Pondering ordering a letter for an early post-war HD

[adowns]

I am thinking of ordering a letter to find out where my early postwar 38/44 SN S62989 was shipped to.

Were early post-WWII revolvers more likely to have been shipped somewhere "interesting" or are they just as likely as any other time period to have been shipped to a hardware store?

I would be interested in hearing if anyone else has lettered one of the early S&W's (of any variety) shipped in 1946.

[murphydog]

There was a lot of pent-up demand in the commercial post-WW II handgun market, but I suspect those who got the early shipments in this era may have been law enforcement or favored distributors/dealers. A letter for yours sounds like a grand idea .

[gmborkovic]

Hardware Store in Ohio.

[rct269]

Without exception all of my guns shipped to "interesting" recipients are pre-war. Then again, the odds favor such a result since my pre-war/post war split is probably 80/20.

That said, I just now double checked post-war for any "interesting" recipients, and found one which was good for a laugh from the recipient---and one more which might be "interesting"---or good for another laugh. That which was good for a laugh is a 41-1 shipped to Micro Sight Co.. My knee-jerk reaction was to wonder what in the world they wanted with this gun, figured they wanted to "reverse engineer" something. That didn't make much sense since the gun was brand new in the box---and clearly had not been messed with in any way. So I called them. I explained my dilemma, and the fellow busted out laughing----like to have wet his pants! When he had regained his composure, he explained they had fallen on hard times in the sight business, and decided to get into the distributor business----which was doing a lot better than the sight business ever did. The good, or at least unexpected news was he told me the gun had been sold to San Jose (CA) retailer---and offered to give me their name and number so I could continue my quest. I thanked him, but we both doubted a new in box gun was going to have any history worth knowing about.

The next recipient that might be interesting was Williams Gun Sight Co., but having been educated by Micro, I decided that would likely be another fool's errand------but you never know.

And speaking of you never know, I letter all my guns---exactly because you never know. One of them was shipped gratis to Philip B. Sharpe. The last line in that letter says, "This is a very important revolver." I have no idea how much I've spent on letters over the years. I also don't care, because a letter completes the package---frosting on the cake. Another reason I don't care is because one of the letters said "This is a very important revolver." And there's a bunch more that are more than interesting because of little tid-bits thrown in that I would have never known otherwise.

Now, should you come to think all letters are worthwhile, I have an 8" .32 caliber 1st Model Single shot---one of 200 some odd. It letters as a 10" .22---one of a 1,000 some odd. Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you. I have a few more that'd make you cry, but see the prior comment about bears.

Ralph Tremaine

[DWalt]

There is a high probability that it went to some retailer or gun distributor, but possibly to some LE agency. And a very low probability it went to some specific individual. And a far lower probability that individual was someone who fits the definition of "Interesting." But it's your money if you want to find out.

Regarding S62989, it's definitely one of the very early postwar 38/44s produced in 1946 and it probably shipped fairly early in that same year.

[adowns]

What a treat this morning to wake up and find all these replies to my question. Thanks to all who replied. If I letter it I will post the results. I too sort of think it will be a "hardware store in Ohio" as gmbokorvic suggested. It's not a high condition piece. The cylinder blue was worn down almost to the white, the hammer block was missing, and it was wearing ill-fitting model 10 grips. It has been used a lot but is still tight. The "Heavy Duty" trade name fits.

[JSR III]

FWIW, my 6.5" S 69847 shipped in August of 1946 and my 5" HD S 67706 did as well.

I haven't lettered either gun but one just never knows where one of these old workhorses might have gone. S&W was still shipping guns out to individuals as well as hardware stores in Ohio so you just never know.

One just has to ask oneself, "do you feel lucky punk, well do ya?"

[adowns]

Originally Posted by JSR III

FWIW, my 6.5" S 69847 shipped in August of 1946 and my 5" HD S 67706 did as well.

I haven't lettered either gun but one just never knows where one of these old workhorses might have gone. S&W was still shipping guns out to individuals as well as hardware stores in Ohio so you just never know.

One just has to ask oneself, "do you feel lucky punk, well do ya?"

The Dirty Harry quote is perfect.

[DWalt]

Lettering is somewhat like buying a lottery ticket if you have an ordinary version of a common gun. Sometimes you get lucky, but the odds are greatly against you.