Smith & Wesson model 65-3 (Guns XVI)

Smith & Wesson model 65-3

.357 magnum 3" bull bbl 6 shot

Pachmayr Presentation grips. They do a great job of reducing the perception of recoil and protecting the hands and wrist compared to the old wood stocks.

She's halfway polished (cylinder ass'y, latch, yoke).

The fixed sights are a drawback for some, but I find them to be more than acceptable. Easy to look at and pretty well on-target. They also don't get in the way for carry, which is great in the cooler 3 months here.

I bought this through Bob Eck. He had a friend who needed to sell a couple of handguns to get some money together in order to file all of his business startup paperwork. I couldn't afford the $350 pricetag (perhaps a touch high?), but Bob bought it for me and "layawayed" it. I worked some of it off on projects for him and gave him a little money here and there as I could and inside of a year it was mine! Bob is also the one who is doing the polishing. He's good, too though the pics don't do him justice.
My stepdad, Don enjoyed shooting this one. He said it reminded him of the Magnum which was presented to him by his dad upon graduation from the police academy. We blew through a ~20 year old box of magnum ammo that day and the thing (and our hands) were nearly black- LOTS of smoke and BIG BOOM!
Those are my .357 personal defense loads. I got them and about two boxes of .38spl +P with it as well.