Quote:
Originally Posted by Sh0ot15T
... It's a J-frame? ... Paperwork call's it a "Chiefs Special".
|
Going back to the original post, Yes, Sh0ot15T, it's a J-frame.
According to S&W Historian Roy Jinks, in his book,
History of Smith & Wesson, S&W launched Model 36-1 in 1967 to denote a 3" Heavy Barrel. S&W concurrently made the Model 36 with “lightweight” 2” and 3” barrels till 1975 when Model 36-1 became the standard 3”, and Model 36 continued solely as a 2”.
Models 36 and 36-1 were replaced in 1988 by Models 36-2 and 36-3, respectively.
Now, about that name.
According to Jinks, in 1949 S&W's president, Carl Hellstrom, tasked the company's engineering department to build a .38 Special 5-shot revolver for police work. The J-frame was born. S&W’s “Order of 10-23-50” says “MODEL J BLUE Ser. #6,” the first J-frame completed, according to Jinks, was delivered to C.R. Hellstrom on October 27, 1950. (1)
Weeks earlier the 57th annual International Association of Chiefs of Police conference convened October 7-12, 1950, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (2) Jinks said S&W sent a sales force to ask the chiefs to name its new, small, J-frame revolver. Passaic, New Jersey, Chief of Police Edward Boyko submitted the first ballot with the winning name:
Chiefs Special. (3)
S&W added its usual caliber prefix, engraved Chief Boyko’s name on
.38 Chiefs Special serial number 29, and shipped the Baby Chiefs, as they’re known by today's collectors, to him on December 11, 1950. Boyko's was one of only 19 Chiefs Specials shipped in 1950. (4)
Footnotes
(1) Bill Cross, chairman of the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation and past president of the Smith & Wesson Collectors Association, provided the copy of S&W’s order for serial number 6.
(2) Danielle Gudakunst, Managing Editor, The Police Chief, International Association of Chiefs of Police, provided the date of the 1950 IACP conference.
(3) Danielle sent an ad S&W had taken out in The Police Chief magazine in late 1950 that details Chief Boyko’s winning the “name the J-frame” challenge. The ad is attached as a pdf.
(4) The Smith & Wesson Collectors Association area on the Smith & Wesson Forum contains a database listing the disposition (if known) of the first 75 and other Baby Chiefs.
This is excerpted from a story I'm writing to document the history of the Chiefs Special.
First two photos are of .38 Chiefs Special serial number 72, which might have been very similar to the appearance of Chief Boyko's revolver (bright blue finish, original thumb piece, service grips, half-round front sight, and smooth trigger). The inscription is "F.M. Van Orden." Flora and her husband George owned Evaluators Limited gun shop in Triangle, Virginia. S&W gave serial number 70 to George.
There's much speculation about the first hundred Chiefs. One myth says the finish of all hundred was bright blue, the thumbpiece was that original one, and the grips were all service stocks.
Well, serial number 99 has the era's standard satin blue finish, the first style flat latch thumbpiece, and magna grips.
We'll likely never know the whole story.
Please help date S&W Model 36-1 Revolver
Linear Mode
