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Old 12-24-2010, 03:53 PM
Hondo44 Hondo44 is online now
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Originally Posted by M29since14 View Post
That confusion extended into the model marked guns too. Over the years, I have seen many square-butt Model 30s, and a few round-butt Model 31s. Seems there were pictures of similarly marked guns in one of the SCSWs. I suppose this is another example of S&W's well known tendency to, on occasion, manufacture by convenience and economy.

Most of the square-butt 30s I have seen have 2-inch barrels, and most of the round-butt 31s seem to have 4-inch barrels, so maybe those running the show at S&W at the time equated the barrel length with the model as much, or more so, as they did the shape of the frame... ? I have never heard any real authorities bother to explain this, so my explanation is pure speculation.
You got it right. The barrel length seemed to be the determing factor for which model # S&W considered it rather than the butt shape. So we've found 2" Handejectors, pre Mod 30s and Mod 30s with round or sq butt. And found longer barrel Reg Pol, pre mod 31s and mod 31s w/rd or sg butt. Box labeling (when boxes are available), seems to bear this out.
32 HE (Mod 30) officially dropped in 1976. Reg Pol made in any configuration until dropped in 1983 and officially replaced w/ the 32 Mag guns shortly after.
Similar variation seems to exist in the .38 S&W chambered guns (mod 32 and 33) but the Reg Pol barrel marking was eliminated sometime after the 1950s and both models were dropped from production in 1974. Some refer to 1974 as "the great S&W massacre" when several old favorite models ceased production.
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Last edited by Hondo44; 12-24-2010 at 04:02 PM.
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