being made. I am currently looking for one as it is one of the most sought after 'Modern' Smiths' of all - and I have passed on two over the last couple years but mostly because of condition issues.

[Bugs]

S&W's are very easy to work on. I have been doing trigger work on them for years. Buy yourself a good set of stones, learn how to do it and take your time.

[RanchRoper]

Nice revolver, congrats!