Pawn Shop Circuit: Mystery M&Ps
I found myself back in Bossier City this afternoon, and I decided to check out a few of the pawn shops. The largest shop is by far Top Dollar Pawn, with a billboard sign that can be seen from the interstate. 
Top Dollar also does car audio, and the boom boom music in the store is nauseating to an old codger like myself. Nevertheless, I spent a bit of time at the gun counter. Among all the overpriced Mil-Surps, Lorcins, Hi-Points and chrome jamamatics sat a Smith & Wesson Model 13 for $339. It was in good shape with deep bluing and a hint of muzzle wear. It was also sitting on top of a box. The price was over what I would pay though. Top Dollar had another interesting Smith, a nickel K frame revolver with an unshrouded ejector rod. The patent dates were on the side of the 4 inch pencil barrel, along with .38S&W Special CTG and US Service CTG. I probably should have memorized the serial number, but the revolver wore Pachmayr grips, and had the ejector rod replaced with a later style. As soon as I noted the wrong knob on the end of the ejector rod, I handed it back to the salesman with a no thanks. They were asking $299 for it, a bit to much I think, regardless of what it was.
On the way out of town, I spun by Clark Custom to get the scoop on possibly melting the nickel Commander.
Jim said that he would have to have the nickel removed, then have the gun refinished in addition to the melt. This added an estimated $250 or so to the total cost for the job. I could not justify that. I'm leaning more and more towards Ford's for the refinish work. Jim did have a Smith & Wesson 38-200 Victory in his used gun case,. It had worn magna grips and no lanyard loop, but Jim only wanted $135 for it. It was loose as a goose, and I did not even check to see if it had been converted to .38 Special or not. Many of the British proofs had been ground off or obliterated with a punch. I figured that I could find a better example somewhere. It did have an aura of having been there though. I suspect Jim would have taken a Franklin for it, but I could not justify taking it home.
Top Dollar also does car audio, and the boom boom music in the store is nauseating to an old codger like myself. Nevertheless, I spent a bit of time at the gun counter. Among all the overpriced Mil-Surps, Lorcins, Hi-Points and chrome jamamatics sat a Smith & Wesson Model 13 for $339. It was in good shape with deep bluing and a hint of muzzle wear. It was also sitting on top of a box. The price was over what I would pay though. Top Dollar had another interesting Smith, a nickel K frame revolver with an unshrouded ejector rod. The patent dates were on the side of the 4 inch pencil barrel, along with .38S&W Special CTG and US Service CTG. I probably should have memorized the serial number, but the revolver wore Pachmayr grips, and had the ejector rod replaced with a later style. As soon as I noted the wrong knob on the end of the ejector rod, I handed it back to the salesman with a no thanks. They were asking $299 for it, a bit to much I think, regardless of what it was. On the way out of town, I spun by Clark Custom to get the scoop on possibly melting the nickel Commander.
Jim said that he would have to have the nickel removed, then have the gun refinished in addition to the melt. This added an estimated $250 or so to the total cost for the job. I could not justify that. I'm leaning more and more towards Ford's for the refinish work. Jim did have a Smith & Wesson 38-200 Victory in his used gun case,. It had worn magna grips and no lanyard loop, but Jim only wanted $135 for it. It was loose as a goose, and I did not even check to see if it had been converted to .38 Special or not. Many of the British proofs had been ground off or obliterated with a punch. I figured that I could find a better example somewhere. It did have an aura of having been there though. I suspect Jim would have taken a Franklin for it, but I could not justify taking it home.Labels: Pawn Shop Circuit
posted by Xavier at 6:03 PM
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