I've posted photos of my 3/4 scale RM before but this time I took close-ups and details that might have been missed before. This scale model was built by Raymond E. Hutchens of Indianapolis Indiana sometime in the latter part of the last century. I know that he made his first model in 1940. He died sometime in the 1990's. He was an Indianapolis police officer and he built scale model guns in his basement machine shop. I have a picture of a book about "Hutch" that details a lot of his work. I'll post a lot of photos of this "3 1/2" RM and think about the difficulty in making every part of this miniature down your basement and understand the craftsmanship involved in building this gun. He also made the miniature cartridges which are primed and head stamped. Bill

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more pictures,

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Here's a few more,

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This is the last batch,

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That is outstanding.

Amazing skills!

I'm at a loss for words....

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.38 M&P Model of 1905 4th

Yeah, quoting you is the best I could come up with.

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Dan
Ps 96 SWCA 2930 SWHF 524

I deleted my post "simply amazing" where all of the picture follow-ups would run together in sequence.

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Possum—The other white meat!

That is one of the most amazing examples of craftsmanship I've ever seen. It's exquisite in every detail.

What is the actual caliber of the cartridges, and can the gun fire?

Wow. Just Wow.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I would be amazed if someone could create one to scale, but to do one at 3/4 scale is beyond belief.
Just the grips have me in awe.

John,the caliber would be 3/4 of .38 caliber.I can't tell if there is powder in the case but I treat them like they are live rounds.
Bill

Thank you for this post. That is outstanding!

Way Cool!!! How long is the separate barrel? Have you ever had it on the gun?

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

Many years ago in the early 80's we visited Wash DC and spent quite a bit of time at the Smithsonian. In one room there was a large display of miniature firearms, I recall a Luger, 1911, Colt SAA, Winchester 64, Thompson Sub-machine gun and others. They were all about 2" to 3" and fully operational and included ammo to fit. My wife had to drag me away form there.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

That is beautiful, I have seen miniature gasoline and diesel powered motors that were equally astounding, the fact that they actually could run and more than idle was jaw dropping. A neighbor of ours back in the late fifties built a 1/2 or 3/4 scale 57 Chevy to match his daily driver, he built the body out of aluminum and since he was a craftsman at the local Kaiser Aluminum plant that made sense, it was not powered by a minature V8 but was basically identical in every other way.

What amazing skill. He must have had a well equipped machine shop in his basement, but even so, the skill level to produce something like that is off the charts. One can't help but wonder, since he was so meticulous, whether the components were heat treated and made from forgings, and so on.

Good Grief!!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Wow, it is beautiful!

I'd love to have something like that!

Thank you for sharing it with us!

I always considered the checkered topstrap of a full size .357 to be a work of art. What a fine eye for detail.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

At 3/4 scale, that would make it a S&W .268 Magnum. I'll bet that also, would "shoot clean through a man"! Provided of course, you could get your finger in the trigger guard......and he was a 3/4 scaled man.
And, thanks for sharing, amazing!

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Jeb

This truly amazing production provoked a memory for me. Somewhere, sometime, ... someone posted a link, I do not remember if here or somewhere else, that was a digital file (maybe from a book about Mr. Hutchens with pictures of him at work in his workshop). There was also quite a bit of information provided as well.

I know that I saved a link or downloaded the file or in some way preserved that information for myself. I do not remember many particulars beyond what is stated here but do remember seeing photographs of other miniature models of S&W revolvers that he made. They were all incredible in my estimation. I will have to begin a search of my computer files to see if I can locate this treasure trove of information. Perhaps someone else here saw the same information posted. Kinda seems like it was posted on this forum?

Bracebeemer, I envy you in the most possible positive way for your ownership of this minature. I would dearly love to own it or another of his production. On the other hand, I suspect the possibility of doing so would stretch my discretionary funds beyond the breaking point! That said, I'd probably go all in if I could figure out some way of doing so without being liable for prosecution for my actions!! What a NEAT thing! I fear I would be unable to avoid increasing the wear mark on the cylinder because of my incessant dry firing of the piece!! How could one resist doing so?

I think you are probably wise to treat those miniature cartridges as if they are the real thing. It is entirely possible that they are. I cannot remember if this question was addressed in the information that I read. If I can find that file, I will be back to this thread with it. Congratulations to you, Sir!

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So long ... Ken

Kthom, you might check my posts because I did put pictures of Mr Hutchens at his Bridgeport doing his thing.


Boykinip,the barrel is 5 7/8" It's scaled to be the 8 3/4". It would be a nice pair of barrel's to have .The longest and the shortest available for the RM. No the barrel has never been on the gun.
Bill

Holy Mostaccioli, and I thought the full-sized ones were works of art !

Larry

bracebeemer,

Thanks for the tip. I believe you are correct. I finally found what I was looking for here. I apparently copied some of your post(s) and created a word document and added some pictures from your posting. The header paragraph on my document is this:

Half Scale Registered Magnum SN # 47215, Reg.# 723.
Actual Mfg range from SN 45768 to 62489 between 1935 –
1939. Actual gun probably made about 1936.

I have a right and left side photo of the RM, which is lying in someone's hand (yours?). It apparently is a copy with an 8 3/8" barrel. The full length of the revolver reaches from the wrist crease of the hand shown to the tips of the fingers, and the width of it does not exceed the width of the hand. Each of these photos also shows three of the cartridges. I also captured a closeup photo of the revolver with the cylinder open showing the chambers and extractor, one with a single cartridge being held lengthwise between the thumb and first two fingers (with the cartridge being only slightly wider than the thumb, and a cartridge held between thumb and forefinger showing the cartridge head with primer and case head stamps. I also have two copies of what appear to be the same photo of Mr. Hutchens sitting at his lathe workstation. He was a fairly young man in the photos, certainly less than middle aged.

I am pretty certain these are from your previous posting mentioned. Have not searched for that here on the forum to confirm. From this description, you can probably do so. I am glad to have this brought again to my attention, as I am really fascinated by what Mr. Hutchens has created. It was undoubtedly a labor of love and something I, for one, can really appreciate. I think all of us can. The one described here, being a half size replica, would have been even more "tedious" to manufacture owing to the smaller size of the bits and pieces. Just truly amazing work with great attention to detail. Each one must be one of a kind!!!

FWIW, I created this file on 2/15/15.

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So long ... Ken

I was going to say that this borders on the obsessive, but I would be wrong. This is the very definition of obsessive.

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

Incredible work.

I assume the barrels are perfectly rifled and crowned; and I'd bet if you changed barrels the longer one would line up precisely.

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Oh well, what the hell.

At a Ohio Gun Collector ***. show in the late 80s- early 90s when
it was held up by Cleveland Airport there was a older gentleman
that had miniature Colt Peacemakers, Henry & Wins & Sharps.
He also had scale ammo for them. I wonder if this was same guy.
I was set up near him and he let me handle them. The detail on
them was incredible. He had a mock scale old western gun shop
also built to scale( no roof) to display them in.

Wow, that is some amazing work. Thanks for showing us.

Wow. And to think I was so pretentious that I thought I knew what to covet.

Any chance that could be displayed at Charlotte? It would make one heck of a display!

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Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

My hat is off to the maker. Just incredible. The time involved would be huge.

Bill:

Thanks for taking the time to post those photos. What a great example of the craftsman's art.

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan

What a little jewel! I like it that it even has a turn line on the cylinder.

A year or two ago, an LGS had two or three miniature firearms for sale...one was a Gatling Gun, and I can't remember what the others were. But they were nowhere near the level of craftsmanship and detail exhibited in your little revolver.

As someone else mentions, it'd be great if it could be displayed at the SWCA Symposium here in June.

You are very fortunate to have that model revolver.

Absolutely marvelous.

What is sad is that instead of learning a trade or developing a skill, 99% of todays generation is playing video games until they are 35.

I weep when I see what this country used be like and what it is now.

This type of craftsmanship is long gone.

Wonderful Work.......What attention to detail !!!




Thanks for posting this, It's got my wanting to build something juices going.




.

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

My admiration for the skills & patience required to accomplish this feat is way beyond words. Wish I had been so gifted but few are/were!

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Sam
S&WHF 333 S&WCA 2198

The key for me is the fit of the side plate. This is or was one of S&W's key features IMHO. The way that it fits on the 3/4 version is comparable to that of the old S&W craftsmen. What a unique treasure to have in one's collection.

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James Redfield
LM #497

Just need to match it up with the full size # 47216!!!

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Thanks for all the nice compliments about this little gun. I did display the two miniature RM's at the Columbus Ohio Symposium in 2014. I will not be able to make the Charlotte Symposium but I will bring them to a future meeting. I am going to photograph the 1/2 scale "8 3/4" RM in more detail. For those who like the scale model firearms I will post in the Firearms,Knives-Other Brands section a 2/3 scale Uzi in .25 ACP caliber cased with all the accessories. Also a 1/2 scale model 1902 dished toggle Luger cased with 3 magazines and finally a cased 1/2 scale Winchester Model 1894 sporting rifle take down which is very neat. All of these were made by Ray Hutchens.
Bill

What a work of art.

I am struggling to have an understanding of what these rare hand made guns are worth. If I ever ran into something like this I would be unprepared to know what to offer.

Is there a general range of what they bring?

I would assume factors might include what scale it is and who made it?

Paplinker, the value mainly has to do with the maker,the uniqueness of the model and the scale to some extent. Wayne Driskill who is head of the miniature arms society, believes that Raymond Hutchens was the best scale model miniaturist who ever lived. A lot of makers make Single Action Army's and Kentucky Rifles but very few take on the difficulty of making a revolver as difficult as a Regigtered Magnum with it's finely checkered top strap and rounded pinned parts,difficult stamped numbers, and finely fitted sideplate, and adjustable target sights. I value these guns at what a full size revolver would cost in similar condition.
Bill

Thanks Bill, Did Wayne mark his work?

Paplinker, you mean Ray Hutchens the maker. I'm not sure if he marked the guns themselves. I've never taken the grips off to see ( I'm a little scared to) these guns are all pictured in the book ,Scale Model Firearms. The case for the 1/2 scale RM has a stamp on the bottom of a vice with the word "Hutch".
Bill

Amazing work!! With the amount of effort put into that scale model I'd be willing to bet that ammo would go off. The cartridge bases look very much like .25. Small primers.

Skills beyond my comprehension!!!

JS