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07-17-2022, 12:09 PM
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Checked off the last Model 60 on my Chiefs "want" list
With this latest acquisition I've filled all the Model 60 holes I want to fill to let me show and tell the Chiefs story from 1950 - 2000.
R3049 shipped in July 1969, the first year S&W used the "R" prefix serial number system, which resulted thanks to the Gun Control Act of 1968.
Other J-frames with the "R" prefix serial numbers were the Models 32-1, 33-1 (both of which were dropped from S&W's offerings in 1974), and the Model 651, which began production in 1983, the last year of the "R" prefix. These statistics from Supica & Nahas' Standard Catalog of S&W, 4th Ed. According to S&W Historian Dr. Roy Jinks, R332516 was the last Model 60 with an "R" prefix.
Finding a Model 60 with the "R" prefix shipped in 1969 was a bit of a challenge and clearly proves the adage "S&W didn't assemble or ship revolvers in serial number order." For example, R3060 shipped in February 1970, and R7146 shipped in August 1969.
The serial number minus the "R" stamped inside the right grip matches the frame. This one also depicts a rather uncommon feature I've recently learned about thanks to members of this great forum. Some S&W's stainless steel revolvers of the era have an "S" stamped on the right side of the trigger.
Thanks for looking and for letting me share my latest piece of S&W's Chiefs Special puzzle.
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Bob
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07-17-2022, 12:16 PM
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I see a Symposium display in the future. 
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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220
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07-17-2022, 12:18 PM
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Planning on next year in Glendale, Alan.
"... if the creek don't rise." 
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Bob
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07-17-2022, 12:21 PM
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Two-Bit
I know where sn R3 is. I tried to convince the owner it is not worth upwards of 3k!
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Don Mundell
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07-17-2022, 12:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Club Gun Fan
I know where sn R3 is. I tried to convince the owner it is not worth upwards of 3k!
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I'm not so sure, Don.
R970 sold a year ago for $1,127.01
R1022 sold in April for $1,275 -- it had the wrong serial numbered diamond grips.
I felt very lucky to pick this one up for $560. It sure isn't flawless, but it's mechanically sound. There's no box, but that's usually not my goal.
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Last edited by two-bit cowboy; 07-17-2022 at 12:34 PM.
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07-17-2022, 12:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by two-bit cowboy
Planning on next year in Glendale, Alan.
"... if the creek don't rise." |
Me too...not for a display though.
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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220
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07-17-2022, 12:48 PM
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A neat addition to an already very impressive collection!
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07-17-2022, 03:33 PM
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Very nice Two-Bit. That is a pretty piece. I consider myself fortunate to have never gotten into J frames. Why, because I cannot hit anything with them. Not sure I saved any money though, because I plowed it into K and N frames,
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I ain't no fortunate son
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07-27-2022, 02:07 PM
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Great looking Chiefs Special. J frames just seem to multiply all on their own. I know I’m starting to appreciate steel J frames a lot more.
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10-29-2022, 01:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by two-bit cowboy
The serial number minus the "R" stamped inside the right grip matches the frame...
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Do the grips have stainless or blued washers?
There is a single sentence in the SCSW IV about stainless steel washers being found on early stainless revolvers, before the blued ones were eliminated altogether. In other words, it suggests that grips with blued and stainless washers were shipped with blued and stainless guns, respectively. At least for several years.
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10-29-2022, 04:00 PM
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Very nice,
Thanks for "R" info. and the "S" stamp....for stainless?
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10-29-2022, 05:33 PM
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Nice work Bob, very cool!!
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Pass it on.
Mark
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10-29-2022, 08:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteC
Do the grips have stainless or blued washers?
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I'll have to look. Thanks for asking.
More soon.
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Bob
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10-30-2022, 10:26 AM
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Very nice...Now you'll have to work on one for show and one for go of each...  ...Ben
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10-30-2022, 11:14 AM
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Ben --
Luckily mine "show 'n' go" so I only need one of each.
Pete --
The washers are stainless steel, which is consistent with S&W ads of the era.
(Thanks to Dr. Roy G. Jinks for the S&W ad.)
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Bob
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10-30-2022, 07:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by two-bit cowboy
...Some S&W's stainless steel revolvers of the era have an "S" stamped on the right side of the trigger.
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Very cool fact that I never knew before. Was that true on other the triggers of other models, or just the Model 60 triggers? I also assume that the "S" stood for Stainless?
Great gun and I (as a bit of a closet CS collector) for one am very much looking forward to your CS display in Glendale!!!
Thanks for sharing,
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Richard
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10-30-2022, 07:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by two-bit cowboy
...
The washers are stainless steel, which is consistent with S&W ads of the era. (Thanks to Dr. Roy G. Jinks for the S&W ad.)
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That's good to know, and it explains the note in the SCSW. It means we can distinguish stocks that shipped on a Model 60, from stocks that shipped on blued guns before about 1973.
On the other hand, I now have to guard against the unforgivable faux pas of installing grips with blued washers on a Model 60... or the opposite... sigh,  
Last edited by PeteC; 10-30-2022 at 07:45 PM.
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10-30-2022, 10:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RKmesa
Was that true on other the triggers of other models, or just the Model 60 triggers? I also assume that the "S" stood for Stainless?
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I don't know.
When I posed the question to forum members, those in the know said, "Yes, it means stainless." I've not see it on another model or another Model 60.
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Bob
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10-31-2022, 08:58 AM
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I have only two Chiefs Specials, a late Baby and a 60-4. They fill my "needs" for a J-frame 38, the former for best concealability, and the latter for maximum utility.
As for the S question, I've seen it on hammers of some Model 66s to indicate stainless and would assume it had the same function on your Model 60. As you probably know, those parts were also sometimes flash chromed carbon steel.
Froggie
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10-31-2022, 09:49 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Green Frog
I have only two Chiefs Specials, a late Baby and a 60-4. They fill my "needs" for a J-frame 38, the former for best concealability, and the latter for maximum utility.
As for the S question, I've seen it on hammers of some Model 66s to indicate stainless and would assume it had the same function on your Model 60. As you probably know, those parts were also sometimes flash chromed carbon steel.
Froggie
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Au contraire, Froggie, beginning at a point late in 1966 during the third production run S&W transitioned the hammers and triggers from case-hardened to "heat treated stainless steel" that was then flash chromed, according to Dr. Jinks.
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Bob
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10-31-2022, 10:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by two-bit cowboy
Au contraire, Froggie, beginning at a point late in 1966 during the third production run S&W transitioned the hammers and triggers from case-hardened to "heat treated stainless steel" that was then flash chromed, according to Dr. Jinks.
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Apologies in advance if this is a stupid Q, or one of those "duh, it's S&W, we do what we want kind of things, but...
You might think the stamp would be on all the stainless, flash chromed triggers, at least while there was a reason to distinguish them from case hardened steel. Or at least from 1966 to whenever they stopped worrying about mixing them up... 
The pic below is from s/n 478017, which should be not long after the introduction of the flash chromed trigger (??)
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10-31-2022, 11:50 AM
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As I learned in the 'Force, the only "stupid question" is the one you don't ask.
Even the case-hardened hammers and triggers were stainless steel. That's why their coloring is so different than case-hardened carbon steel.
S&W prided itself on saying of the Model 60 "... every part in it, except the walnut stock -- are machined from solid stainless steel!"
This photo shows an example from the third production run with the case-hardened hammer & trigger.
The Model 60 in my OP is the only one I've seen with the "S" stamp on the trigger.
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