Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Tell me about a Smith & Wesson 65-2

First of all, I have never owned a handgun myself. I have shot a few different types of handguns, but never really had the urge to buy one for myself. Lately I've been thinking about getting a revolver. I haven't been looking for one in particular. Today at the gun shop I saw a 65-2. I think its got a 4 inch barrel. They were asking 300 for it. I just would like to know the good & the bad about the gun and if thats a decent price. Any info would be apprecitated

Thanks,
Ben

Is a decent price and they are VERY good revolvers if fixed sights suit your needs. A lot of them were police issue for years and serves quite well.

Ive got a 65-3 Its shoots well for a 4" gun. Smooth action and great smooth double action pull. I gave 335. for mine and it is an old police issue. For that money I would grab it up if I came across it.

I think Terry nailed it. Great gun. They were more popular back before the L frames came out. Basically they are a model 66 without adjustable sights. I think that price is very good. I'd buy it if it were here and it looked pretty good.

As far as the bad, there just isn't much bad about it. They're a K frame Smith and Wesson which means they are fairly small for a .357 Mag. They would shoot loose with a lot of full power loads and that's why some preferred the larger N frames. The Colt Python was in between the two in size and Smith evidently thought some of their market was being stolen so they developed the L frame which was in between the K and N frames. The L turned out to be very popular-which is why you don't hear as much today about the model 13/19/65/66 family. The K's were all good guns though and as Terry said were very popular with police departments around the country.

To expand a bit on the price...I saw a model 66 today, which is only slightly preferable to the 65 due to the adjustable sights, and it was $425. I considered buying it. I think $300 for a 65 these days is very good. $250 would be spectacular.

They are great revolvers but like someone said above, they don't take well to a steady diet of 357 Mag loads.

NEVER seen one shot enough to stretch the frame or knock it out of time, that on almost 50 years as a pistol smith-armorer. Seen some cracked forcing cones from super hot hand-loads they were never designed to shoot but never from factory/factory spec loads.

Ours were fired for qual 4 times a year with factory .357 loads, this a 96 round course, that is 384 full factory full house loads plus any practice they wanted with them and as much practice folks wanted with factory .38's, MANY thousands of rounds. They were issue here for about 10 years so do the math.

Well I'm not sure if I'll buy it or not. Like i said i dont know alot about revolvers. I'm not to crazy about the non adjustable sights. I dont want to buy it then have it shoot crappy.

Mine shoots low with 125gr .38's and it shoots right to the top of the sights with 158's in both .38 and .357. It shoots tighter groups than any other revolver I have owned.

When I go woods walking it is always with me.

Mine was $399

keystoneguy: I bought this PD-surplus Model 65-2 3" about 12 years ago.



Cleaned it up a bit and put better grips on it, and shot it in my first IDPA state championship match. I won the SSR State title with it. The fixed sights aren't a problem. They're regulated for 38 Special 158 gr +P ammo, which was what most police departments issued for these guns despite them being chambered for 357 Magnum. This gun will shoot 125 gr 357 Magnum loads very close to POA as well.

You can't find a decent M65 for $300 very often these days. Buy it.

What are somethings to check for when looking at the revolver. The grips were a little rough, but how do i make sure its in time etc.

Pretty good read


https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...tOTdmN2YwNmY4NzM2&hl=en_US&pli=1

Yep, that is excellent.

My dad carried one for years. There were plenty of factory 357s shot through it but never any hot handloads. Mostly 38 Special went down the barrel. Anyway, it developed a cracked forcing cone and had to be repaired. FWIW

I'd recommend a four inch stainless S&W 686 or a Ruger GP100, for durability & reliability, since you're not very comfortable with revolvers. They do cost more than a 65, but they're worth the extra. Unlike TLee, I have seen out of time K frame Smiths, and as mentioned, cracked forcing cones from use of too many 125 gr 357 max loads.

Buy it there great. For that price if you dont like it you wont loose money selling it.

damn good gun for the money. you can't find one around here for that kind of money.

Buy.


Travis

Yep.

Helluva good price, helluva good revolver.

Well i picked it up tonight after work. I'll see how it shoots tomorrow. It has target grips and feels pretty good. One of the grips has a small chip on the bottom and there are some light scratches on the barrel. Anyone know of any types of good polish to get rid of them?