Came down to Roanoke this weekend because Bitter’s mom, who has previously not been a gun owner, decided that, being a woman living on her own, it was time to take the plunge. Since she was looking to save money getting a used gun, I decided to tag along to check it out before she bought it. The first shop we went to was Trader Jerry’s in Salem, Virginia. We had planned to visit several shops to do a bit of comparison shopping, but first stop we ran into this:
I know the stereotype of getting the little lady a snub-nose .38, but in her basic pistol course, and after trying a lot of guns, she prefers the shorter barreled revolvers to heavier revolvers or semi-autos. This is a Smith & Wesson Model 36 Chief’s Special. The reason this was such a great find was that we were looking for a used J-frame in .38 Spl. This is a used gun. It was bought by a guy who returned it because he didn’t like the grips, and had not been fired. It looked brand spanking new, based on everything I could see. The price was a good bit less than new. I think it was actually a great find for her.
Trader Jerry’s seemed to be a pretty good shop. Her experience was very pleasant, and comparing to prices back home, they were pretty good in that area too. She had to fill out her 4473 twice because of making a mistake on the first one. After filling out all three forms, she commented “My, this is worse than doing my taxes!” A quick call to the Virginia Instant Check System, and the gun was hers. I got her some .38 Spl Low Recoil Hydrashocks and some snap caps to refresh her on loading and unloading.
Next step for her will be a refresher pistol course, then some range time. Then she wants to do a concealed carry course and get her license to carry.