Yesterday (August 4th) I attended an auction here in SW Montana and of all things I won the bidding on a "reportedly" unfired and minty S&W Model 18-4 (Combat Masterpiece?) in 22 L.R.
The previous owner approached me after I bought the pistol and relayed to me that he had purchased the pistol new about 35 years ago and never fired it. I asked him about the possibility of the original box laying around somewhere in his house and he said he had not seen it in a long time.
I did not think to ask him about the grips that were on the pistol. I just assumed they were the original factory S&W grips.
The grips are the large, what I call "target grips" style.
Anyway today I took the pistol to a friends home and he has the exact same pistol (Model 18-4) and yet his pistol has the smallish S&W grips on it - my friend said that was what came on his pistol that he also bought new back in the 1980's!
My Blue Book of Gun Values does not give any info on which grips the Model 18 22 L.R. Combat Masterpiece came with but it does give information on the option of target trigger and target hammer for this pistol.
Anyone know if the Model 18-4's came with the large frame covering S&W grips or the smaller just frame sized grips?
I have tried a computer search but no luck so far.
Thanks for any information.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
