|
|
08-11-2018, 08:27 AM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: VA
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
Liked 13 Times in 3 Posts
|
|
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.
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
08-11-2018, 08:46 AM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Prescott AZ
Posts: 478
Likes: 164
Liked 1,137 Times in 288 Posts
|
|
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?
|
08-11-2018, 10:02 AM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: South Texas & San Antonio
Posts: 33,479
Likes: 236
Liked 28,938 Times in 14,012 Posts
|
|
Pictures showing the gun and its markings always help in ID.
Last edited by DWalt; 08-11-2018 at 10:03 AM.
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
08-11-2018, 10:13 AM
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The SW Va Blue Ridge
Posts: 17,471
Likes: 88,955
Liked 24,774 Times in 8,480 Posts
|
|
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.
__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!
|
The Following 2 Users Like Post:
|
|
08-11-2018, 01:21 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: VA
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
Liked 13 Times in 3 Posts
|
|
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.
|
The Following 6 Users Like Post:
|
|
08-11-2018, 01:42 PM
|
SWCA Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Sunny Florida, USA
Posts: 1,824
Likes: 120
Liked 4,126 Times in 812 Posts
|
|
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.
__________________
Charlie Flick
SWCA 729 HF 215
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
08-11-2018, 02:07 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: VA
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
Liked 13 Times in 3 Posts
|
|
Took the grips off, this is all I could find.
|
08-11-2018, 02:10 PM
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The SW Va Blue Ridge
Posts: 17,471
Likes: 88,955
Liked 24,774 Times in 8,480 Posts
|
|
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.
__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!
Last edited by Muley Gil; 08-11-2018 at 02:11 PM.
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
08-11-2018, 03:19 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: VA
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
Liked 13 Times in 3 Posts
|
|
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?
|
08-11-2018, 10:11 PM
|
Absent Comrade US Veteran SWCA Founding Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: San Diego, CA. USA
Posts: 10,536
Likes: 3,529
Liked 6,883 Times in 2,796 Posts
|
|
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.
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
|
|
|
|