Quote:
Originally Posted by shawn mccarver
They were four inch, heavy barrel revolvers in 38 S&W Special, with adjustable sights like the Combat Masterpiece; they were available in blue and nickel. I have seem some with standard hammers, triggers and stocks, and some with the target variety. To the extent that the Priwer article says the Dayton guns have shortened Model 14 barrels, I do not believe that is correct.
Although four inch barrels, the Dayton guns differed from the Combat Masterpiece by having a straight wall barrel, but they also differed from the regular Model 14s by having a straight wall barrel of significantly greater diameter than the usual straight wall heavy barrel of the Model 14.
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Here are a couple of pics of my 1957 Pre-Model-14, 4" Target Masterpiece (s/n K292XXX). This is a factory barrel as can be see by the centered position of the lettering, crown, etc. For comparison I also show my Pre-15 1952 Combat Masterpiece with the common tapered barrel.
This may be one of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Dept. guns referred to on page 144 of Supica and Nahas -
Standard Catalog of S&W under
Variations. The year of manufacture is correct and the fact that it came from a gun shop in Independence, Missouri lends credence; however I have not had it researched as yet. Anyway, I wanted to show the difference between the Dayton guns, the 4" Model-14 guns and a standard Model-15.
Chris