I've seen a picture or two of his 357 but couldn't tell if it was a 27 or not. I'm sure it's called a registered magnum and if so we're all registered magnums in 357 the model 27?

It would have been a registered magnum.The 357 magnum which became the model 27 was a post war gun built on the short action.The registered magnum was pre-war and a long action.

Where is it now?

The last time I saw Pattons handguns, they were at the Buffalo Bill museum in Cody Wyoming. That was probably 15 years ago.

I've always believed that General Patton's registered Magnum was on display at the Fort Knox museum. Link below.

General George Patton Museum - Fort Knox KY - Visit Kentucky

I can't remember where it was that I read about it but it was in a regular "gun magazine" and many years ago, but it noted that Patton held his two side arms in great esteem and was very proud of them. It seems rather ironic that he had two of the best handguns made for the time (actually still two of the best of all time), a Colt SAA and a "modern" Smith and Wesson, the "Registered Magnum" in a 3 1/2" bbl. Now, according to the magazine article, he called his Smith and Wesson his "killing gun." The Colt was an engraved, nickeled 5 1/2" with ivory grips with his initials inlayed in them. I don't remember how it came to be that he kept the 357 as his "killing gun" and if he carried it into combat operations or not. I remember the article showed several photos of the guns and also showed him carrying a Colt 380 Auto in a small leather holster while meeting people/staff/others and around his headquarters. I will see them someday. I too thought that they were at the museum in Kentucky. I don't remember seeing them at Cody, but I haven't been there in a very long time....

Yes it was a Registered Magnum. Both firearms were carried into combat. The Registered Magnum (and other Patton firearms) is on display at the Patton Museum located at Fort Knox
Here is Lt Col Patton's letter to S&W ordering the firearm
Here is the S&W letter acknowledging the order
Here is the Factory work order
You might notice the selling price of this revolver was only $48, while a bargain today, that was quite a sum of money back in 1935. Back in 1935 the average car cost $580

Aircrewman is incorrect. The Colt has a 4.75-inch barrel, not 5.5-inches. It certainly saw combat. Patton killed some Mexicans with it on the Pershing Expedition about 1916.

In WW II, he wore both guns and also had, at the least, Colt and Remington .380's and a Colt Detective Special with a sq. butt. There are photos of him wearing all. He may have owned others, with which he wasn't photographed.

Patton paid $48, but "list" was $60. He got an Army officer's discount.

True he got a discount, but nobody pays LIST Price for a Smith and Wesson

If you look close at that price, it is initialed DBW

Here's Patton and Pershing.

Attached Images

image.jpg (87.1 KB, 427 views)

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

Great story.

$48.00 is about $847.25 in 2016 dollars.

I saw both the Registered Magnum and the Colt .45 at the Patton Museum at Fort Knox, but that was about 18 years ago, when one of my sons was graduating from boot camp. I believe the Colt is silver plated, not nickel.



By the way, another Colt supposedly owned by Patton, another SAA .45, was sold at auction last year for $75,000.00. Colt .45 revolver owned by Patton fetches $75G at auction | Fox News I had never heard of it before, but Patton loved firearms, and had many besides the ones that we always think of.

__________________
SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

He competed in the Olympics, would have won but put two bullets through the same hole so was scored as a miss.

Have read about him since I was a little kid, but never found an account of how many firearms he owned.

Here's as close as I could get to Patton's guns. Sorry, but stag was cheaper than ivory back then.

40 odd years ago, both revolvers and the rig he wore them in where displayed together at the West Point Museum.

Update on my earlier post: I did a little research, and am linking a YouTube video by the Patton Museum Director, in which he explains some of the updates that are being done at the museum, including the new display cases... The example case is the one that now holds Patton's Smith and Wesson, his Colt .45 SAA, and his belt and holsters that he used when he wore both sidearms. I think you'll like the new home, and we will be able to see the guns much better than the way they were displayed in the past.


Lemme know what you think.....

Best Regards, Les

__________________
SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I give up!
Where are GP's guns and gun belts displayed?
My FIL used to brag that he went to summer ROTC camp with George Patton down at Ft. Knox.
It was him, George and a few thousand of his closest friends.

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

Thanks to all the posters for answering my question and sharing their knowledge.

The Patton Museum is at Fort Knox, Kentucky. To the best of my knowledge that is where the guns are currently displayed. I understand that there was a lot of remodeling done since I was there years ago, and it is possible that during the remodeling, the guns may have been on loan to another facility, but they seem to be back home now.

Best Regards, Les

__________________
SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

What a treasure. I would think this revolver would be the second most valuable Smith & Wesson if ever sold privately, which I don't ever expect that it will.

I think only J E Hoover's RM Number 1 would bring more if it were ever found and sold.

The last time I was at the Patton Museum (summer 2013) his Colt and his Magnum along with the gunbelt were displayed as shown in the video. Another display contained the Colt Army Special he used to compete in the Modern Pentathlon during 1912 Olympics.

The Patton Gallery contains personal effects from General Patton

George Patton went to VMI for a year, then went to West Point. He graduated in 1909.

Just how old is/was your FIL? Patton's son was a 1946 West Point graduate. Could your FIL been at Riley with him?

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

There are exactly one gazillion books about Patton but here is my recommended reading list since our primary interest is his guns:

• D’Este, Carlo, Patton: A Genius for War, Harper Perennial, 1996.
• Patton, George S., War As I Knew It, Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
• Perry, Milton F. and Parke, Barbara W., Patton and His Pistols, Stackpole, 1957.
• Lemon, Charles R., The Patton Pistols, U.S. Army, 2013.
• Green, Michael and Gladys, Weapons of Patton’s Armies, MBI Publishing, 2000.
• Rodgers, Russ, Historic Photos of General George Patton, Turner Publishing, 2007.
• Hymel, Kevin M., Patton’s Photographs, War As He Saw It, Potomac Books, 2006.
• “Patton’s Peacemaker,” Ronald A. Ogan, American Rifleman, May, 1986.
• “Patton: Guns Made Him Great,” Whit Collins, Guns & Ammo, August, 1971.
• “Guns of General Patton,” Charles M. Province, Guns Magazine, December, 1986.
• “Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. Olympic Competitor,” John J. Grubar, Man at Arms, Number 3, 1995.
• “Handguns of the Generals,” Massad Ayoob, Guns Magazine, August, 2003. (Several errors)

His is a list of handguns he owned that I continue to add to as I discover more sources.

Peacemaker 332088 Patton Museum, Ft. Knox
S&W Magnum 47022 Patton Museum. RM 506. See docs above.
MT Woodsman SN Unk. Family retained.
Model M .380 ACP 135170 Issued to MG A.H. Carter, 1944.
Model M .380 ACP 135301 Patton Museum from son.
Remington M 51 PA15470 Family retained.
Detective Special SN Unk. Family retained.
Model M .32 ACP SN Unk. Family retained.
Government Model .45 ACP C108607 Private purchase 3/14/19

__________________
Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

I would really like to see the provenance on that stag handled SAA. Color me doubtful.

__________________
Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

I certainly like the display with 360 degree viewing! The only improvements that occurred to me was to show the items in the pouches as well. One was a compass I know, and either ammo for the 45 Colt or 1st aid kit I'd guess. And labeling the maker. Also labels for the revolvers would answer/provide information like the subject of this thread.

Unfortunately the narrator called his revolvers pistols.....perpetuating an inaccurate colloquialism and 'newbie' terminology, and in a museum yet.

Thanks for the video!

__________________
Jim
S&WCA #819

This would have been around 1935-6.
My FIL would have have been between Junior -Senior year at Indiana University.
He was commissioned a 2LT Infantry Reserve when he graduated at IU.
Then he went into Medical School up in Indianapolis.
They needed ROTC Instructors down in Bloomington, and he needed money.
So he would put on his Soldier Suit and teach some freshmen.
One day he gets an official envelope. It's a Commission in the Medical Corps.
He just keeps on trucking!
Another envelope. It's a call-up in the Infantry.
He takes it all it down to the Draft Board.
They had never seen a guy with two commissions who will go in either branch.
They say - we will be in touch.
In week or so, another envelope.
Your Infantry Commission is terminated!
That's how he became an Air Corps Doctor!
So he was never at Ft. Riley.
When he was called up he went to a new Air base at Mobile, AL, then to Africa , then back to several stateside Air Bases.

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

May I ask how that translates in car dollars please? I really am curious...

__________________
S&W SS Revolvers

As an Armor officer I have been to Ft. Knox and the museum there since the late 1970's/early 1980's and The Patton .357 Magnum and his Colt .45 were on display there, along with his staff car and many other items. However, the Armor School has been moved and incorporated with the Infantry School at Ft. Benning as a cost savings measure. As Ii understand the Army article, the Patton material has been or will be moved to Ft. Benning. See Knox armor artifacts begin move to Benning | Article | The United States Army

One interesting story I read about Patton and a 1911; He and his wife were sitting down to a candle light dinner and the 1911 he was carrying concealed (she did not know about it) went off. Being resourceful he immediately told his bride to hit the floor and blew out the candles then joined her on the floor, pretending that someone was shooting at them. The author went on to state that this was the reason from that time on he never carried a 1911 again.

I read, many years ago, that Patton had stoned down the sear to a "hair trigger". He may have pinned the grip safety as well.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Patton is considered to have engaged in the last classic gunfight of the old west when he was with Gen Pershing's forces in the Punitive Expedition in Mexico. He obviously was expecting trouble because he had all six chambers of his Colt SAA loaded. With it, he shot the horses out from under 3 charging Villa soldiers, then when the soldiers got up and charged him, he shot all three of them. He strapped their dead bodies to the hood of his Dodge scout vehicle and drove back to headquarters through several Mexican towns.

Sidenote: Patton was an excellent pistol shot, having competed in the 1912 Olympics.

Patton got (took?) more credit for this minor incident than was probably warranted and the Internet accounts usually get it wrong. It got one short paragraph in General Pershing's after action report of the expedition.

The New York Times gave a rather breathless account but was probably reasonably accurate in the details. (The reporter traveled with the Expedition and interviewed the participants at the time.)

A summary: Patton walked from his car (one of three) and was about to speak to four men skinning a beef when three riders bolted out, firing on Patton and the other cars. Lt. Patton shot five times, wounding one rider, and then ducked behind a wall to reload. Patton then shot one rider's horse which went down, rolling over the rider. When the rider got up Patton and five other men shot him. "It was like a firing squad."

The second rider had dismounted and was running along a wall when Patton now using a rifle, his scout and five enlisted men all opened up on the Mexican, killing him.

The rider that Patton had wounded had gone back into the house. He emerged, creeping down a stone wall that ran north from the house. Three enlisted men sprinted to cut him off. They, not Patton, engaged in a gun battle with him. Patton's scout, E.L. Holmdahl, eventually put a bullet in his head from 20 feet away. This turned out to be Captain Julio Cardenas.

Patton strapped the bodies to his car and returned to camp and the legend was born. He filed three notches into the grip panel of his Peacemaker and, as leader of the detachment, got credit for the kills.

__________________
Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

Emil Holmdahl was a soldier of fortune and adventurer. His biography would make a good Hollywood movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Lewis_Holmdahl

Say what you want about Patton but he sure had panache.

__________________
14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Is that what you call them?

No doubt! He went through the house shooting the locks off doors to look for other Villistas and more or less terrorized Cardenas' wife and mother and other women in the household.

(BTW, why is this thread in the SWHF sub-forum?)

__________________
Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

I dearly wish he could have lived long enough to write his book.

Is Hoover's Registered Magnum No. 1 lost? I had not heard that. . . .

A number of years ago, I was visiting the museum when the place was virtually deserted. One of the caretakers was cleaning the display case that contained his revolvers, and I had the opportunity to hold the Registered Magnum, with cotton gloves of course. For some reason, still unknown, I neglected to get my hands on the Colt Model P.

The revolver is a "working man's" gun, and is far from pristine. It has a lot of wear, nicks, and scratches, something you would expect from a gun that's been carried and used.

The ivory stocks had not been maintained properly, and there's some cracking and crazing. The General's initials were scrimshawed by him on both the Colt and the S&W.

The pistol belt, buckle, spare rounds carrier, and "compass" case, were all purchased from the old S.D. Myres Saddle Company of El Paso, Texas. The compass case is actually an adapted handcuff case in which he carried his engineer's compass.

In the movie "Patton", George C. Scott wears both revolvers a number of times. However, as near as I've been able to tell, he rarely ever wore both, probably less than seen in the movie.

When General Patton landed in North Africa, he was transferred from USS Augusta, to a landing boat. Rough seas caused his personal luggage to be lost over the side while transferring it to the boat. Fortunately, he was wearing both revolvers when this happened.

"Unfortunately the narrator called his revolvers pistols.....perpetuating uninformed, 'newbie' terminology, and in a museum yet."

So why did Sam Colt, the inventor of revolvers, call his products pistols? Sorry, but that's what the 19th Century Colt advertising called them. Maybe Sam was just a newbie and uninformed.

I believe I have read that Patton never wore both of his famous revolvers simultaneously, at least in public, and there are no period photographs showing him doing so. I'll check on that.
.

It is true that he rarely wore them at the same time and he probably wore the big Peacemaker less than it seems. He made sure to wear it when he knew he was going to be photographed. However, he did have a left hand holster and did occasionally wear the two together.

__________________
Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

I want to correct an error I made in an earlier post. He did not cut three notches in the left grip panel of his Peacemaker; he cut two. It would be interesting to know which two Mexicans he thought he killed since multiple people fired on all three.

If there was one person who may have killed all three it was the scout and soldier of fortune, Emil Holmdahl. Interestingly, he fought with Villa early in the Mexican Revolution. The he switched sides and fought with Carranza's forces. Finally, he joined the American Punitive Expedition to chase Villa.

__________________
Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

Correct. There were several rifle-armed troopers with him during the engagement, so it would not be possible to establish with certainty who shot whom. The story goes that they were all in a Dodge touring car, and Patton had the bodies of the dead Mexicans strapped on the fenders and brought them beck.

Pancho Villa also used a Dodge.
Seems to be a popular car back then in Mexico!

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

Because you might not have noticed 19th century advertising is riddled with grammatical and terminology errors, and colloquialisms. Colt's advertising usage is no exception and just one more, and a more egregious example, at that.

I'm sorry too, but yes he was, though more likely his advertising writers.
And so what, NOTHING WRONG with that, it's part of the 19th century charm we all appreciate, right?

But to my point, the narrator's 21st century usage is a different story, and is unfortunately "...perpetuating uninformed, 'newbie' terminology, and in a museum yet."

__________________
Jim
S&WCA #819

There's a fairly detailed acount of the gunfight at the ranchero in Col Frank Tompkin's book "Chasing Villa". Incidently, Julio Cardenas was a colonel in Villa's army, not a captain.

That's "panache", spelled "S-H-O-W-M-A-N-S-H-I-P".

__________________
Oh well, what the hell.

This picture is reversed. Looks like he might have pushed the Colt forward so it could be seen in the picture.