I think this is sorta exciting: http://smith-wessonforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5301039...471089232#1471089232 Check out Calmex's post.

Hope he comes back and tells us all about it, with pix!

Edited thread title to show what the topic is about.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Onomea,

Onomea,
It could, of course, also be a later pre-war NON-Registered Magnum.

This is just in incredible!

Check out this message from Cal as posted in the prewar section:

Arlo/Onomea;
I sent you an email with two photos I have here of the gun. The gun was presented to Phil Roettinger by S & W in early 1942 for winning a match in Floriday, and it is engraved on the gun. He landed with the gun at Guadalcanal and later used it on Bouganville. He kept the gun through those actions -- place names (engraved by him) are on the gun as to where he used it in action. Later he became Station Chief for the C.I.A./Latin America, and kept the gun with him. He even arranged to have the gun registered here in Mexico as a "legal" firearm, which the .357 Magnum does not qualify for.

If you can post the photos, tell me in which thread you have done so and I will go there and tell you all I know about the gun. I do not know if it was a Registered Magnum or not, but perhaps you can tell from the photos. I do not believe there is ANYTHING written on the inside of the crane-yoke, but I will check when I go home today. But I think there is just NOTHING there, although there might be a serial number. I will check.
Thanks for letting me know a bit more about my gun. I knew it was quite valuable, and even more so because here in Mexico the .357 Magnum is illegal. This one was registered, and is registerd to me now by the Mexican Army. I cannot legally take it out and shoot it (although I do now and then as I have stated) but I can own it and most people down here cannot dream of owning a .357 without significant legal risks.
Cheers! http://smith-wessonforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5301039...391030332#2391030332

Here’s the pix:







On page 24 of the Jinks article, it says, “The last of the prewar Magnums were the 79 units finished in December, 1940. Three more magnums were built during World War II; two units in 1941 and one in 1942. No doubt these were for special high ranking officials.”

Friend Cal has the last pre-postwar magnum!! (Can’t very well call it the last prewar magnum if it was built in 1942.) A Non Registered Magnum. A very, very unique gun.

Man-o-man. Wow!

How cool. You just never know what you're going to run into. It's what makes this so exciting.

Great gun, great story.

calmex should definately letter it. Although it was presented in 1942, it might have been "built" before then. Perhaps Smith&Wesson had some "club gun" type stock reserved which could be engraved and presented as needed. A call or email to Roy Jinks and a follow up letter request is in order.

WOW!!! Great gun.

That baby is a safe queen because of the law there. That is a shame.

Man,
I would love to have a revolver like that with so much S&W and Marine Corps history tied to it. That is a beautiful gun.

Bill

Any info on what the serial # is on this "Mexican Magnum"?

I have #62459, a 5", blue,original magnas and the HBH. As I "understand" it, #62489 is the LAST N frame made before the war.

Thanks for any info.

Bud

Wow...just WOW ....what a unique gun!!

From Wiki...

"Philip Clay Roettinger (September 22, 1915–January 7, 2002)

CIA Operations Officer (1954-1964) who helped plan and execute the 1954 overthrow of the Left-Wing Guatamalan government led by Jacobo Arbenz after it threatened to nationalize property owned by the United Fruit Company.

Served as a U.S. Marine Corps Colonel in the Pacific during World War II.

Graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Son of former Ohio Judge S. C. Roettinger

Was a member of the U.S. shooting team in the 1948 Olympics in London.

After the CIA, Roettinger settled in San Miguel Allende, Mexico to devote time to painting and raising a family."

Marvelous. Just marvelous! I'm just speechless...

Lee, you were right about it being an NRM (non–registered magnum). Not that that detracts from the value – either in the commercial sense or the historical sense – a whit! Or maybe it is one of those “club guns,” I s’pose.

OFT, it’s no “safe queen!” Calmex says he takes it out and shoots it. And with its campaign history in the Pacific, no way to call this baby a safe queen! Who could imagine a more colorful, magnificent provenance for a gun!

N_itis, I suppose it might be one of the two 1941 guns. That's true. If so, still mighty darn cool. But I am holding out for it being the last one, the 1942 one!

Bud, I don’t know the SN. Hopefully Calmex will tell us here, or if he is concerned about it being public he can email us, for the RM data base and so we can get Roy (Roy Jinks, the S&W historian) to check it out. Plus he needs the factory letter from Roy anyway, of course (only $30, Cal) to document it properly. (Great to see you posting again, Bud, by the way. I have missed your always informative posts in your absence!)

Jeremy, good work on the Wikipedia bio. Man, this just gets better and better, doesn’t it? What a provenance!

After I posted the above info from Calmex, I went out for my morning walk and was thinking about this. With the Marine Corps and CIA background, records should be available from both organizations on Roettinger’s career. Plus the info along the lines Jeremy has turned up. And an Olympic shooter to boot! What an incredible, just incredible package Calmex has, and can further put together. What a display it would make!

Who knows, maybe if Calmex does put it all together, we could talk him into displaying at one of the SWCA meetings! Heck, I might even come over from Japan to see that!

Say, if you plug "Guatemala" and "Roettinger" into Google, all kindsa stuff turns up!

Arlo

Don't know if he'd be able to travel with that gun, being as how its registered
with the Mexican Army. And if he did, and returned without it, what might happen
then ?

Later, Mike Priwer

quote:

Originally posted by mikepriwer:
Arlo

Don't know if he'd be able to travel with that gun, being as how its registered
with the Mexican Army. And if he did, and returned without it, what might happen
then ?

Later, Mike Priwer

Mike, well, for starters, if I traveled with that gun, and returned without it, there'd be a coupla corpses lying around wherever the gun dissapeared!

No way I would ever let that one go, come hell or high water, were it mine!

Seriously though, you make a good point. Taking it out of country and then bringing it back might well be impossible. Hadn't considered that.

I doubt that gun will ever be allowed to leave Mexican soil. If he did get it here, he'd never get it back home. Shame, really.

quote:

Originally posted by lonewolf:
Any info on what the serial # is on this "Mexican Magnum"?

I have #62459, a 5", blue,original magnas and the HBH. As I "understand" it, #62489 is the LAST N frame made before the war.

Thanks for any info.

Bud

Bud, here ya go: 62485. Cal said he did not mind me publishing the SN here.

I am in touch with Cal who is workin' his butt off right now, crunch time at whatever work he does, and too busy to hang out with us at the moment -- plus his internet connections are iffy -- but he says he'll try to write up more about the gun and his friend Phil tomorrow, or barring that, on Sunday. He is pleased that we find his gun interesting, and says he has some interesting stories that Phil told him...

Say, maybe one of you boys with a pipeline to Roy could ask him details on that SN and then post here for the rest of us? I am an SWCA member, but have never used the site or contacted Roy. (Like it here just fine. )