Value guide

What is my Smith & Wesson worth?

Smith & Wesson revolvers turn up in almost every estate that holds handguns at all, and the range runs from ordinary service revolvers to guns that collectors pursue for years. The dividing lines are unusually clear once you know them, and almost invisible if you do not.

No page can price your gun, and any page that offers to is guessing. What this one does is show you the things that decide the number, so you can look at what you have and know whether you are holding something ordinary or something worth a proper look.

Pinned barrels and recessed cylinders, and what happened around 1982

For decades Smith & Wesson pinned the barrel into the frame and recessed the chambers so the cartridge rims sat flush. Both features were dropped in the early 1980s as manufacturing changed. Collectors treat 'pinned and recessed' as shorthand for the earlier, more carefully made production, and it moves the number meaningfully on popular models. It is also something anybody can check: look for a small pin through the frame above the barrel, and look at whether the chamber mouths are countersunk.

The models that turn up, and what they mean

Model	Made	What it means for value
Model 29	1955–present	The .44 Magnum. Early production, pinned and recessed, in original condition with the presentation case is a different gun from a late one.
Model 10 / Military & Police	1899–present	Probably the most-produced centerfire revolver in the world. Most are working guns; very early and very clean ones are not.
Model 27 / Model 28	1935–1980s	The .357 Magnum guns. The 27 was the finished version and the 28 the working one, and they are priced accordingly.
Pre-model-number revolvers	before 1957	Before S&W applied model numbers, guns were known by name. These need identifying properly and are regularly undervalued.
Registered Magnum	1935–1939	A pre-war made-to-order .357. Rare, documented, and genuinely valuable — and it looks like an old revolver.
K-22 / Model 17	1930s–1990s	Target .22 revolvers with a strong following. Another gun routinely dismissed for being a .22.

What to check before anybody makes you an offer

Whether the barrel is pinned and the cylinder recessed — the quickest date indicator on the gun.
The model number stamped inside the crane, visible when the cylinder is swung out, on anything made after 1957.
Whether the finish is original and whether the sideplate screws show signs of the gun having been opened repeatedly.
Whether the stocks are numbered to the gun, which they often are on older production.

And the two rules that apply to every gun on this page:do not clean it, and keep the box and papers. Removing original finish is permanent, and on the right gun the packaging is a real fraction of the total.

"It's just an old police revolver"

A great many Smith & Wesson revolvers were bought as tools and used as tools, and plenty are worth exactly what a used revolver is worth. But the same frame and the same profile also cover pre-war guns, early magnums and target models that are worth several times as much — and telling them apart is a matter of small markings rather than appearance.

How do I find the model number on a Smith & Wesson?

Swing the cylinder out and look at the flat surface of the frame where the crane sits — on anything from 1957 onward there is usually a model number stamped there. Before 1957 the guns were not numbered that way and need identifying by their features instead.

Getting an actual number

Condition, originality and configuration decide it, and none of the three can be judged from a description. We appraise firearms, collections and estates across Michigan and the Great Lakes region, free and with no obligation — you get a written list with a value against each firearm and it is yours to keep whether you sell to us or not.

Other makers

Winchester, Remington, Colt, Marlin, Browning, Ruger and military surplus rifles.