A buddy of mine is planning on picking up a revolver of some flavor in a few weeks at the local gun show. Sounds like he'll be looking at J-frames primarily, but I'm sure other stuff will catch his eye as well. His budget is "used," and neither he nor I know much about wheel guns. I know sometimes they can have timing and lockup issues if they've been abused, but I don't really know how one would check for that.

What should he be looking for when looking at a used revolver?

Thanks!

make sure it's unloaded.
dry fire and see how well the hand and cylinder lock work.
with the hammer back, check for movement of the cylinder, rotational and foreaft.
check the top strap for flame cutting

thats all I got

Here ya go...

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_5_49/ai_99145178/

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57816

If you're looking at S&W this is a great site. Even if you're not, lots of info on used guns in general.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/forum.php

Also, there are things to look for in certain models. For instance, I've been looking for a S&W M19 & the second thing I look at is the forcing cone for cracks.

Kinda hard to do at a gun show but I've researched both S&W I bought before buying. I've missed a couple good deals but I'm pretty much a pistol n00b myself and I like to know what I'm buying.

Thank you both. That gives me a lot to go on.

Just be warned. Classic pistols are like potato chips. It hard to stop at just one. My last trip to the range cost me >$700:homer:

Just be warned. Classic pistols are like potato chips. It hard to stop at just one. My last trip to the range cost me >$700:homer:

Yeah, I know. I'm leaving my wallet in the car. :laughing: