Question for the gun guys.....

[66KingFisher]

I'm fixin to paint a guys motorcycle, and as partial payment, the guy wants to barter a handgun. Since I'm not really up to date on whats worth it and what ain't, I thought I ask you gun wise guys your opinion on what this things worth and should you actually know anything about this peticular model, I'd love to know what you think of it as a shooter. I'm either gonna keep it as a home defense weapon or something to take into the woods or I may just sell it....I'm not sure yet, so your opinions will have some bearing on which I choose.

The gun is a Smith and Wesson Model 1955 Revolver chambered for the 45 ACP Cartridge. This gun can be fired with or without Half Moon clips, however without the clips ejection will have to be done round by round.

The clips are sort of like a speedloader and the guy will give me a few to get me started. The gun is in very nice all original condition with some wear and some minor scratches. The bluing is in ok shape but I'm no expert on the subject. The gun appears to be in perfect working order and the owner swears by it. This model has a 6 1/2 inch barrel and I think its concidered a target model, but I'm not 100% sure as I type this. I also found some references to a model 25-2 while searching for info, but I can't confirm that applies to this gun or not yet.

The photos I'm sharing are downloaded from the internet just to show the model, so your not actually viewing the gun I'm getting, but its pretty much identical so I decided to use these since I don't have possesion of the gun yet.....Like I said, I'd love to hear some opinions about the gun and its worth from guys that are knowledgable about this stuff....Cause I ain't...lol...Thanks in advance.

[CamG]

Here is a similar gun on gunbroker.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...=231113780#PIC

Most likely if it is chambered for the .45 ACP round, it is/was considered a target model.

If it is in clean, working order and isn't beat to death, I would think it would be worth around $400-$500 IMO.

[Jrob78]

I am pretty knowledgeable about guns but I don't know this model. I do know that S&W's hold their value really well and some can be worth a good bit. To the best of my knowledge there isn't a place online to match serial numbers with the year the gun was made. I think there are some books available though. The serial number should tell you if it's a 25-2 or another model, it will also be the key to knowing what the gun is worth.

I always go to thefiringline.com when I need to do gun research. There is a wealth of knowledge on that site. I did a quick search for "model 25" and came up with this.
http://thefiringline.com/forums/sear...archid=5292337

Personally, I will usually always take a nice gun in trade. Just know that like anything else, if you sell it to gun shop or at a show, you aren't going to get retail price for it.

[MIbasser]

This is just me, but I would check the serial number on the gun first. It would really suck to go and register it and find out at some point it was a stolen gun. I say this as a guy I know that collects handguns had one with paperwork and then went to register it here in MI and found out that it was indeed a stolen gun. Other than that, go for it!