Rec'd the factory letter on this one yesterday. First of all, a huge thanks to Roy Jinks and Don Mundell and their staffs for the quick turn around time on the letter. Took less than 3 weeks ! Outstanding !
As can be seen this Model 46 was indeed an USAF pistol - which we already knew thanks to the guys on this forum.
So this is where this handgun turns even more interesting. I acquired this from a good friend of mine. He inherited it from his father. His father was an aircraft mechanic / machinist with the USAF during the Viet Nam war, and he was stationed in Viet Nam. One day a couple of crates of weapons were delivered to the shop he was in charge of with orders to destroy them. He and his crew took to chop-sawing these weapons. My friends Dad took a liking to this Smith & Wesson Model 46 and somehow it founds it's way to his duffle bag and back home with him. I can only imagine that this was not the only weapon saved from this doomed lot by servicemen that day.
So now, knowing this story, I have to wonder what was one (or possibly more) of the USAF's Pistol Teams Model 46's doing in Southeast Asia ? Certainly there were no active pistol teams stationed in Viet Nam during the war ? Were these target pistols issued to other servicemen ? If so, for what purpose ? How many Model 46's did the USAF take delivery on, and how many of them found a similar fate as the ones that were destroyed ?
I'm sure some of these questions cannot be answered.
I just think this pistol has an interesting story attached to it. I will be thrilled if anyone can shed some light to this story.
Thanks,
WB
Last edited by singleshot1891; 02-05-2018 at 10:48 PM.
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