I purchased this Smith & Wesson Military & Police from Fort Knox pawnshop in Walla Walla Washington in December of 1989. The person that sold it to me said that it had belonged to someone that was retired from The Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. He said when he acquired the revolver it was in a fancy carved leather holster, but he had already sold the holster separately. I have been curious about that story ever since.

This revolver is in excellent condition with slight holster wear on the trigger guard and at the muzzle, and a faint turn line on the cylinder. It appears to have been fired and carried very little. This condition leads me to consider if this revolver and its missing holster were indeed a cherished retirement gift.

I tried searching online hoping to find an old newspaper article that would confirm this theory that it was a token of appreciation for a retiring well thought of high ranking employee of The Washington State Penitentiary, but didn't find anything.

At one point I contacted an old gentleman that had retired from the pen, and had written several historical articles, and books about it. He said he was not aware of any firearms being presented to retiring employees there. He told me that old time employees were given a wood mounted key that had been used in the original territorial prison, one of which he had.

Eventually I obtained a Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation Letter for this revolver stating that it was delivered March 6, 1950 to S. D. Myres Saddlery Co., El Paso TX. This information correlates well with the sellers statement that when he acquired the gun it was in a fancy carved leather holster. It's a crying shame that the gun and holster were separated.

I have considered trying to obtain an S. D. Myres holster, but haven't found one matching the condition of the revolver. Also I'm not knowledgeable enough to determine if a holster is from circa 1950.

I will never know the whole history of this particular S&W M&P, but wanted to share what I've found out.

I welcome any input you folks may have. I am curious if the association with S. D. Myres adds any value beyond any other M&P of this era in comparable condition.

Respectfully,
High Ridge

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Very Nice!

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SWCA 1932 SWHF 135

That's a matter of opinion. Mine is the Myres provenance definitely adds value-------and more so if you can come up with a Myres holster (for the gun) in comparable condition to the gun.

As it is, the gun (never mind the excellent condition) is as common as dirt, and the free standing fact it was shipped to Myres is a Ho-Hum accident of birth type occurrence.

Now to save you from looking like a dummy like I once did, let me tell you the sad tale of what I thought was going to turn out to be an at least interesting case of corporate espionage. I collected target guns----from beginning to end (an arbitrary end of my choosing so as to have an end in sight). Any shipped to individuals (probably 20% of the total) were investigated thoroughly in the hope of turning up a hot shot shooter----perhaps an Olympic champion. No such luck!

But then, what's this?!! It's a Model 41-1 shipped to Micro Sight Co. Not only that, it was part of the last production group of Model 41-1 manufactured. So what does Micro Sight Co. want with a S&W Model 41?

Well that's easy----they want to reverse engineer the sight. Now all this is going on in 2008, and the gun was shipped to Micro in 1977; so whatever was happening in 1977 is old news----and Micro's probably long gone----and even if they aren't, there's nobody there now that was there then----right?!! Well, maybe.

So I call Micro, give the guy a broad outline of who, what, and why-----and he busts out laughing. That wasn't supposed to happen.

The rest of the story is the sight business came upon hard times----maybe when Ruger stopped using them---whenever. At any rate Micro Sight Co. decided to become a jobber---a distributor, and business is just fine, thank you very much!!

So---step one is to find out what was going on at Myres in 1950. Were they also in the jobber business?

Ralph Tremaine

That’s a gun you should sell to Mike ‘Doc’ Barranti!

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SWHF #691

Thank you for your response to my thread. I did try to find someone that may have been a successor owner of S. D. Myres Saddlery but was unsuccessful in that endeavor. I did find some records from the company available online, but not of the timeframe of this revolver. Since there were two other guns in the shipment with this one, I assumed perhaps incorrectly, that it was not uncommon for them to receive guns directly from Smith & Wesson

I did share this story with Mr. Barranti and received a very nice response from him.

Not yet to the point of wanting to sell.

That’s a great revolver, thanks for sharing it.
I’m not aware of the S.D. Myres Co. ever being a distributor for S&W although Tio Sam Myres had a long close association with Smith & Wesson and several S&W luminaries.
A suitable holster should be findable.

Regards,

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turnerriver

There were 5 guns in that shipment at wholesale price. I would say it is fairly certain he was dealing or ordering for friends or local cops.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Thanks turnerriver. I like that holster. Do you know what vintage it is? Is there any way to determine if an S. D. Myres holster is from the early 50's?

Most of the good old gun shops around here that used to have boxes of old used holsters and other goodies have disappeared over the past 30 years. I occasionally check some online auctions for a suitable holster, but I don't know how to determine if holster is from same time period as the gun. I don't care if holster is plain or carved. I would just like to find one of the same time frame and similar condition as the gun.

Thanks handejector. You are correct about five in the shipment. I didn't look closely enough at that invoice before posting.

Myres holsters are harder to date than some other makers. There is evidence that the stamp with El Paso Tex. is earlier than the stamp with just El Paso but as this shows both stamps were in use at the same time.

Inked numbers like this are later, probably 1970’s.

Myres holsters were consistent through most of their history. I’d suggest not getting a holster with inked numbers and a case could be made that the holster was age appropriate.
Regards,

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turnerriver

Thanks, that is very helpful information