Many times people wonder how or why a Smith & Wesson they shoot or have in their collection was developed. Sometimes they can look things up in any one of a number of the fine texts dealing with S&W arms. Sometimes they can search through the threads on this site to see if a gun like theirs has been discussed in the past. And sometimes (in the case of more recent items) the factory might be able to tell them a little bit about it too.

But one of the best and most personable resources you’ll ever find is the Smith & Wesson Collectors Association.

Many of you know that they share a non-public portion of this site and you can go here: Information about the SWCA to learn more about them and to inquire about membership. But what I want you to know is that this piece is typical of the kind of thing that the people over there contribute regularly both on line and in their Association Journal. It contains things just not available to non-Members (this post is an exception being made only to serve as an illustration of what they do). Those Members also have access to private data-bases, certain factory materials, and personally acquired information that can be great assets in determining what it is you have and why it came about.

But the best part of being a Member are the friendships you’ll make with people who are always willing to lend a hand and share what they know. Whether it is online, at the Annual Meeting that moves around the country each year or at any of the local get-togethers regularly held throughout the US (often at major shows that many of you already attend), you won’t find a better bunch of individuals to learn from and share information with.

I hope that you enjoy this back story on the creation of the Full Lug Model 14’s but I also hope that you take a moment and visit the page I mentioned above and link to the SWCA and learn more about them. It’s a great group and one that you should seriously consider joining.

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Originally Posted by PMRet I owned a 6" 14-5 and it was the most accurate .38 I ever fired. It is slightly muzzle heavy, but in target shooting that usually helps to steady the gun. If you think about it, the full lug adds weight like the King and BoMar sight ribs did, and a lot of older standard model 14's have been fitted with them over the years...

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Originally Posted by 18DAI …I think these revolvers have been overlooked for some time. It is only in the last few years that a strong interest in them is being exhibited, IMO. I would seek them out and buy one now, while the prices are still very reasonable. Regards 18DAI

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Originally Posted by civil1977 The full lug 14s are very nice! I like the muzzle heavy feel of the 6" full lug barrel. Its balances very nice. The 14-5 was the first version made with the full lug and it was only made for 3-4 years before being replaced with the 14-6… I went for the 14-5… …I picked up this one with original box and papers/tools. Its scary accurate!...

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Originally Posted by PattonTime I think the early 90's underlug revolvers are among my favorites.

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Originally Posted by CALREB ED, all 14's are good shooting guns but IMO, the 14-5/6/7 are nicely weighted for 38 ,easy shooting and have nice actions…

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Originally Posted by GyMac I used to not like them, preferring the original style. Lately, though, I've come to appreciate them. It seems pretty close to a PPC revolver out of the box.

“SmilinEd”

The 6” Full Lug Model 14 was developed for exactly the purpose you are planning to address: target shooting and that “GyMac” (and others) have noticed: it's being intended as an out-of-the-box PPC Revolver. It was designed to give the user the features and the muzzle heavy feel normally found on a custom piece but at the price of a production handgun.

For some reason, while the factory was making Full Lug Model 16’s and 17’s in the early 90’s (in .32 Magnum and .22LR respectively), they had no interest in resurrecting the then-discontinued Model 14 in this format and in its traditional .38 Special chambering.

However, constant requests from Law Enforcement PPC shooters for an accurate .38 Special in something less cumbersome than a 6” L frame (which was available in only .357 Magnum at the time and, therefore, was often suspected of a lesser accuracy potential when firing a .38spl target load) led to a single sample that was taken to the now-gone, national-level Secret Service Match in Beltsville for feedback.

It was a handbuilt gun employing a converted Model 16 Full Lug Centerfire Frame with a re-bored and re-rifled Full Lug .22caliber Barrel and an original unused Model 14 Cylinder that came out of the parts department. The Model 16 was a used writer’s sample that had come back to the factory after making the rounds. The barrel came off the shop floor and was re-bored, rifled and honed as a favor in the plant and then remarked in the engraving department to indicate the correct caliber. The cylinder was installed, as were the smooth combat trigger and the wide target hammer, in the Customer Service repair department. Another man in that crew came up with the appropriate-height-for-.38’s Patridge Front Sight and a corresponding Black Rear Blade.

This hastily but skillfully assembled “parts” gun (constructed to represent what it was believed would be possible in standard production) repeatedly shot one hole groups when test fired at 25yards.

Feedback from the Match was positive but the company was still unsure if they should proceed. It was posited that not only would this revolver do well in the stock PPC classes (and with those folks shooting informal PPC-like “combat” matches) but it would also do well in certain NRA Action Revolver competitions and in many of the revolver events in Europe where the then-discontinued, original no-lug Model 14 still maintained an iconic-like status.

Additionally as it was believed that production models would be tack drivers like the single sample had proven to be, it was felt that target shooters and plinkers alike would see its value to them; especially as the gun also had all the right features right out of the box.

It had a .38 Cylinder so the bullets didn’t have to jump as far when fired. It had a Black Patridge Sight and not a distracting colored ramp blade. It had a crisper Black Rear Blade and not an unneeded white outline. It had a Smooth Combat Trigger (and would have had a still-narrower smooth service trigger but the company no longer possessed the tooling for it) instead of a serrated target trigger that would have worked against the shooter in many of the events in which the gun would be used. And it had a wide Target Hammer for those shooters who still thumb-cocked the gun at certain stages and (generally) longer distances. Even the Combat Grips, while not perfect (not everybody’s fingers lined up with its gentle finger ridges) made more sense with their tapered-toward-the-bottom-like-a-closed-hand profile than did the oversize big-at-the-bottom factory “target” stocks that normally would have been included on a gun of this type.

After much discussion, it was finally decided to offer the gun as a “Special” and not as a cataloged item. Originally, it was planned to make 3500 of them. This number was later said to be reduced to 3000 and word is that the actual number was probably far less than that. The Company made no writer or promotional samples ahead of time so the guns hit the shelves well before any articles reached the public. When the orders didn’t rush in (not surprising as the public didn’t know it was out there), the decision was made (as was common in those days, not now) to blow out the inventory as it was assumed that the gun was indeed the dog that many of the naysayers had predicted it would be. As a result, by the time the very favorable press did reach the consumers (most of the writers saw everything I have already pointed out here), the initial guns had already worked their way through the system and there were none left to sell and no plans to make any more.

After another series of discussions brought about by the delayed consumer interest, it was finally decided that there was a place for this model and ultimately, it was added to the catalog as a regular item.

However, it was always a sleeper and never made in huge numbers. It is a great gun. It is still something of an unknown quantity (except to those who own or have shot one) and it is a great buy for the money. But I am in full agreement with several of the posters here that such a situation won’t last forever. There are not that many around and while now that just affects their availability and one’s chances of finding one, someday soon it will also drive the prices up into the stratosphere.

Unless you just happen to get a bad one (remember it is a machine made from a variety of parts and anything is possible), I don’t think that you will be disappointed. For while the company never promised a particular group size or level of accuracy, in my experience (and apparently in the experiences of many who have answered you here) it will not just be the “good range gun” you seek, it will be a great one.