50 Shots, 15 yrds, offhand.

It turns out that my "blaster" Pre-War 357 is a 1939 Camp Perry Prize gun.

I was absolutely shocked at this and can only say that if there is ever a reason to take the gamble and do the SWHF search this is it.

When I lettered my 357 originally, the letter came back as if it was not a Registered model and came past the date that S&W took Registrations. Even in Roy's article on the pre-war 357's, it comes back as "not a Registered". So now I have an interesting quandary to dig into.

Is it a real "Registered" since I now have the Registration order form? And who is Maurice LaLonde who it is registered to and may have won the gun at the 1939 Championships.

Also I can see I am too close to the target. LaLonde wanted it sighted for 148's at 25 yrds. I guess I need to move back another 10 and get off the 158's and full power 2400 reloads.

So if you have not SWHF lettered your gun, why not? I know I will do a search on the rest of my pre-war 38/44's as time permits.

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SWCA 1646

That is incredibly cool!

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Don't kiss smiling dogs!

Great ".357" Magnum with a history that really adds to its uniqueness. Sometimes a search of the S&WHF database reveals some very interesting information, particularly on the .357s.

Glad you are satisfied with the results.

Bill

Alot of these are targeted for 38 148 grain Wadcutters at eithe 6 oclock or center hold at 25 yards or 50 yard, as they were the best gun bullseye shooting at the time, great gun and great history, Dale in Canada!

Outstanding!! Sure worth the money for that letter.

With the help of a lot of folks, I have now determined that the gun was the prize as it is listed in the program as a S&W Magnum revolver.

LaLonde won the 1st match of the Police Field Firing Match with a score of 75 besting the field by 2 points. This was on Aug 25, 1939.

I am still digging into the history of LaLonde but so far he has turned out to be a spectacular shot (1938 National Champion) and the instructor for the team. It has been a fascinating history to develop.

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SWCA 1646

now thats really cool.
what happened to the grip adapter ?

Beautiful gun with a very interesting history.

As Bill said, right now we have completed phase 1 and have quite a bit of info during the reg mag era. We are currently raising money to do phase 2. If you want to become a member or are a member and want to make an additional tax deductible contribution please see smith-wessonforum.com. This project will allow current collectors to add information on their collections and will allow future collectors to have access to the information. Any contribution amout is appreciated!!

Thanks to all!

Sheryl Cheely
Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation
Board of Directors

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SWHF

Are you on Ancestry.com?? I did a search for that name "Maurice LaLonde" and there is a newspaper article about Detroit Police officers at a Sharp ShootingCompetition in 1941 at Camp Perry Ohio I believe it is. Maurice LaLonde is one of the Detroit Police officers in the article. These were police officers in a Sharp Shooting competition. I don't know if they won or not. The article mentions that they were shooting 38's and 45's and the US Marines were in the competition as well. After re-reading the article, it appears that the Detroit team did win. After reading more about this competition, The Detroit Police Officers were quite ofter the favorites to win this competition, at least in the late 1930's and early 1940's.