Model 547 NIB With An Interesting Factory Letter?

[Model39]

Yesterday I stopped by my local gun shop I haven't been to in about a month, and ask the manager if he had anything interesting, and he replied there was a 9MM revolver which had come it. Thinking it might be one of the new S&W PC 9MM revolvers I was surprised when he handed me this mint Model 547. It was 100% LNIB in the box with everything including an unopened cleaning kit, and an unusual (to me) factory letter, which was 3 pages with far more detail than I have ever seen or received in any factory letter before. Also it is interesting to me that the gun originally went to Las Vegas, then to Oregon, and wound up here outside Rochester, New York. This is the second one I now own, the other a dual cylinder 9MM/357Mag one which I got from a retired S&W factory employee. I will put this one away in my safe and gladly use the other gun for recreation. I used a pair of GA fancy checkered wood grips I got with my first Model 547 on this new gun, to replace the original Walnut grips it came with to dress it up. I've included pictures of both guns and the factory letter.











My older Model 547 dual cylinder gun (been shown many times before).

[VictorLouis]

WOW! WHAT a find.

[Engine49guy]

The 547 is a neat revolver from a historical point but probably arrived too late in the game just as semi autos were really taking hold of the LEO market .

Interesting that 9mm revolvers are just now beginning to reappear utilizing the advantage of the 9mm's shorter case for speedy reloads with moon clips ,

Any indication your older 547 came as a combo gun ? any chance it has the 547 "M" stamp ?

BTW, My dream gun would be a two cylinder combo 9mm/.357 built on the L frame 7 shot 4" tapered barrel 686+ SS Mountain gun with shrouded ejector rod.

[824tsv]

Congrats on a nice find. It's quite a detailed letter and well worth the $50 paid by the previous owner. Maybe he's a member here......

[murphydog]

The author of the factory letter had 'something' to do with the development of the model 547 . Nice find!

[Model39]

Originally Posted by Engine49guy

The 547 is a neat revolver from a historical point but probably arrived too late in the game just as semi autos were really taking hold of the LEO market .

Interesting that 9mm revolvers are just now beginning to reappear utilizing the advantage of the 9mm's shorter case for speedy reloads with moon clips ,

Any indication your older 547 came as a combo gun ? any chance it has the 547 "M" stamp ?

BTW, My dream gun would be a two cylinder combo 9mm/.357 built on the L frame 7 shot 4" tapered barrel 686+ SS Mountain gun with shrouded ejector rod.

The Model 547 (No "M" stamp) I got from the now retired factory employee was made by the employee himself. He was a fantastic gunsmith, and having access to the factory store, parts etc., he assembled the gun for himself. I plan to do a lot of recreational shooting when the weather breaks with that gun, since I now have this second gun to take the sting out of shooting it.
I do believe that now that Smith&Wesson has re-introduced the current batch of 9MM revolvers, it will also increase the value and interest of the Model 547'S and the "J" frame Model 940. I personally would like to see a convertible "J" frame 9MM/357/38 in say a Model 640 Pro series.
Thank you for the comment.

[Badkarma 1]

Another fine old Smith I'd like to see come back..or at least the extractor system!
Anybody besides me wanna see a 625 or 647 with the above extractor system?
To the OP, nice snag!!
Dale

[BCDWYO]

That is an awesome find...pays to know the LGS manager!

[revho]

Thanks for posting up the letter. Very interesting read.

[tekarra]

What a great find. The letter was very interesting indeed.

[91B40]

One of my grail guns. Congratulations !!

[Kilibreaux]

As Lt. Ripley (while wearing nothing but a t-shirt and panties) kept repeating in the movie "Aliens," "Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky..."

[Harry_Callahan]

I need a 3" too :-)

SMITH & WESSON MOD. 547 MILITARY & POLICE

[snw19_357]

Nice! I love my 3" 547.
What could be better than takin a 5904 and a 3" RB K-frame to the range and only needing one box of ammo. Well, at least two but only one caliber.

Originally Posted by Model39

...original Walnut grips it came with to dress it up.

This surprised me. I thought the K-frame RB targets were introduced for and only shipped on (as standard) the 3" M547.

[Model39]

Originally Posted by snw19_357

Nice! I love my 3" 547.
What could be better than takin a 5904 and a 3" RB K-frame to the range and only needing one box of ammo. Well, at least two but only one caliber.


This surprised me. I thought the K-frame RB targets were introduced for and only shipped on (as standard) the 3" M547.

Chris,
The factory employee told me he was able to get the fancy checkered GA grips through a factory sales special order. You will notice a lot of smooth factory fancy "K" round butt grips for sale on various websites, but I have never seen anything but checkered Walnut round butt grips before I acquired these GA grips. I never really paid much attention to the Model 547 and what grips came with them, as the two that I own are the only two I have ever seen.

[snw19_357]

That's what I love about S&W; the only rule, no rules.

This is the first 547 I have owned but I have not come across any S&W printed material that didn't list or show the 3" with checked RB targets. Neat to see it in a letter though.

Here's p10 & 11 of the '82 Handguns catalog, first time cataloged, and the front of the Instruction Sheet which both show magnas on 4", targets on 3".
The K-frame RB target stocks are listed in the 11/1980 price list though, before the 547 came out.