Whoa!!! What a score! Great deal, congratulations and thanks for posting the pictures!

How the hell do y'all get the pawn shops to sell to you so cheap? All the pawners around Nortwest Alabama want to high gross you on anything that goes into pawn default. I tried to buy a nice Browning A-5 Light Twelve a few years ago that I KNOW the guy had a $100.00 in real money in. He ended up selling it for a thousand! Very nice profit indeed! Now while I can't fault him at all for doing it, I have done business with this guy for years, and I offered him a tidy profit on his investment when it went into default and he shot me down. Guess I need to find another pawn shop. Very nice pre 36, by the way!

I know what you mean jframe. The local I frequent puts $399 on every K frame that goes up for sale whether it's junk or not. I did get the last laugh on the Model 14-2 Dayton though.

OK...so what I'm understanding, it is a "J" frame Chief's Special, but with the shorter length grip left over from the "I" frame .32 Terrier.

So, considering it dates from approx 1951, does it have any type of collector value? Over and above a regular 36 Chiefs Special?

quote:

Originally posted by Win:
OK...so what I'm understanding, it is a "J" frame Chief's Special, but with the shorter length grip left over from the "I" frame .32 Terrier.

So, considering it dates from approx 1951, does it have any type of collector value? Over and above a regular 36 Chiefs Special?

Re-read the post by Lee (Handejector). The Chiefs Special was introduced in 1950 and was built on the all new J frame. It was similar to the I frame, but it had a longer and taller frame to accept a 5 shot .38 Special length cylinder and it used a coil mainspring instead of a leaf spring. Before that, the .38 M&P (K frame - 6 shot) was the smallest .38 Special revolver S&W made. The largest caliber you could get in an I frame was the .38 S&W (shorter than a Special), which was a 5 shot.

As the Chiefs Special evolved, the sights were changed, the trigger guard and grip frame were made larger and model numbers were assigned to and stamped on guns around 1957. The right stock (only) should have the serial number stamped on the inside. Based on the fit of the stocks, I‘ll bet they match. The cylinder and underside of barrel will be numbered too. It’s worth more than a model marked gun and yes, it is collectable. Cool serial number too!

Here’s my baby Chief with a serrated front sight. Your front sight type is more desirable then the serrated, but less than the half round. Very cool find!