Greetings forum friends.

My friend and shooting buddy has been lusting after a Marlin model 63
I have so he pulled out a nice model 17 for trade.
After the deal was done and while I was cleaning the gun I noticed
the & or ampersand as it is called was not an ampersand.

I had a model 66 no dash 2 1/2" that has this strange backwards 3
between the Smith and the Wesson.

HmMMmMmmmmm,,, what is this?

Have you seen this 'and' symbol on any of YOUR K frames from this
era?? About 1975. The serial # is 8K73800.

Added July 11 2014 , Just found this model 31-1 and there it is,
Another E Ampersand on a 32 Regulation Police.

Again from 1975. And a 4in. to boot.

Here are the photographs .........



















Thanks to George in S.D. for the trade that brought this model 31 to me.



























Allen Frame

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NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

Yes. I have an early M-66 with 2 1/2" barrel that has that same and very unusual ampersand.

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Living a dream - S&WCA #2364

I have seen a discussion about this before here. The consensus was that at some point S&W utilized an atypical stamp but that there was no other significance to it.

Some of you more detail-oriented folks may have noticed that in the late 1970's, Smith & Wesson markings had S's that were noticably squared off, looking a bit like 5's. Interestingly, Harrington & Richardson's products from the same period exhibited the same anomaly. The conclusion I draw from this is that neither manufacturer was at that time making their own rollmark tools, but procured them from some outside source. I'm betting that the markings seen from this era with the oddball ampersand was due to a singular purchase of a rollmark tool (or more likely, a batch of them) from some supplier who didn't get the style (font, if you will) of that character right, insofar as S&W tradition goes.

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SWCA #590
"Colligo ergo sum"

Nothing significant about it but it kinda neat and not very common.

Here's a 19-3, 6K998xx, with that same ampersand.

Here is my unusual ampersand (1975) model 19-3

Attached Images

	P1000675.jpg (86.9 KB, 66 views)
	P1000676(1).jpg (104.1 KB, 27 views)

Would you call it a "Smithywesson"? My brothers 19-3 is marked the same way.

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Even older, even crankier....

Now I will have to drag ll my K-frames out to look.

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Georgia On My Mind

My 19-3 ampersand close-up

Hey Florida Guy, it looks like your front locking pin is missing?
Nice 19 BTW.
Ralph

Thanks for the heads-up Ralph.

A mod already PM'd me about this and I just ordered the needed parts from S&W including the pin, bolt and spring.
The S&W rep said that shipping would cost more than the price of these parts, so he would send them to me for free.
That's what I call customer service

Those are the original "E" series guns.

Did you notice it also had the mysterious CTG marking on the other side?

Oh nooooo not the CTG.

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Living a dream - S&WCA #2364

That's just another style of the ampersand, which is itself a stylized rendering of the Latin word "Et", meaning "and".

Larry

Added the model 31-1 to the original post.

Pictures and there is that strange 'E' Ampersand again....


Allen Frame

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NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

It looks like the lost the "&" so they struck "3" backwards.

Well, to piggyback off of this thread, I recently came across a pre 15 that also has a backwards 3 stamp. SN K297XXX

It's a four screw frame, and I am quite puzzled. Pics to follow