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I hate to admit that I had seen the term Baby Chief used here on SWF but I was afraid to ask what that meant - now I know! Well, I think I know - maybe the BC is something different ...
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The baby chief refers to the first run of J frame Chief Specials. Since they were modeled after the I frame terriers, the trigger guard and the butt are smaller like the I frame predecessors. HOWEVER, they were never built on the "I" frame as the .38 special takes a larger cylinder and therefore a larger cylinder window. This enlarged I frame was called the J frame.
Eventually, (or so the story goes) many of the LEO's that the Chief Special was designed for, complained that the trigger guard and butt were really too small for a large mans hand especially with the greater kick of the .38 special compared to the .38 S&W. So, S&W enlarged the trigger guard and the butt of these J frame revolvers.
It would have been easier if the factory had called them the J frame and then the Improved J frame as they had done with their I frame predecessors however, they did not so collectors took it upon themselves to name the smaller early J frames as "baby chiefs" to differentiate between the two versions.
The baby chief and the chief special became the model 36 when S&W decided to assign model numbers.
Unfortunately, S&W has continued to confuse the issue for future collectors by coming out with a Chief Special in a semi automatic gun.
