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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 08-11-2018, 08:27 AM
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Default Identifying S&W D.A. 45

Looking for some help identifying a newly purchased revolver of mine:

It's a Five Screw Hand Ejector, with a serial of 101XXX. The side of the barrel says "S&W D.A. 45." I initially thought it may be a commercial M1917, as it has the Smith & Wesson logo on the frame, but it doesn't appear to have any provision for a lanyard loop, as the serial is stamped squarely where that would be.

No foreign proof marks that I can find, and it has commercial N-frame grips without provisions for medallions.

Is this indeed a commercial 1917 or it is something else? The revolver itself has been reblued.
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Old 08-11-2018, 08:46 AM
Andy Lowry Andy Lowry is offline
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There's no S prefix on the serial number? It may well be a commercial 1917. Is the logo small and on the left side?
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Old 08-11-2018, 10:02 AM
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Pictures showing the gun and its markings always help in ID.

Last edited by DWalt; 08-11-2018 at 10:03 AM.
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Old 08-11-2018, 10:13 AM
Muley Gil Muley Gil is offline
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Welcome to the Forum.

This does sound like a commercial 1917. Is there a Brazilian crest on the side plate or is there a spot where a crest could have been ground off?

We definitely need pictures. A picture of the butt serial number would be helpful. You could cover the last digits of the SN with tape, if you wish.
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Old 08-11-2018, 01:21 PM
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Nope, no Brazilian crest, and it doesn't like like to me anything was ground off (though obviously since it was reblued, that could be possible). The S&W logo is pretty prominent on the side plate there.

Nope, no S-prefix either.
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Old 08-11-2018, 01:42 PM
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It looks like a civilian Model of 1917. It has a post-war 4 line address marking, so it has been back to the factory and gotten re-marked. Look under the stocks on the left side of the frame to see if there are any markings there like R-B and a date like 8.52 or something similar that would demonstrate a factory re-blue or other work.
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Old 08-11-2018, 02:07 PM
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Took the grips off, this is all I could find.
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Old 08-11-2018, 02:10 PM
Muley Gil Muley Gil is offline
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Looks like there once was a lanyard loop, where the "74" of the serial number is now.

The 10.63 indicates a trip back to Springfield in October 1963.
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Old 08-11-2018, 03:19 PM
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Great to know! Would a factory letter from S&W be able to tell me what work was done in 1963, or would it simply be the date of assembly and to which seller it was sent to?
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Old 08-11-2018, 10:11 PM
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A factory letter will not to tell you anything about what was done in 1963, as it will only tell you when, where and the configuration (military or commercial) of the gun when it was shipped from the factory. The little diamond stamp on the heel of the grip frame is the stamp of the service dep't at the factory, where whatever was done in 1963 was completed. There should be an invoice in the archives for the work, however the archives are filed by month, year and name of the sender. If you do not know the name of the person who sent the gun back, it is very difficult locate the invoice. The Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation has been working for years digitizing old records & invoices, and if you have a factory letter they can look for an invoice in their files of digitized archives,however I don't think they have reached 1963 as yet. Ed.
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