Thread: My Bodyguard
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Old 03-06-2010, 07:35 PM
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Malysh Malysh is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by murphydog View Post
Jon;

Cool gun! It has the high horn stocks that usually came with the Centennials (models 40 and 42), but they may have been put on Bodyguards also. I can't recall seeing one, though, but my memory is bad

I would think with a pinned barrel, chances are the stocks would have numbered to the gun, but if you post a partial serial number or know the year it was made someone will be able to tell you.
All Bodyguards and Bodyguard Airweights were sold with checkered Bodyguard high horn grips until about 1968. These grips were not as high as Centennial high horn grips. They had the diamond around the screw hole. They were checkered, while Centennial high horn grips were smooth. Centennial high horns are taller than than Bodyguard high horns are, and the washer/frame size of the original Centennial high horn grips is smaller than those of the Bodyguard or Chief's series of J frames, making it impractical to alter them to be used for the other J frame guns.

The grips should be numbered to the gun. If they are not then they are replacement and earlier Bodyguard high horns probably did not come with this Mod 38. I did the same thing to my 1971 Mod 38 because I prefer the older diamond grips to the type they were replaced by. Not only are the Bodyguard high horn grips about 1/4" higher than the type they replaced but they are a bit broader going forward, too. This gives my thumb a little better grip on the Mods 38 and 49 ( all steel Bodyguard).


Jon, does this gun have a flat latch cylinder release on the left side? If the gun was made in 1966 or before, it will have the older flat latch style of J frame cylinder release. There were some that left the factory in 1968 which still had the diamond checkered taller Bodyguard high horn grips but that was the approximate time with they were replaced with the standard shorter checkered grips which became J frame standards after that. You won't find the flat latch on one as late as 1968. Even Centennials made from 1968 to 1974 with the "L" prefix serial numbers were made only with smooth standard "low" horn grips.
I even use an extra set of checkered high horn Bodyguard grips on my Mod 640. I like 'em a lot. There was no good reason that S&W used smooth low horns on the Mod 640 except they wanted to save a few pennies on production costs. So it goes with manufacturers in any field.......

Nice one. The '71 that I have gets carried many days of the year.
Enjoy!

HTH

Last edited by Malysh; 03-06-2010 at 09:41 PM.
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