I'm looking at a 1955 Model .45 heavy barrel, model 25-3 125th anniversary edition. It has a 6 1/2 in barrel. It is labeled 45 calibre on the left side of the barrel, and Smith & Wesson 125th Anniversary on the right. Can someone tell me how many of these were made? What would the original stocks have been?

Thanks in advance.

Roughly 5000 of them, with a small few of them being engraved. They would have come with smooth target presentation grips. Those are the ones that have the cut out on the side plate site to show off the custom roll mark.

It would have also come in a blue cardboard box, and with the presentation case.

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Nothing 1955 about the 125 anniversary model. The 25-3 is a .45 Colt! These were made in 1977.

There were 10,000 125th Anniversary Commemoratives made. A small portion of them got fancy engraving and a higher dash number, 4. The 1955 date is not relevant in any way that I know of.

You wrote that so far you are only looking at one. Buyer beware. Two things keep their value down. First there's so damn many of them to spread between a limited number of collectors of commemoratives. Second, they're inaccurate with standard handgun bullets because their cylinder throats are over size. The throats in mine were .458". It would only hold 3" groups at 25 yards with relatively light .45-70 rifle bullets. Remember, common .45 rifle jacketed bullets are .457" and cast bullets run a little larger.

A less important matter that is of interest to reloaders is that their cylinders are about the same length as .44 Special cylinders. Bullets from many popular .45 Colt bullet molds would stick out the front of a 25-3 cylinder if they were crimped in their crimping groove. The later Model 25-5 has a longer cylinder.

Every one of these I've ever run across had the over sized throat problem. If you want it as a collectible, fine. If you're looking for a shooter pass.