Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns S&W Model 10 at Buds Gunshop

I have been eyeing these for a while now but I am no S&W guru so I will ask you guy for you opions. Is this police trade in from Buds a good deal at $269? Which would be better square butt or round, I am leaning toward square? It would serve as a plicker that rest in the night stand mostly.

Model 10 Link

On a round butt gun you can get round-to-square conversion grips if you don't like the feel of round butt grips. You can't go the other way on a square butt gun.

Seems like a good deal. You could spend a lot of time waiting for a better deal, and not do much better at all.

I would say that's a pretty good deal. Hard to go wrong with a model 10.

Good price. Model Tens are awesome, and great bargains considering the quality and usefulness.

The butt style depends on your purpose. For concealed carry, the round butt is best. For service or sports carry, or home defense, the square butt is best. The square butt is best for shooting, and the round but, though slightly inferior for shooting, makes carrying concealed, without "printing," easier.

Buy it. You'll find something to do with it.

That's a great price for that gun. The problem is, that gun is not a pic of the gun you're getting. If you read down the page you'll see the guns on sale are 70-80% guns and that one appears to be about 95% or more. You get down in the range they are talking about, as opposed to what they are showing, and you're getting a pretty doggy Smith. A 95% model 10 will cost you around $400 around here. They vary widely as to locality. The gun spoken of is worth about what they're asking, so it isn't a bargain. The rest is just dependent upon whether you want a doggy, old police trade in.

Surface rust?

How much surface rust?

That said, a round butt model 10 with a 4" barrel is never not a good thing to have in the night stand.

Get two of them. One day, they'll be scarce.

Nonsense.

The part about concealability of the round butt is just barely within the bounds of credibility.

I bought one a few months ago....it was in very good shape and shoots great (very accurate)....don't think you can go wrong at that price....

Not at all. I've carried both square butt and round butt frame K-Frames, and the square butts clearly print more. Not even close.

This would be my opinion as well. The price of used S&W revolvers has jumped anywhere from 75 to 100% over the last two or three years, so $269 is a pretty good price. Even if these have some cosmetic issues you can't hardly wear out a K-frame .38 Special. The last time they had these police trade-ins they sold out in a couple of days. Who knows, if you call and ask nicely maybe you can get them to pick out one of the better ones for you. You never know unless you ask.

If I had a choice, I would choose the round. More flexibility in shaping the grips to fit your hands. I have a roundbutt 2 1/2" model 19, and I find the grip is very comfortable.

I had a guy talked down to $365, IIRC, on a 10, awhile back. It was in better shape than the description of these. It was probably close to 95%, certainly over 90%. I'd personally rather pay $100 more and get more condition. To each his own though. The 10 is a fine weapon for the use described.

This.

A 70-80% gun would be rated "fair" to "good" condition, or $125-$150.

The 2011 Standard Catalog of Firearms shows the Model 10:

New in box $500 (100%)
Excellent $300 (98%)
Very Good $200 (92%)
Good $150 (80%)
Fair $125 (70%)

Condition is only everything.

Here's a 4" Model 10 police trade-in for $400 (so far). Seems to be in a little better shape than the Bud's guns.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=265217471

I don't find those prices very realistic. If a Model 10 is functional, there's no amount of finish wear that lowers the value to $125 IMO. Cop guns are typically more finish worn than shot worn, and distributors will typically under-grade their guns to avoid problems with unhappy customers. I don't know what these guns actually look like, but I have a hard time believing that's not at least a decent deal.

if anyone want's to sell theirs for $125, I would be a buyer....

You're taking a chance buying sight unseen but based on the "reviews" it looks like there's an even chance of getting one of the better looking ones and the ones that don't look so good will probably work fine.

If you decide later you want to upgrade and trade it in or sell it there's a good chance you'll get at least half your money back. It seems like not too bad a deal if you don't want to do some looking for a better one and need a revolver right now.

I've got a couple of police trade in S&W revolvers, a Model 10 & a Model 15 I've had for over 20 years. I paid around $150/160 for them back then. They show some holster wear but always work and are more accurate than most people can hold.