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S&W Antiques S&W Lever Action Pistols, Tip-Up Revolvers, ALL Top-Break Revolvers, and ALL Single Shots


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Old 07-29-2016, 04:28 AM
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Default Fourth Model (The Straight Line)

Again I found a beautiful gun here in Germany. It is one of the very hard to find Single Shot pistols - in this case the "Straight Line". The gun comes with the original acessories in the blue metal box. Theb box has a few marks outside. Inside the green velvet shows a little waer at the right hand upper corner which comes from taking the pistol out of the box. This will usually make some damage to the corner. The S/N is 961. As there is no listing which gives information when a special S/N of the total of 1870 Straight Lines has been produced, I can only guess that it is appr. in one of the earlier production runs because the pistol was not well accepted by the shooters and so S&W might have produced the biggest quantities in the early years. But that is only a guess of mine. The Standard Catalog 3 mentions that 3 production changes where made in 1928 -but does not say what. Does everyone know if these changes were internal or external? I also would like to see an operation manual. I know how the pistol works, but it would be nice to have a copy from the net or so. Any help is appreciated. You must know that these pistols were rarely used in our country because it fell into the category Free Pistol - and there were better European Free Pistols available (and probably cheaper).
Thanks for looking.

Rainer
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Old 07-29-2016, 06:39 AM
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I own serial #26 with the case and tools as well. Yours looks to be in great condition. These guns were way before there time.
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Old 07-29-2016, 03:03 PM
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When the sales of the 3rd model single shots began to drop, the factory sent letters of inquiries to shooters asking what they would like, design wise, for a 4th model single shot. Answers were all over the board, including a single shot variation of the Model 3 American ( of which 2 prototypes may have been made, as I had one of these in my collection years ago). S&W's President, Harold Wesson said the guns, serial number 1 to 25, of the new design would be reserved for shooters whose ideas most closely represented the final design.
Ser. # 961 probably shipped in 1926, as close serial numbers fall in that era. An engineering change was issued Jan. 15, 1926, to lengthen the chamber to eliminate the " Olympic " chambers, so Straightline guns in the high 3 digit to low 4 digit serial numbers, may, or may not, have the short Olympic chambers. Ser. # 1076 has the standard chamber, for example. There are several variations in the cases, depending on when they were made, etc. Early ones had elastic loops to retain the tools, later cases had the metal spring clips, etc. The change over to the metal retainers occurred around ser. #s 85 to 110, with the phase in of the newer style cases. Several vendors made cases for S&W, however Stanley Hdwe. was the supplier of the majority of the cases. The "factory boxes" for shipping the Straightlines was a plan tan colored Kraft style two piece box, with no label. Minor changes are seen in the tools, over time, depending on which vendor was the supplier.
An engineering change was issued Feb. 11, 1929, to change all finishes from Blue to "Bright Blue" and install S&W medallions in the wood grips. This order applied to the Straightline and various other models then in production.
There is at least one "Club" gun, Ser. # 05, known and a few factory engraved examples. No guns are known to have been factory nickel finished, or listed as such in the records, although I once had a Straight-line case that was nickel plated. Ed.

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Old 07-30-2016, 08:35 PM
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To the best of my knowledge, the complete list of changes goes like this: As noted above, the "Olympic Chamber" was deleted. The trigger was changed from adjustable to non-adjustable. The hammer was changed from non-rebounding to rebounding. The frame material was heat treated. The sear and sear lever were altered to improve trigger pull. All these changes (excepting that of the chamber) were made between serial numbers 785 and 942 during 1928.

Ralph Tremaine

As an aside, mine (#'s 128 and 1577) were shipped on December 3, 1925 and March 21, 1930 respectively.

As another aside, the retail price of #1577 was $35. I paid a bit more than that.

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Old 08-02-2016, 09:32 AM
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A large number of 4th Models were exported.
Don Mundell
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Old 08-02-2016, 11:39 AM
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Any best guesses as to how large large is-----and as to the predominate destinations (Europe/South America/etc.)?

Ralph Tremaine
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Old 08-04-2016, 01:35 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by opoefc View Post
When the sales of the 3rd model single shots began to drop, the factory sent letters of inquiries to shooters asking what they would like, design wise, for a 4th model single shot. Answers were all over the board, including a single shot variation of the Model 3 American ( of which 2 prototypes may have been made, as I had one of these in my collection years ago). S&W's President, Harold Wesson said the guns, serial number 1 to 25, of the new design would be reserved for shooters whose ideas most closely represented the final design.
Ser. # 961 probably shipped in 1926, as close serial numbers fall in that era. An engineering change was issued Jan. 15, 1926, to lengthen the chamber to eliminate the " Olympic " chambers, so Straightline guns in the high 3 digit to low 4 digit serial numbers, may, or may not, have the short Olympic chambers. Ser. # 1076 has the standard chamber, for example. There are several variations in the cases, depending on when they were made, etc. Early ones had elastic loops to retain the tools, later cases had the metal spring clips, etc. The change over to the metal retainers occurred around ser. #s 85 to 110, with the phase in of the newer style cases. Several vendors made cases for S&W, however Stanley Hdwe. was the supplier of the majority of the cases. The "factory boxes" for shipping the Straightlines was a plan tan colored Kraft style two piece box, with no label. Minor changes are seen in the tools, over time, depending on which vendor was the supplier.
An engineering change was issued Feb. 11, 1929, to change all finishes from Blue to "Bright Blue" and install S&W medallions in the wood grips. This order applied to the Straightline and various other models then in production.
There is at least one "Club" gun, Ser. # 05, known and a few factory engraved examples. No guns are known to have been factory nickel finished, or listed as such in the records, although I once had a Straight-line case that was nickel plated. Ed.
Ed
There are 4 Straight Line Club Guns, including 05. I've included a picture of my Model 3 American in .22 Long Rifle. If you remember, I bought it from you at the Symposium in Columbus.
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Last edited by Club Gun Fan; 08-04-2016 at 01:38 PM.
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