Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Need some advice from the S&W collectors

I need some advice from the S&W collectors. I have been in the market for a model 17 and picked a 17-8 Lew Horton heritage series with the case colored frame from the performance center, at a good price. This came with box, manual, and spent shell. Condition is 99% with just a light drag line. I do not have safe queens and was wondering if I should get a set of target grips for this and start shooting it, or try to make a few bucks and buy a shooter. From reading, it appears that the 17-8 is the least desirable series but this one has a steel 6 shot cylinder and people that have shot them say they are excellent shooters. Any and all opinions welcome.
Thanks

Shoot it.

Generally the newer S&W's with MIM internals are not appreciated by collectors. That doesn't mean they're bad guns, and they're not. So there's two ways to look at it...

1 - Absolutely that gun is going to be a real collectors piece one of these days. Prices are already heading north and they're unlikely to dip south ever again. So it can be a solid investment to make money on, provided you bought right, and that's what you want do do.

2 – It’s a cool gun, and you will always have the coolest revolver at the range when you pull that one out. It has all the old school looks, but it’s a completely modern revolver that will run like a scalded dog for at least a century. So you have a shooter that looks like a supermodel. That’s the route I’d go!!
And keep this in mind… That gun will always go up in price, so if you shoot the living crap out of it for the next decade, you can still sell it for as much or more than what you paid!!

If you are trying to make money, do it in something other than guns. Yes you can hold on to a 500 dollar gun and not shoot or enjoy it for 25 years which is pointless. Or you can take that 500 dollars and invest it in a stock, bond, etc, where it will accrue interest/compound interest. Compound interest is the interest on a loan or deposit that accrues on both the initial principal and the accumulated interest from previous periods. You will make far more money by investing wisely than buying safe queens.

Buy a gun because you want to shoot it.

Pure gold!

That's just crazy talk...where do you come up with this stuff

Thanks for all of the advice. Gungeek’s advice was exactly what I was looking for. I do not buy to make money, it was just that this looked so nice that I just needed a little coaxing to actually start using it. I normal like old guns with freckles and character marks. I now realize that this is not some pristine rare old collectable that some collector would cherish. It is just a beautiful modern distributor’s limited run. It will be shot and enjoyed.

Mackay Sagebrush: Consider this, as an opposing view of your "contention"!
I have many, many, many dozens of collectors guns - guns I bought as an investment and never intended to shoot.
In addition to the investment guns I now own, I have bought and sold a few hundred more over the last 6 decades and I do not recall losing money on any of those - some I shot some I just enjoyed the pride of ownership and then enjoyed the profit I made on those investment guns.
Consider those profits as untaxed if you will - try and do that with your "stocks and bonds", IF they appreciate at all - and try not to pay taxes on those that do appreciate (been there done that!)!
For instance one wonderful collector gun I bought years ago (a mint condition pre-64 Winchester Model 70 in caliber 22 Hornet) I recently turned down a cash offer that was just over 11 (eleven!) times what I paid for it.
I have owned that Rifle for decades and enjoyed every year of doing so.
Come July of next year though I will begin selling my collection (including that wonderful Hornet!) and my profits will be kept private - no taxation.
There are many reasons to buy guns - and take it from someone who knows, "shooting" them, is definitely NOT the only one!
Long live the Second Amendment.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Shooting 'em makes the memories.
Unless one will get their simple mental pleasure in their dotage only remembering the smell and feel of a well-oiled rag long after forgetting the safe combination.
I choose to have both.
The dollars of their future sale will only go to pay for the monthly rate at the care home.
Or, to those making the decisions. LOL

Good call, you won't regret it. Just shoot it until the barrel falls off. I gotta say, I absolutely LOVE the look of those; they're just so cool. They look like they came right out of Ed McGivern's sock drawer.

The 17-8 Heritage is the best of the recent 17’s IMO. It has a non rib barrel like the .22 Outdoorsman. They’re bringing big bucks but me, I’d shoot it.

My buddy had a Fox CH (unfired from the 30’s), he finally had it choked properly and used it for quail hunting for 20 years. He got far more enjoyment from shooting it than he ever would have sitting in a gun cabinet.

I am sick nearly to death of hearing about “collector guns” and “shooters.” My sentiments go with MacKay Sagebrush about the investment potential of guns, but I’d go further an suggest investing in art you can display and enjoy over guns whose cylinders will never be turned that stay locked away. I like to shoot nice guns in good condition and do so; most of the worn out “shooters” have no appeal to me.

Load ‘em up and let ‘em rip!

What GG said.

Varmint,

Consider this the opposing view of your "contention".

Many times you have admonished people not to carry blued guns in leather holsters because it will damage the fine finish.

I simply don't care. When I sell them, or I am dead, the other guy can worry about it.

Here is what was once a pristine 8 & 3/8ths" 29-2:



I had that fine old gun's barrel chopped back to 5"s, ruining any collector value, because I wanted a 5" Model 29-2.



Here is an example of what once was a new in the box 4" 29-2. It has been covered in snow and blood so many times, I cannot recall:





Carried in leather holsters too.



It is probably eating away at the bluing as we speak!

To each their own. I think it is a little pointless to own a bunch of guns that never get shot and worry about getting a turn line on..

Personally I doing my best to wear a couple out.



Completely wearing a good revolver out to the point that it cannot be repaired are the makings of a whole bunch of great memories, fantastic hunts, etc.


Whatever works for you.

I will continue to shoot the hell out of mine.

I have a 17-9, and it is extremely accurate with Norma Tac-22 and Wolf. Single and double action is very smooth, and it balances well.

Take yours out and enjoy it.

Manny

There is no right or wrong answer to shooting or preserving. I’d have to believe nearly all gun collectors are also shooters. It was likely hunting or some other target sport that sparked their interest.

I like to collect guns and round out collections the same way others collect coins or exotic cars that see no use if coins or limited careful use if an exotic car. Ownership and collecting is fun in its own right. Next to the market or real estate firearms are one of the better investment to spend your money on. Unlike real estate with tenants the guns are hassle free and unlike the market a gun collection is something tangible and enjoyable to own.

Twenty or so guns at any one time would be enough to cover any hunting or range need that I have pretty easily. Most of us here probably have a whole lot more than that. The big collectors will have several versions of the same gun and chambering to round out finishes, barrel lengths ect. At some point how many of them do you need or have time shoot frequently if at all? That’s what favorite hunting/carry/range guns are for and are a small overall percentage of a collection unless you stop buying when all of your bases are well covered. The rest are owned for other reasons than need and might get shot or might be left NIB. There’s only so many action types and same or similar chamberings to shoot before it all becomes about the same without much pressing need to take it out to range often. I’d just as soon leave some of those as new or fairly close to it to my kids to sell some day. Having said that my favorite guns are all well taken care of guns that I use the most.

I like keeping my gear in as close to new condition as feasible be it a truck, ATV, or gun. I think we all maintain are guns as well or better than most but some guys like to see the bluing or case hardening wear off as a reminder of good times and others except it as part of use and good times but try to minimize it to the extent possible. Nothing wrong with either.

Nice guns and very nice landscape! Is that the Pahsimeroi Valley in Idaho?

Treat all guns like a hot woman.

Hide them because she's probably crazy???

Try to wear them out.