Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Found My S&W Model 18-3 .22

Sweet 22 !

The Real Hawkeye: I am so glad you "found" that missing "Masterpiece".
I refuse (at this point in my life/gun collecting career) to shoot either of my Model 18's.
My Model 18's are the "dash 4" era guns but both are pristine.
Would love to own a "dash 3" if you ever get the urge to sell.
Again, good for you locating that super-cool pistol.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

To me, havin’ a fine gun and not shootin’ the heck out of it, is like having a fine wife and not banging’ the heck out of her. Use the fancy silverware and the fancy plates every flippin’ day.

LOL.

Been a while. I used to shoot my Model 17 quite a bit, back in the 1980s. Sold it, though, in the 1990s. Shouldn't have. I'll be keeping this one.

Shot it today, in fact. Great shooter.



Ten yard, standing, off hand, group.

I just went out and shot mine. Mine's a little older.

Fine revolver! I wish I had held onto mine, but foolishly let it get away. With that said, I found less use for my M18 than for my M63 and M17. And I still have those two old S&W gems.

My thoughts exactly!

I also have two 18-4’s. They are definitely my favorite to pack and just a real pleasure to shoot.
They came from an era when a man could spend a little extra and have a real “masterpiece “.

Nice Hogues.

I have tried virtually everything for grips. Most of them knock my knuckle pretty hard on the triggerguard. Once I finally tried the Monogrip, it was like a gift from above. It gets my knuckle down out of the way! No knuckle knocking! I won't have anything else now.

To have so many guns that you lose track of what you have, that is such a beautiful thing. It's midnight here, but when I read your post out loud the birds started singing outside our windows.

Monogrips are awesome. Been a fan for many years.

😂

My contribution
18-4

Nice. Box and all.

i gave a pre-18 to one son and a 18-1 to the other on their 21st birthdays. i have a 17 but need to pick up another 18 for me one of these days when i get around to selling off a couple long guns.

My 18-3 was the first one and then came the m63 and 17-4
I don't shoot any of them near enough. The day I got the 18-3 I made a mistake he had 2 of them at the time1 was all I could afford. Many times I 've wished that I was able to get them both. Cost me 185 bucks that was some money back in the late 70's. Mb

I was just looking at the article on the Model 18 in my Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson, and it seems the -4 was the last engineering change recorded with a dash number, despite the fact that some changes did indeed occur after the -4, such as the pinned barrel going away in 1982. You'd think that the post-1981s would then be cataloged as the dash fives (-5), but they aren't.

The Model 18 was discontinued completely in 1985. They did, however, start producing the Model 17 in a four inch version in that year.

I have an M18-3 and 17-2 with the somewhat rare 5" barrel. I thought maybe it was a cut barrel but the lettering on the barrel is centered exactly dead center so it came from the factory that way. If I had to let go of one or the other, I'd keep that 17-2 but as I don't have let one go, I'll happily keep both until I pass. FWIW, that 17-2 shoots like a rifle. With any kind of a decent rest I can give empty adult beverage cans a very bad time at 100 yards. I don't do quite that well with the 18-3 but I still scare hell out of them.
Paul B.

Hmmm... I better go look for my K22 haven't seen it for awhile....