John Jovino Research Thread

[quinn]

I would like to start collecting data on John Jovino Co. (NYC) modified ad special order S&Ws. In the late 1070's and 1980s Joving modified a number of N frame Model 25's into round butted 2.7" barreled 'snubbies'. Later, they ordered numbers of 3" barreled 44 and 45 caliber guns which were marked "Effector".

If you have a lettered or otherwise verified Jovino, would you be willing to past the following info on your gun?

Model:
Caliber:
Barrel length:
Any special marking: (ie. Effector)
SN: can 'x' out the last two digits
Ship date:
Quantity: Some letters indicate how many guns were in the shipment to Jovino at that time
Any other helpful info:

Thanks in advance!

[quinn]

Here is one of mine:

Model: 25-5
Caliber: 45 Colt
Barrel length: 2.7"
Markings: none added
SN: N9048xx
Shipped:June 2, 1982
Order quantity: none given
Other: typical added crane lock in ejector shroud, K RB mods

[colt_saa]

As is noted by Quinn's posting above, the 2 5/8" barreled EFFECTOR treatment was not limited to Model 25-2s.

Many Model 25-2s, 29s and 57s turn up on the For Sale sites

I also seem to recall seeing one in 357 Magnum. My mind wants to say is was a Model 28 and not a Model 27, but I can not be sure

Then of course are the dozens, possibly hundreds of gunsmiths that spent time turning longer barreled revolvers into snubbies in that era.

Austin Belhart was known to produce an even shorter snubby with a 2 3/8" barrel

[rockquarry]

I've never owned one of the Jovino short-barreled big bore N-frame guns but would assume they were fairly popular. They were advertised in SHOTGUN NEWS for quite a while, and possibly in other publications as well.

[mikerjf]

Just ran into this, about the shop closing.

Saying Goodbye to Two Downtown Icons, Gem Spa and John Jovino - Bedford + Bowery

[ko41]

Both of these started as 6" square butt guns, after Jovino did their thing they are now 3" round butt guns.








KO

[ladder13]

Don’t let SAFireman see those ^^^^^^^^

[petepeterson]

Those are beautiful. Love the stocks.

[ladder13]

A bit of drift, sorry.

I bet Hartshorne could do one, he has the talent. It wouldn’t be a Jovino, but a Hartshorne.

Anyone got a beater 25-2?

[SAFireman]

Originally Posted by ladder13

Don’t let SAFireman see those ^^^^^^^^

Yeah Mike....I have seen ko41's toys before.....and I still want them

I keep offering to trade a NIB 629 EFFECTOR for that 657 EFFECTOR. My lust has subsided since my acquisition of the model 58 EFFECTOR, I don't think that he has one of those....yet

[S&W Fan]

I picked this conversion in early 2017 from a friend, now deceased, that retired from Denver PD that would set up at area gun shows. He didn't know the history, got it on a trade. I was about to letter it when I found a Les Baer 1911 I just had to have so I sold here.

Model 28-2 converted to .44spl. Has all the earmarks of a Jovino according to those more knowledgeable than I. Only fired it a few times and it was fun.

This is my original thread on it:
Possible Jovino 28-2 .44spl **Update Post 35 w/range visit**

[Leonard]

Sold this couple of years back 45 acp

[two-bit cowboy]

Originally Posted by quinn

I would like to start collecting data on John Jovino Co. (NYC) modified ad special order S&Ws.

Do you only want details on N-frames?

[ko41]

Originally Posted by SAFireman

Yeah Mike....I have seen ko41's toys before.....and I still want them

I keep offering to trade a NIB 629 EFFECTOR for that 657 EFFECTOR. My lust has subsided since my acquisition of the model 58 EFFECTOR, I don't think that he has one of those....yet

Nope, don't have a 58 Effector. I've been too busy being retired and haven't even looked for any new to me .41 Magnums the last couple of years........might have to start selling some......someday

KO

[quinn]

Originally Posted by two-bit cowboy

Do you only want details on N-frames?

Bob: I think we ought to include any Jovino modified or special order guns. I'm not sure if any of this info has been collected before.

[PatriotX]

The 681 NYSP guns were a special order of 500 guns by Jovino, per the SCSW4.

New high-water mark for 681 NYSP?

[sndbggr1484]

How about a Lettered 686 No Dash "JOVINO EFFECTOR" ,2 3/4'' 357 Magnum

[two-bit cowboy]

Originally Posted by quinn

Bob: I think we ought to include any Jovino modified or special order guns.

Okay!

The first one is an engraved Model 36 that Roy's letter says, "... J849971 was 1 of 11 units of this configuration shipped to the John Jovino Company in New York City." They shipped on September 17, 1981, the 194th anniversary of Constitution Day, when in 1787 the first continental congress ratified the U.S. Constitution, which I find a great day to celebrate.

According to posts and threads about this subject, the engraving would likely have been done in Italy because S&W was so backlogged with engraving it contracted an Italian company to do the work. (Thank you Bill Cross, a.k.a. Doc44, for that nugget).

The second one is a 2" square butt Model 60 that shipped in June 1984, according to Roy.

I stole the accompanying ad from our forum friend, linde.

[ladder13]

Here’s my Jovino. Good thing I sent my other 681 to Hartshorne for chopping.

[WCCPHD]

Here is mine. A Model 25-2. When I got it I did not know much about it so I called Smith and Wesson. I was transferred to a nice young lady who looked it up and said it had a six inch barrel. I told her it was about a 2.5 inch. She sounded confused and said "wait a minute" and put me on hold. A second later a gentleman answered and said "Roy Jinks." He happened to be there that day and he looked it up. I can't remember the date but he commented that it was a very late ship date and said he did not know Jovino was still doing the shortened guns then as S&W had started to produce some of their own short barrel N frames then.

I have small hands so the "rubber" grips that covered the backstrap had to go.

[.30Calibre]

John Jovino Co. was an actual retail gun shop in lower Manhattan, approximately two blocks from New York's neighborhood of Little Italy. Believe it or not, it was one of several FFL gun shops which were all lined up in a row, behind the old Police Headquarters found at 240 Centre St. The tiny street behind the old NYPD Police HQ, which was more like an alley, was Centre Market Place; it was only a block long, but if I recall correctly it had at one point no less than 4, possibly 5 FFL gun shops in operation. (By 1995 there were only 2 left on the street, with SILE being possibly a third.) The Centre Market Pl. back entrance to NYPD HQ was also where the previous nights' catch of perps would be paraded into the lower level of the building for booking. A famous NYC photographer of the period named Weegee (aka Arthur Felling) lived above 6 Centre Market Pl., the address of Frank Lava Gun Shop (whom also had large revolver shaped sign hung outside the shop, as did every other FFL open on that street). So on one side of Centre Market Pl. was the back of NYPD Headquarters, and on the other side were a line of gun shops. When you walk the streets of Manhattan today and you see the ubiquitous soft hipster-ish boutiques abound, you might appreciate how alien a row of gun shops in Manhattan might be.

In the OP's post, note the address found on the ceramic souvenir ashtray: 5 Centre Market Place, which was the original address for John Jovino's. In the very early 2000's, around 2003 or thereabouts, Jovino's moved down the street and around the corner to 183 Grand St. This was a pivotal event in the history of the store, because it was at this point that Jovino's really ceased to exist. The FFL bound book for 5 Centre Market was closed and surrendered to the ATF, and a new bound book was opened for the new Grand St. location.

The vast majority of the articles and pictures circulating the internet which are most commonly found with a quick web search (including the photo of the storefront in the OP's first post) are stories and photos focusing on the building located at 183 Grand, but the real Jovino location where your Effectors were born was in the basement of 5 Centre Market Pl. The original location since 1911, very few photos seem to exist of Jovino's at 5 Centre Market Pl.; but it was a fairly short and unassuming building with two wide glass windows flanking the entrance door and they actually had pistols displayed in those windows up to at least 1995.



Fig. A: Above, a shot of 5 Centre Market Pl. from the 1940's, from this website.
The storefront façade remained for the most part unchanged up through the 1980's, so this is the store you would have walked into in order to buy your Effector in person.



Fig. B: John Jovino Co. at 5 Centre Market Pl. year circa 2000



Fig. C: Above, the namesake of the store: Mr. Jovino, himself.

Mr. John Jovino is but a name, a figurehead. By the 1980's, when your Effectors were being made, the heart and soul of the business was Lou Imperato, who married into the Jovino family, later to buy out and take over the business. And by all accounts, Mr. Jovino’s son-in-law was an exceptionally savvy, enterprising and a highly successful businessman. So what does this have to do with Effectors? Stay with me here...

You have to understand that over the decades, this tiny storefront in New York City's lower Manhattan, bordering both Chinatown as well as Little Italy, moved A LOT of product. A LOT of product (Fig. D). Under the direction of Lou Imperato, Jovino's became one of the top Smith and Wesson and Colt dealers in the United States, not just for one year, but for many, many, many consecutive years through the late 70's, early 80's and into the 90's. Lou Imperato was just an extraordinary businessman, and Jovino's would go on to delve into other very successful firearms related ventures, well beyond the scope of this post, but in order to facilitate the continued ability to offer these quality products, he also "imported" some very old world, old school gunsmiths, mostly from Italy, and one of those gentlemen, built your gun.



Fig. D: Above, Smith & Wesson recognition of John Jovino Co.

I'm told (by the gunsmith that built the Effectors) there was a point in time, around the mid 1980’s, when Smith & Wesson could not sell 6 and 8 inch barreled N-Frames in any significant quantity; they just weren't that popular. This was particularly true of the Model 25 which was chambered in .45 Long Colt and later .45 ACP. These factory long barreled revolvers simply weren’t popular enough to garner sales and Smith & Wesson soon found themselves with a languishing inventory of Model 25's that continued to pile up.

Though it would be but just one example among the many imaginative and lucrative business deals in his career, Lou Imperato would be instrumental in securing a large quantity of these stagnant Model 25’s from Smith & Wesson.

As a top selling dealer, Lou Imperato struck a deal with Smith and Wesson whereby he would acquire a significant quantity of Model 25’s at considerable discount. These revolvers weren't moving anyway, and Lou would be doing S&W a favor. Once they arrived at the John Jovino shop at 5 Centre Market Place, the big bore revolvers were then modified by the in-house gunsmith (to be clear, this was not Mr. John Jovino), each one by hand and each one individually; a total of some three-thousand Effectors eventually being made, collectively.

And wouldn’t you know it, they sold like hotcakes.

How well did these guns sell, you ask? Well enough that Smith & Wesson would eventually serve Jovino’s with a Cease-and-Desist order. (It seems that S&W had taken issue with the fact that these guns were re-stamped with the Smith & Wesson logo on the barrel; or at least that's one of the reasons they gave, in the letter.)

Jovino's became the "exclusive dealer" of this Effector model. Other FFL’s wanting to purchase an Effector would need to pad the order with additional lesser firearms; in order to get a hold of this John Jovino Co. exclusive, a dealer might have to add three ****** .38Spl Model 10’s to the invoice before you include one Effector in the order.

Eventually when they ran out of Model 25's from the original batch, they modified Model 29's, 57's, 686's and Astra Terminators. As far as I know, the gunsmith did not convert any Model 27's or 28's.

Understand also, that this is the era of the wheel gun, and the main sidearm of every NYPD beat cop at the time was the Model 10, with a popular Police Department backup sidearm being the J frame Model 36. Countless S&W's had come through Jovino's workshop in some form or another, and the gunsmith in Mr. Imperatos' employ worked on these Smith & Wessons FOR DECADES. You could not find a more expert set of hands to build you a Smith & Wesson wheelgun.

Today, a big bore snubnose revolver is easily ordered from the factory, NIB; but these revolvers come off an assembly line by the hundreds, each a clone of the next. The Jovino Effector was a hand-made creation of a revolver you could not get from the factory during that period, worked on by a gunsmith who was a master of Smith & Wesson (and Colt!!) revolvers.

That gunsmith is still around today; I watched him build mine:



I do hope more folks contribute to this thread with personal examples they own.

Effectors are truly one-off custom creations, originating from a gun dealer in the heart of New York City, hand made by a lifelong New York City gunsmith with a lifetime of experience in Smith and Wesson actions. What makes Jovino Effectors so cool? Knowing the provenance of the guns, the question practically answers itself.

[raygixxer89]

That was a very informative and interesting post .30caliber!
I had no idea that these beautiful revolvers were out there. I guess a new quest has begun! The quality of the work is evident in these pics and has piqued my interest.
Did these revolvers with the front cylinder locking lugs suffer any wear or anything?
Again, thank you for that well-written and fun post!

[mikerjf]

Not exactly what the OP called for, but seems germane to the discussion.

I bought this used 60-7 from the Jovino shop. It has some common features to the big bore Jovinos. It's got the red sight insert and Pachmayr grips, plus someone very talented did a beautiful hammer bobbing and trigger rounding on it. It has the nicest and smoothest action I've experienced.

Something I haven't seen on others... the cylinder release was trimmed on the bottom. Maybe someone was getting their thumb abraded during recoil?

[.30Calibre]

Originally Posted by raygixxer89

Did these revolvers with the front cylinder locking lugs suffer any wear or anything?

If you are referring to the ball detent installed on the yoke of the Effector, they did not suffer any abnormal wear and the gunsmith had told me they were actually quite effective and up to the task. I would call Effectors with the ball detent in the yoke 'early models', as they would move away from this design later on in an effort to streamline manufacture.

Remember these revolvers were hand made, and they had some 3000 of them to complete, and so in the interests of speeding things up, the barrel was later not cut back as far in order to retain the factory Locking Bolt (the spring loaded piece that snaps into the front of the cylinder center pin when closed).

No records exist of the number of Effectors made with ball detents versus without the detent; this isn't what I would call a planned project. Any records that did exist regarding the initial large batch of 25's acquired by Jovino's have most assuredly been surrendered to the ATF when the old books were closed in 2003 or thereabouts, when Jovino's moved from Centre Place to Grand Street.

[raygixxer89]

Originally Posted by .30Calibre

If you are referring to the ball detent installed on the yoke of the Effector, they did not suffer any abnormal wear and the gunsmith had told me they were actually quite effective and up to the task. I would call Effectors with the ball detent in the yoke 'early models', as they would move away from this design later on.

Remember these revolvers were hand made, and they had some 3000 of them to complete, and so in the interests of speeding up manufacture, the barrel was later not cut back as far in order to retain the factory Locking Bolt (the spring loaded piece that snaps into the front of the cylinder center pin when closed).

No records exist of the number of Effectors made with ball detents versus without the detent; this isn't what I would call a planned project. Any records that did exist regarding the initial large batch of 25's acquired by Jovino's have most assuredly been surrendered to the ATF when the old books were closed in 2003.

Oops, I misspoke. I meant "missing the locking lug/detent." Yes, looking at the pics I can see where some were left on but didn't notice the ball-detent type on the others.is it similar in design to the Ruger lockup?

[ddixie884]

I have one of these revolvers but no markings or letter. I bought it from pinkymingeo a few years ago and it has all the standard Jovino mods including the shorter barrel and the ball detent in the crane as well as the tear drop shape of the reshaped target hammer and smoothed out target trigger. He said he had owned several .45acp revolvers and he sold it last. I treasure it and will keep it til close to the end. If you search his threads there are several pics from when I bought it............

PS; he was a great seller................

[target tech]

Well this is the only thing I can contribute to this thread. I don't even remember where I got this magazine from, but I have been actually saving it for the H&K P7-M8 ad inside the cover.....the third handgun I ever bought at the ripe old age of 25.

[Green Frog]

Originally Posted by mikerjf

Not exactly what the OP called for, but seems germane to the discussion.

I bought this used 60-7 from the Jovino shop. It has some common features to the big bore Jovinos. It's got the red sight insert and Pachmayr grips, plus someone very talented did a beautiful hammer bobbing and trigger rounding on it. It has the nicest and smoothest action I've experienced.

Something I haven't seen on others... the cylinder release was trimmed on the bottom. Maybe someone was getting their thumb abraded during recoil?

The shaved cylinder release had some popularity back in the eighties and early nineties amongst the PPC crowd... giving all the room possible for clearing empties and allowing better speed loader placement. I still have one on my Model 66 that grew up to be a 327 Fed Mag. I’m still thinking it would be a good idea on my 60-4 as well. I don’t know whether you really need the space on a N frame, but it doesn’t hurt, and it does look cool!

Froggie

[.30Calibre]

Originally Posted by target tech

Well this is the only thing I can contribute to this thread.

More leads on old articles from the period reviewing the Effectors are always cool and insightful, so thank you for posting. That particular magazine article is new to me.
If anyone else has dates (or scans) of other publications with Effector reviews from back in the day, please do post them.

I'm curious to know if anyone here bought an Effector Model 25 with dual cylinders from back in the day (or second hand purchase).

The gunsmith told me he made them, but to date none of the other threads in this forum with Effector photos make mention of them.

[ladder13]

What is am exc cond Jovino in 45ACP going for nowadays?

[.30Calibre]

Originally Posted by ladder13

What is am exc cond Jovino in 45ACP going for nowadays?

I'm going to take a stab at this since no one else has; though I can't offer a number value.

Assuming you are talking about a Jovino Effector, I think the old adage here is that it's worth whatever the next person is willing to pay for it. You can look up pricing history on Gunbroker, but that's like checking car values on Barret Jackson and Mecum; any car guy will tell you those prices are not quite indicative of what the item should actually be worth.

The biggest problem with selling a Jovino custom...is proving it is a Jovino. As others members have pointed out, numerous gunsmiths of the period performed similar modifications to revolvers; many have Effector-like features but these are modifications any competent gunsmith would be able to replicate. In my opinion, a factory letter stating that a particular Effector-looking revolver was shipped to Jovino's goes very, very far in helping to prove it was converted at the shop at the hands of the JJC gunsmith. Without that letter, it's just a clone.

Also conceivable is that a particular revolver came through the shop "converted for combat", in which case a Jovino receipt for the work would be good proof.

I have perused many "Is This A Jovino" photo thread with the gunsmith whom built the Effectors and often times he would point out details that would void a particular example.

Some are glaringly obvious, such as a cut-down Model 10.
Some are not so obvious: "I never did any Highway Patrolman's or Model 27's"

I believe that to answer the question of what a Jovino is worth, you have to find out what it will cost for you to replicate the same work today. How much will it cost you with a gunsmith today to get an N-Frame modified with the same features, with an action job? That price should get you a starting baseline; add a little extra for the history and provenance of an actual Jovino and there's your price. So really, what would people pay today, for a snubnose conversion done by a gunsmith that has worked on NYPD Smith & Wesson's for most of his career?