Following Mr. Maher's lead, I was brought up with the understanding club guns were built in the Service Department from "condemned" or "scrapped" parts (whenever possible). Having seen my share of club guns, I took note of the fact they looked like any other gun---aside from the serial number. There were no visible flaws nor anomalies. Accordingly, and not knowing or being able to find out any better/different, I decided such parts were "condemned" or "scrapped" not because of any flaw which would have an effect on their ultimate form or function; but because their particular flaw was not compatible with established production procedures----that fixing them "on the line" as it were would be disruptive to the flow or would require skills/tools not available "on the line". Is that the fact of the matter? I don't know. It makes sense, and I've never been told different.

As noted, club guns were given away----as part of the marketing effort and/or to curry favor with those whose favor was beneficial. Giving things away costs money. Measuring the precise benefit of giving things away is somewhere between difficult and impossible---but the expense of the gift is charged off as an expense. (I have a gun (not a club gun per se) given to a person whose technical contribution to their success is beyond measure on the one hand----and who was also an editor of a gun/shooting magazine on the other hand.) So on the one hand S&W expressed their gratitude for the contribution he made to their success, and to curry favor with him so he'd say nice things about their stuff in his magazine on the other hand. And they charged the cost off to their Advertising Account----and incurred no tax liability as would be the case if that expense/those dollars had gone to the bottom line as profit. The Wesson's didn't amass their wealth by being dummies.

Ralph Tremaine