Pawn shop or local gun store is your best bet, as both will have FFLs in order to buy/sell firearms, and will know state laws regarding firearm transfers.
You may be able to list locally (Craigslist), and perhaps the local gun store can facilitate the transaction for a fee, maybe $20-$40, depending on the amount of paperwork necessary.
Doing it this way ensures that the buyer is at least legally able to purchase/possess a firearm.
I"LL TAKE IT!!!
Seriously - I am interested. Smiths are my weakness. And your price is way cheap depending on the model. At the least kinda cheap if its a common model and well used.
Now all that aside since it is a handgun registration does come into play. If you do sell it to me we would meet at a licensed gun shop and you would sign as previous owner and I would sign as the person receiving it. The background check would be done and I would have to clear it. (I always have.) Once that process is done most people consider their role, in terms of morality, done.
Option two if you do have qualms about selling it to a stranger or someone you know; wholesale it to a dealer and put all the moral weight on him/her.
Then it is registered as we define it in this country. People confuse what we have with what some other countries have; there is no master list out there of every firearm you have purchased through channels. If your house is robbed and you do not have a list of serial numbers, the police can’t call one up. After the fact they can sometimes determine if the gun was legally transferred as outlined above but that is after a trip to the dealer and some leg work.
Why not "gift " it to your son. As he is very versed in weapons and this is the FIRST weapon he was exposed to/and fired…he may want it.
I own no weapons other than Wustof and Henckel knives.
trust me on this…ask him, your a good Pop, it might mean a lot to him.
I was going to stay apart from this kind of option but --------- The Doctor is right. If you want destruction let the professionals handle it and the holiday buy-backs are the best route.
DO NOT bury it; sooner or later it could be found and getting it back into service may not be a big deal. I helped a friend track down a pistol his mom had his dad bury when he was born; say 1956? All the stars came into alignment and after a good cleaning it was shooting again.
DON’T DRILL PRESS the hell out of it; if you don’t have access to a milling machine where you can go totally nuts and slot the hell out of it, I could get it back into service for at least a few shots. You would be surprised how many “deactivated war souvenirs” get put back into shooting form.
If you want it made bye-bye let the professionals handle it; they really are the best at that option.
No.
Do not ask the police for legal advice.
Officer Peter K. Beitz
Many people face this problem. I wanted to get rid of my guns after Newtown. I ended up giving them away, which was not the entire effect I hoped for. I think there would be a market for a chemical kit of some sort that would destroy a handgun at home. Maybe a corrosive or a powerful adhesive. Maybe the little guy who sharpens knives at the farmer’s market could also drill holes in the breach for you.
How about duct taping it to a railroad track and letting a freight train do the work. Don’t try this with any of the Ruger P-series pistols. Train wrecks are ugly.
I own a gun dealership. He could just ship them to me and I’ll take them off his hands. For a slight fee, of course. 
In states where a private seller doesn’t need a dealer Arms List is another decent way to sell just to people in your area.
I bought a little .25 semiautomatic handgun when I was 19 and very naive. I heard that this guy had a used 8-track player for sale and I was looking for one for my VW. The guy opened the trunk of his car and there were 3 eight-tracks to choose from, as well as a gun!
Naive me, I thought he was legit. He gave me a deal on an 8track and a gun. The first time I fired the gun I tore up the skin between my thumb and first finger of my hand. A friend helped me install the 8track and pointed out that it was obviously stolen (short wires). I showed him the gun and he pointed out the serial number had been made illegible. I gave the gun away, but kept the player.
Of course, this was my first thought. Turns out he has all the firepower he needs currently, and with a baby on the way he doesn’t want to expand his arsenal. He did point out that there is a video on YouTube of him firing the gun, and that he’s shown it to friends. It’s my video on my channel and I’d forgotten all about it!
An individual without a FFL is prohibited from sending handguns via US Mail. That leaves either commercial carrier, FEDEX, UPS, or having your local gun shop send it via mail to the receiving FFL. Of course he will charge a fee for this service, but it will still probably be cheaper than commercial carrier because they require it to be sent overnight and that’s in the $70-$80 range.
You seriously came to SDMB to ask how to sell a gun? I was not the least bit surprised you got responses to bury it, disassemble it, give it to the police.
I live in PA and am familiar with state laws. PA does NOT have gun registration, but you DO have to transfer a handgun through an FFL. You don’t have to go through an FFL to transfer a shotgun or rifle, but you do for a handgun.
As far as finding a buyer, you can market the handgun on local classified ad options (online or otherwise), but you and the buyer will have to meet at a gun store (or pawn shop that has an FFL) to do the transfer. A S&W .357 is a fairly valuable firearm, as S&W revolvers are generally highly regarded. What exact model do you have, and do you know how old it is?
The easy option is to simply take it to a couple local gun stores and sell it to them. You will get quick money with no hassle. You will get a lot more money if you sell it on GunBroker.com or GunsAmerica.com, but then you will have to figure out how to ship it (not easy or cheap with handguns), and you MUST ship it to an FFL, not directly to the buyer.
It’s probably worth more than you paid for it assuming you took care of it, didn’t use it much and have had it for a long time. You can sell it to your local gun dealer, if they don’t want it or you have another buyer they’ll probably broker the deal and take care of shipping for their cut, or at least be able to tell you how to do it legally in your area. If the price is low enough the buyer could pony up for brokerage fees and shipping.
I could walk into work tomorrow and say, “hey! 357 mag! Cheap!”. That would get it sold quickly.
This part right here. Depending on how old it is—older is often better—you’ve a valuable piece of property. The serial number can be looked up at a variety of places so that you can inform a buyer exactly what you have. Here’s S&W’s: https://www.smith-wesson.com/repaired_serials/index.php
I’d take kopek up on his offer, were I you. I seriously doubt kopek, like tens of millions of other law-abiding American gun owners, will ever do anything objectionable with that pistol. I only regret I’m not in the market for one right now, or I’d inquire seriously about you having it shipped at my expense to an FFL in my area.