Anyone know the story of the Lazy ampersand on the various Model 52's?

I have a 52 no-dash in the 507xx range without the Lazy "&" between "SMITH & WESSON" on the left side of the slide. But has the Lazy "&" in the 4-line, just to the right of it. This is also the case, in photos of the no-dash, I've seen online. (I'm sure hoping my slide wasn't swapped at some point )

The Model 52-1 I'm looking at has the Lazy "&" in both locations on the slide.

And then the 52-2 goes back to the non-Lazy "&" in both locations.

I was just curious, if true, why S&W would transition between them (skinny-fat-skinny). I had always just assumed the Lazy "&" came first, and then transitioned once, to the skinny one.

Thanks!

Hello,
I would say the Lazy & would apply more toward the revolvers and model 41's. Not the 52's and so on. I have no real reason to give you, other than I have bought enough 52's 52-1's and 52-2's that I have seen all of this before.
I think some may have the same thing on the model 39's.
When they did eliminate the Lazy & on the model 41's some of the pistols came with the new slides and still older barrels. and I have seen some with the lazy barrels and the standard & on the slide.
These were brand new guns, in a certain serial # range, that I witnessed time after time this so called error, or claiming someone swapped something.
There would be no rhyme or reason for this, it is what It is.
Just as the claim at which serial # the A prefix started.
Yet many of the 52-2's were A serial numbers prior to the number they were supposed to start at.
Maybe Tom will chyme in here. We have had quite a few discussions on this.

4152, thanks for the reply. Is there a link to the discussions you had with Tom, or did you communicate by other means?

On a slightly different topic:
So, some of the 52 no dash came with lazy &, and some did not? Again, I'm referring to the "SMITH & WESSON" alone in the center of the slide's left side. I'm guessing my 52 was made in the second year, 1962, since my serial is 507xx, and they only made 90 in the first year. I was a bit concerned that my no dash had the regular &, being an earlier serial number.

Hello again, the talk with Tom was mainly on the phone, but you and I can do the same, it's easier than writing it all here, Talk to you soon, Jim

It was explained to me that the roll dies may get dull or break and are taken off line. Who really cared as long as we were filling orders and shipping guns out the door. Pay check on Fri at 4PM. Just what I have heard from the old guys, Im 68.

__________________
Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

I've never heard of the "lazy &" before. Can somebody post pics?

__________________
-Roger

Accept that the following is SWAG
Keep in mind three rules for S&W
1. There ain't no rules
2. Waste nothing
3. S&W produces guns - NOT in any logical order

Based on that, for the S&W 41, the "A" prefix was started about 1970 and the lazy "&" was replaced with the present more upright "&".

For the S&W 52 - started in 1961 and the 52-1( around 55700) in 1963. The 52-2 came out as early as 1968 with A104XXX the lowest number I am aware of but with A105XXX shown as shipped in June 1968. Remember RULE # 1

Remember that frames were run separately from slides and everything went thru in boxes (or whatever) and first in last out with several workers doing different stages. No one was sweating matching up lazy "&"s etc. and that the 52 and 52-1 slides were the same. The final assembly steps were done by true craftsmen and I have to believe they were picky - getting the best parts available and still doing hand fitting to end up with the 52s we enjoy.

The 50700 range with a standard "&" is a little surprising in my limited 52 experience, but a mix on 52-1s is not a real surprise. With the major change (extractor) on the 52-2s a lazy & would be a surprise - but so was a standard & on a 46 barrel (could have had to match out to last of the frames?) Rule #2 - waste nothin.

Go to rule #3 when all else fails - S&W produces guns - not in any logical order - but they sure have made a great number of great fruits and flavors for us.

Maybe Father Roy will step up and get us straight.

__________________
TOMBECK

That's what I was thinking/wondering.

To rephrase my question further, does anyone own a 52 no dash, with a serial number lower than 5077x, that has a standard "&" in the center "SMITH & WESSON", and a lazy "&" in the 4-line to right of it?

Thanks to everyone that has responded!

Hi again, I keep looking for a certain set of numbers that were test guns,
The best thing to do is keep searching model 52's for sale and try to look at the photos of the serial #'s and try to read the side frame.

Going to bump this one more time.