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S&W Hand Ejectors: 1896 to 1961 All 5-Screw & Vintage 4-Screw SWING-OUT Cylinder REVOLVERS, and the 35 Autos and 32 Autos


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Old 07-07-2017, 12:25 PM
larryofcc larryofcc is offline
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Default 1948 factory letter

I was supposed to let one of our members know the info on a letter I had coming.
It was for a 38 M&P Long Action variation. # S987266, shipped 4-13-1948 to Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett,& Co. Chicago, IL. I have never heard of this company. Anyone here know who they are? It was shipped with the blue finish,6" bbl., and walnut square butt stocks. Nothing special here. Just a fairly scarce revolver made but for two years. Big Larry

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Old 07-07-2017, 01:02 PM
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Cornell Publications has a reprint of one of their older catalogs. There is also a blurb about the company history:

Cornell Publications -Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. 1884 Gun Catalog (Chicago)

It appears they invented the "True Value" hardware label.

Last edited by Absalom; 07-07-2017 at 01:03 PM.
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Old 07-07-2017, 01:13 PM
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I have an original 1914 HS&B wholesale catalog. It is enormous, well over 2000 pages, heavily illustrated, containing about anything that existed at that time, a time capsule of that unique period in America just before WWI, and one of my most prized possessions. I think they sold only to the trade, not to individuals such as Wards and Sears did. Most items are priced by the dozen, hundred, or gross. It includes an especially extensive listing of guns and ammo (but they handled only Peters ammunition - because they said it was the best), even explosives and blasting supplies, and about anything available on the US sporting goods market at that time, plus many house brand (Rev-O-Noc) guns they sold. It contains some very nice full color plates of guns and ammo (and many other items - cutlery, tools, clothing, saddles, you name it). I found it many years ago in an abandoned barn in rural southern Ohio.

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Old 07-07-2017, 01:59 PM
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I Love looking through the old catalogs. I had someone give me a 1940 Stoeger catalog & handbook that is fascinating. One of the most interesting things is that when you open the cover to view the first page which has a letter from Stoeger Arms president on the opposite which is the back side of the front cover is a large posting which is labelled "PLEASE TAKE NOTE" Under that is "New Federal Firearms Act" and then is a written explanation regarding a new firarms act of 1938 which basically one of the first laws enacted against free trade of firearms. It required interstate sale of handguns for certain states to go through a licensed firearms dealer. I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert concerning the 2nd Amendment, I am not even a student so I found this to be a suprise, in that I was not aware that "they" had been going after our guns that far back, I wouldn't be a bit suprised if most people like myself were unaware that attempts to control the free exercise of our rights have been going on for at least 80 years. Makes me feel like a neophyte...time to study a little more.
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Old 07-07-2017, 02:11 PM
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Originally Posted by larryofcc View Post
S987266, shipped 4-13-1948 to Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett,& Co. Chicago, IL
Data recorded. Thank you very much, Big Larry!
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Old 07-07-2017, 02:52 PM
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. . . Nothing special here . . .[/img]
That Sir, is your opinion!! It happens to be my birth year and that makes it very special to me!!

Big store and distributor. Here is what it looked like late in the Nineteenth and also an image from the Twentieth Century.
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File Type: jpg Hibbard.jpg (129.0 KB, 32 views)
File Type: jpg Hibbard 2.jpg (59.7 KB, 31 views)
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Old 07-07-2017, 03:49 PM
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That Sir, is your opinion!! It happens to be my birth year and that makes it very special to me!!

Big store and distributor. Here is what it looked like late in the Nineteenth and also an image from the Twentieth Century.
Sorry young man. My birth year is 1942 and I am a War Baby, as my Mom used to call me. I have no 1942 guns, but I do have a very special K-22 # K 4339, with LERK, near mint in the box with tools and all papers shipped 9-23-1947 which just happens to be my 5th birthday. When I collected US militaria, I had many guns from 1942. Almost all guns from my birth year are US military. Big Larry
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Old 07-07-2017, 03:52 PM
larryofcc larryofcc is offline
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Originally Posted by Absalom View Post
Cornell Publications has a reprint of one of their older catalogs. There is also a blurb about the company history:

Cornell Publications -Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. 1884 Gun Catalog (Chicago)

It appears they invented the "True Value" hardware label.
Thank you Sir. I will order one. Big Larry
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Old 07-07-2017, 05:35 PM
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"I Love looking through the old catalogs. I had someone give me a 1940 Stoeger catalog & handbook that is fascinating. "

I also have one of the original 1940 Stoeger Shooter's Bible, the NY World's Fair edition. also a Bannerman's catalog of about the same time. That is, I have them boxed up somewhere. Maybe I should look for them. Fascinating reading.
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Old 07-07-2017, 10:59 PM
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Hubbard, Bartlett co was an old line hardware wholesaler. Companies like them and Shapleigh in St. Louis were the suppliers of everything you needed on a farm or home from the later part of 19th century thru the 1970's when companies like Vitter and Company and Ace hardware, which are owner owned co-operation, put them out of business.

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Old 07-08-2017, 12:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Kinman View Post
I Love looking through the old catalogs. I had someone give me a 1940 Stoeger catalog & handbook that is fascinating. One of the most interesting things is that when you open the cover to view the first page which has a letter from Stoeger Arms president on the opposite which is the back side of the front cover is a large posting which is labelled "PLEASE TAKE NOTE" Under that is "New Federal Firearms Act" and then is a written explanation regarding a new firarms act of 1938 which basically one of the first laws enacted against free trade of firearms. It required interstate sale of handguns for certain states to go through a licensed firearms dealer. I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert concerning the 2nd Amendment, I am not even a student so I found this to be a suprise, in that I was not aware that "they" had been going after our guns that far back, I wouldn't be a bit suprised if most people like myself were unaware that attempts to control the free exercise of our rights have been going on for at least 80 years. Makes me feel like a neophyte...time to study a little more.
Federal Firearms act of 1938 (FDR signiture) is little known. Most people think the Gun Control Act 1968 (GCA68) was the first big gun law.
Not so.
The FFA38 established the FFL system, it was much less complicated than now of course but it was 'needed' to help the States where State and Local firearms laws exceeded Federal law as far as,,, like registration.
Buying a handgun at the time from an out of state source and having it sent to a customer in NY meant having it sent to an FFL in NY instead for transfer to the customer as NYS had already strict handgun registration laws on the books.
Dealers, manufacturers, importers all now had to be Federally licensed.

FFA38 made it a crime for a convicted felon to possess a firearm,,,to alter, remove or obiterate the mfg applied ser# on a firearm,,and IIRC, required a mfg ser# on all handguns and centerfire rifles mfg'd in the USA. Shotguns and 22rf cal long guns were still exempt,
Those last 2 groups were added to the manditory ser# reg in the 68GCA.

The Treasury Dept was given the job of overseeing the FFA38. The Alcohol Tax and Enforcement Div of the Treasury Dept was the hands on agency.
The law was all about interstate commerce in firearms. The law itself was written under Title 15 (?) Commerce and Trade. That interstate commerce language can still be seen in the GCA68 .

BATF was a new agency made in 68 when the GCA68 passed.
GCA68 was a re-write and update of the FFA38 plus it was written under Title 18 USCode Crimes and Criminal procedure. A L/E agency was needed to enforce the new gun law under Title 18.

You will be hard pressed to find a full copy of the FFA38. It seems to have been expunged from public record once the GCA68 was enacted.
Here's what you usually find from most sources:
15 U.S. Code SSSS 901 to 910 - Repealed. Pub. L. 90–351, title IV, SS 906, June 19, 1968, 82 Stat. 234 | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute

(Not to be confused with the National Firearms Act '34 (NFA34) This was a separate piece of legislation regulating 'gangster type' weapons and grew out of the period of the Depression and highly publicized violent crime sprees.
The NFA34 was updated in '68 and included in the GCA68)


FFA38 not a very long document, I think most of it is printed in a couple older gunsmithing books from the 40's telling aspiring gunsmiths what they may need as far as licence(s) and what the Fed laws were at the time.. But know one reads them much if at all anymore.
Yes they've been at it for quite a while,,
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