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Old 07-21-2017, 02:53 PM
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There is a reason I love to stop by my friends gun store several times per month. He has bought, sold, traded and collected many old, antique, odd and even rare firearms. You just never know what you will see.

Yesterday I stopped by and was greeted with "Bill, glad you came in, I have something you are gonna love. Have a seat." He emerges from the walk-in gun vault with a blue box and several papers. Inside the box is a Smith and Wesson Schofield No. 3, .45 Schofield. The pistol has a factory letter and a letter of additional provenance. The factory letter states the No. 3 was part of the second group of 7 inch barrel Schofield revolvers delivered to the United States Army Ordinance Department in 1876 and sent to the western states depot.

The additional letter is where it gets interesting. After being declared surplus by the US Army in 1883, the gun was purchased by the New York firm of Schuyler, Hartley & Graham. They cut the barrel back to 5 inches and semi-round butted the frame, among other modifications. The Schofield was then sold to the Wells Fargo Company where it was among the guns issued to their agents.

Our subject revolver then ended up in the collection of legendary Hollywood movie prop-gun rental firm, the Stembridge Company where it remained for many years before finally being sold at auction.

The next chapter of our NRA Fine + condition 50 to 60% finish Schofield is in the collection of Four Star United States Air Force General Bryce Poe, a noted gun collector who's Model 39 was on display at the NRA National Firearms Museum in Virginia. Upon his death, the gun was once again sold at auction. Several years after, my friend bought the gun from a collector- then re sold it when "An offer I couldn't refuse" came in.

Now the old gun with oh so many stories it cold tell is back in my friends safe, temporarily I'm sure. Surprisingly the bore and chambers are still in excellent condition. The rifling is strong, the action tight and it sports far fewer rough handling marks than a former movie prop house piece should. I'm certain she's still a fine shooting revolver. Just glad I was able to fondle the historic S&W for a few minutes!
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Last edited by steamloco76; 07-22-2017 at 06:48 AM.
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Old 07-21-2017, 07:58 PM
Schof45 Schof45 is offline
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What a great looking WF Schofield with a lot of history. Curious what size the WF markings are (small, medium or large). Could I trouble you with a close up of the markings?
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Old 07-22-2017, 06:37 AM
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Great gun great story thanks for shareing.
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Old 07-22-2017, 08:32 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Schof45 View Post
What a great looking WF Schofield with a lot of history. Curious what size the WF markings are (small, medium or large). Could I trouble you with a close up of the markings?
Sorry, since it's not my gun I only took the one photo with my phone.

The same LGS recently had a November 1873 shipped Winchester Model 1873 rifle in an odd special order barrel lenght, 26 inches. The rifle came with full documentation, is fully functional and has strong rifling, though the bore is dark. Glad to have held that one too, as it is now in another collection.

By the way, a good portion of the provenance letter for the Schofield is information provided by Jim Supica. Pretty good source!
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Old 07-22-2017, 10:13 AM
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Side note question:
The U.S. Army adopted the schofield model 1n 1876 and surpluses in 1883.
What was the reason-ammo ?
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Old 07-22-2017, 01:22 PM
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The ammo. has been cited as one reason for the demise of the Schofield as a US Military revolver. The two cartridges in service at the time - .45 Schofield and .45 Colt were of different lengths. The Colt SAA revolver, having a longer cylinder, could chamber both rounds, however the Schofield, having a shorter cylinder, could only use the .45 Schofield round. Also, some Ordnance Officers thought the Schofield was too complicated and had to many parts and that the only reason the Army contracted for the Schofield was nepotism, as the General in charge of the Ordnance Dep't at the time was the brother of Col. Schofield. I doubt that the rounding of the heel of the butt of the pictured Schofield was done by Wells Fargo. I've seen, and owned dozens of Wells Fargo Schofields and none of them had that alteration that could be attributed to Wells Fargo. I believe it was just a personal tweak by a later owner. Nice piece of Western History, however. Ed.
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Old 08-01-2017, 10:40 AM
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Schuyler, Hartley and Graham had a checkered career-- Major Marcus Hartley had been on the Union Army Ordnance Board's Rifle Purchasing Committee, and developed the "rate" system for grading" rifles of the First Rate, made by US arsenals (Model of 1861), were bought at $15; second rate, refurbished or only partly made of Govt parts, at $12.50; and third rate (non-spec or with obvious problems) at $10. After the war he was separated, like so many other young officers, but kept his hand in at Ordnance-- and was able to buy almost all the first-rate rifles for about $2 apiece! The Army was going to cartridges, after all-- so as I remember Schuyler was the money guy and Graham had a warehouse, and they doubled their money very quickly, then doubled it two or three more times-- but they also gussied up some less-desirable pieces and sold them as new made, giving rise to the phrase "second rate" meaning shoddy goods passed off as new--

ETA: A very good book covering all this and much more is William Bean Davis' Civil War Guns-- he also did a very good biography of Sam'l Colt--

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