DA Perfecteds without side latch

micromontenegro · Mar 22, 2013

Hello, S&W aficionados! This is my first post, and I am Santiago from Venezuela.

I have always been a lover of Hand Ejectors, but I am the greenest of the greenhorns when it comes to top breaks. Had no interest on them until a month ago, when a Perfected without side latch fell on my lap.

I fell in love, even if it looked like someone had dragged it behind their pickup truck in a gravel road. So I went to search others, and so far I've found three, all in bad condition, all renickeled. Two appear to have been originally nickel with pearl grips (can´t tell about the other, the refinish is bad and the grips white aftermarket J frame ones- and still haven't seen it personally). Two sport 6 inch barrels. The other one has been chopped to about 2 1/4".

So we have a pattern here. The chopped one may have been originally 6". It would be easy to assume that in the 1910's someone imported several no latch, six inch, nickel/pearl DA Perfecteds to Venezuela, and I am finding them. But the serial numbers are not that close at all! One is 431XX, then 478XX, and then 506XX.

So, I guess my question is... when and why did the side latch get deleted? I have been told that it was during 1917, to speed up war production of other S&Ws, but more than 7,000 sounds like too many Perfecteds for a single, wartime year- specially since only about 59,000 Perfecteds were made from 1909 'till 1920.

Also, why haven't I found a single one with the side latch, the most common type in the US? Could it be that the latch was deleted, not in a certain year, but for certain markets (a "tropical" Perfected if you will)?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts, and a big hello from Caracas.

glowe · Mar 22, 2013

Welcome to the Forum. I have not seen any Perfecteds without the side latch in the US. I found only one reference to S&W making any Perfecteds without the side latch. Roy Jinks book, which is one of the most credible resources out there, states that the author has only found one non-cut frame that was produced during WWI.

Serial Number 40,3XX was shipped in 1912 and #54,9XX was shipped in 1917, so that could mean all your examples were shipped before WWI. S&W, however, did not ship their guns in serial number order, so there could be some earlier numbers shipped later than expected.

Could you post photos of the top barrel address? The patent dates could help here, since the last date on most examples of Perfecteds was 1909. Sometime after 50,000, a new patent date was added - 1914. Is it possible that the examples could have been made in South America or Spain? There are almost exact copies of several models that were considered patent infringements in the early Twentieth Century.

mmaher94087 · Mar 22, 2013

There are a few in the States. Mostly they are overlooked as the more common Double Action. If one does not pay attention, the frame with the integral trigger guard and missing thumb latch is missed.

My example was a 5", Nickel with a serial in the 52XXX range. It was shipped Jan. 1, 1918 to Shapleigh Hardware. A prominent S&W Perfected collector had a list of about a dozen that he'd owned or observed over 50 years of collecting.

I read somewhere that the deleted side latch was part of a contract for a South American country and the overruns were sold in the US. Maybe Mr. Jinks can enlighten us? Mike #283

micromontenegro · Mar 22, 2013

Thaks a lot for your answers. Unfortunately, the high serial number belongs to the chopped one. No dates remain there-

sandspur6 · Mar 25, 2013

I picked up a fairly nice Perfected at a recent gun show. The barrel has been very nicely shortened to 2". The serial number is 1057! Would this be a 1909 gun? Did the SN range for Perfecteds start at 1 or at 1000? This is the first one of these that I've owned, but even with the short barrel, it's still accurate as hell. Whoever did the job on shortening the barrel really knew what he was doing. I originally thought it was made that way until I noticed part of the markings on the rib were missing. Shoots right to point on aim too.

Wiregrassguy · Mar 26, 2013

Welcome01 to the forums from the Wiregrass! I've seen pictures of a .22 Ladysmith 2nd and the box label says Perfected .22 Hand Ejector. It doesn't have a side latch. The cylinder release is in front of the ejector rod.

DA Perfecteds without side latch

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