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Old 05-14-2016, 03:11 PM
MET1288 MET1288 is offline
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Hi all,

I sent in a request for a history letter on a Victory model back in late April. I show that my payment was cashed on 04/21/16 but I have not yet received anything via mail. I'm here following up, not because I'm impatient or demanding, but rather that we have had some issues on our end with "lost mail". It seems we have been receiving plenty of mail for other folks in the last few weeks, but not always our own. Obviously, I do not wish to lose something of this nature. I would be thrilled if the research is still in progress and is not missing in our current mail debacle.

Given the transition and the web link being down for research requests, what would be the best way to check progress on my request? I certainly appreciate any help and all that you do to preserve history!

Thanks,

Mark T.
Glen Rock, PA
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Old 05-14-2016, 03:31 PM
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Mark,
Welcome to the Forum

First you do realize this Forum is not part of Smith and Wesson. The Forum is privately run and has no connection to the manufacturer of firearms.

You also posted this in the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation section. The Foundation also has no connection to the manufacturer of firearms and nothing to do with your letter

You requested the letter from the Smith and Wesson Factory.

Usually a Factory Letter takes 12-16 weeks. You only had your check cashed 3 weeks ago. Nothing is even close to being late yet.

However the Factory Historian (yes there is only one person that does this job) is on vacation and doing some shows so he will not be working on letters for the next 4-6 weeks. This is probably why the Factory disabled the letter request page on the Factory site.

While you could call the Factory, all they are going to tell you is that your request is in the queue. They can not possibly give you an estimate as to when you are going to get your letter.

Just be patient and try not to think about it. It will get there
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Old 05-14-2016, 03:58 PM
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Originally Posted by colt_saa View Post
Mark,
Welcome to the Forum

First you do realize this Forum is not part of Smith and Wesson. The Forum is privately run and has no connection to the manufacturer of firearms.

You also posted this in the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation section. The Foundation also has no connection to the manufacturer of firearms and nothing to do with your letter

You requested the letter from the Smith and Wesson Factory.

Usually a Factory Letter takes 12-16 weeks. You only had your check cashed 3 weeks ago. Nothing is even close to being late yet.

However the Factory Historian (yes there is only one person that does this job) is on vacation and doing some shows so he will not be working on letters for the next 4-6 weeks. This is probably why the Factory disabled the letter request page on the Factory site.

While you could call the Factory, all they are going to tell you is that your request is in the queue. They can not possibly give you an estimate as to when you are going to get your letter.

Just be patient and try not to think about it. It will get there
I am aware that the forum is not run by S&W. I have seen other references to factory letters on this board, hence the question. Another collector pointed me here as well.... "those are the folks in the know!"

I apologize if this isn't the correct venue, but you did indeed answer most of my questions. Its a tight community and you knew Mr. Jinks would be away. I knew customer support was not really the best option given the nature of it all, and without the reference page being active, you see where it goes.

Again... this isn't a "try not to think about it" thing. I'm very familiar with patience in research and collecting, and a wait is the least of my concerns or worries. Recently however, a friend received his letter in a matter of a couple weeks. I am more concerned with the fact that if it was indeed sent it joined some other very important incoming mail in the twilight zone. It's been a pretty frustrating few weeks of mail mixups.

Thanks for a quick reply that does actually give me hope that my factory letter did not fall prey as well.
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Old 05-14-2016, 04:47 PM
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Mark
Yes, Roy is away until June 15th. I have been helping Roy with letters for almost a year. Your check was cashed about the same time he left on vacation. Smith & Wesson has indeed stopped accepting letters. There will be changes once we start doing letters in June. If everything goes well, the lead time should remain 2 to 3 weeks and not 12 to 13 weeks.
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Old 05-14-2016, 05:08 PM
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Mark
Yes, Roy is away until June 15th. I have been helping Roy with letters for almost a year. Your check was cashed about the same time he left on vacation. Smith & Wesson has indeed stopped accepting letters. There will be changes once we start doing letters in June. If everything goes well, the lead time should remain 2 to 3 weeks and not 12 to 13 weeks.
That is good news. Thank you much for the insight. Given the change over will I need to do anything additional or will my request be good as it stands? I honestly am quite thrilled to learn it did not fall victim to our current mail issue as other things have.

Thanks again for the information, greatly appreciated!

Side note, this is an interestingly marked victory that I believe was later refinished/upgraded by S&W. Do their records contain information on the refinish and adding of the block safety? That would be icing on the cake.
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Old 05-14-2016, 07:37 PM
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That is good news. Thank you much for the insight. Given the change over will I need to do anything additional or will my request be good as it stands? I honestly am quite thrilled to learn it did not fall victim to our current mail issue as other things have.

Thanks again for the information, greatly appreciated!

Side note, this is an interestingly marked victory that I believe was later refinished/upgraded by S&W. Do their records contain information on the refinish and adding of the block safety? That would be icing on the cake.
No, you should be all set. If there are further records available, we will let you know. The SWHF may also have further records.
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Old 05-15-2016, 06:08 AM
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No, you should be all set. If there are further records available, we will let you know. The SWHF may also have further records.
Thank you mich for your time!

Would I need to send a separate request to the SWHF? Or is that part of the transition? Just want to be sure to do all that is needed on my end.
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Old 05-15-2016, 03:38 PM
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PM me your address and info on the gun. I'll make sure we have it. I won't be able to check until next week at the earliest.
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Old 05-15-2016, 05:28 PM
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My letter came 3-4 weeks after check cashing! Local wartime company, made moters and lifting electro magnets for cranes and hoist. Loading ,unloading, Manhattan project got some. My Victory is very little used.

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Old 05-15-2016, 10:22 PM
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PM me your address and info on the gun. I'll make sure we have it. I won't be able to check until next week at the earliest.
Much appreciated - PM Sent your way
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Old 05-19-2016, 12:08 AM
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Mark T, You might try posting pictures of your " interesting" Victory Model on the Hand Ejector 1896-1961 category and the reasons why it might be a special rework by S&W. There are a lot more Victory experts on this Forum that know more about them than S&W ever knew! A S&W factory historical letter on a Victory seldom tells you much more than to which Ordnance Depot the gun got shipped. Any later info. on upgrades and reworking by S&W would be almost impossible to locate, even if it exists, and would not be included in a factory historical letter, but our experts can make intelligent observations based on markings & stampings on unusual Victory models. Good luck. Ed.

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Old 05-19-2016, 09:35 PM
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The last 3 letters that Jinks sent to me were delivered by my local mail moron to a house about 5 away from me. It was addressed properly but the mail moron doesn't always do a good job of reading the address. This happens more frequently than it used to. In days gone by the mail moron didn't always sort his own route mail. Now they do. If you get a relief person on the day something special should be there it might end up anywhere. If you have a problem with your delivery you should make a complaint to a supervisor. Unless somebody gets on some of these people the problems won't go away.
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Old 05-20-2016, 09:53 PM
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The last 3 letters that Jinks sent to me were delivered by my local mail moron to a house about 5 away from me. It was addressed properly but the mail moron doesn't always do a good job of reading the address. This happens more frequently than it used to. In days gone by the mail moron didn't always sort his own route mail. Now they do. If you get a relief person on the day something special should be there it might end up anywhere. If you have a problem with your delivery you should make a complaint to a supervisor. Unless somebody gets on some of these people the problems won't go away.
Glad to see we're not the only ones! We seem to have everything straightened out finally, or should I say it's been a few weeks since we've received anyone elses mail. We haven't had any neighbors bring our mail by lately either. It's been an adventure, I shipped a letter in person at the post office via overnight mail that took 3 or 4 overnights. They made it right but darn, the ol' pony must be getting tired as he's not too express anymore.
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Old 05-25-2016, 01:24 PM
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My letter came 3-4 weeks after check cashing! Local wartime company, made moters and lifting electro magnets for cranes and hoist. Loading ,unloading, Manhattan project got some. My Victory is very little used.
Manhattan Project! Check it with a Geiger counter....
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