Bought a 2206 with a 3" barrel, with adjustable sights, ( in the box that is factory stamped 3") preparing for the approval by BATF for a suppressor. Have already installed an adapter for my SilenceCo Sparrow purchased from EWK. Took it to the range today and ran HV and standard velocity 22's ( about 300 rounds) through it. Only hitch was due to a magazine. Have three M 41's and about 12 with metal followers. These older mags , and some of the newer ones, have a shorter magazine cut and will not lock into the 2206. In any event, the gun is fun to shoot and shoots like a charm. Will gets some photos to post.....Lou

I've never seen a 2206 with such a short barrel - your's will be interesting to see! I had a 2213 way back when - but foolishly sold it. Well, I'm not sure it was a 2213 ... . It was shorter than my 622, and had an aluminum frame. It would've been a perfect pocket pistol but I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer and sold it ...

I thought the 2206 only came with either a 4.5" or 6" barrel. Would be interesting to see pics plz!!

Cheers!!!
David

Please post some photos Lou, I've never seen a 3" 2206 either, would love to see what it looks like.

Lou- glad you picked it up! Good for you. Post the box when you can where it is stamped 2206 3".

Jim....will do. Perhaps today will get some pics taken....

Well that is really cool! Interesting to see that they actually made one of these. I'm in the process of building my own off of a 422 that I am calling the "414"(422+2214).

I'm actually surprised to see the adjustable target sights on that with the dovetailed from sight. Typically it is the fixed 2 dot on the 3" pistols. The front sight looks different from the 2213 and 2214 3" pistols.

I'm going to say that is one rare pistol!!

I didn't claim to be an expert - but I thought I knew the 422/622/2206 series pretty well! I have never heard of a 3-in 2206, but there it is, biggern' Stuttgart!!

I'm.......I'm.....speechless!

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

It would be interesting to have that one lettered from S&W. Quite a rare piece.

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John

Buffalo, that is awesome. Can we see the other side where the model number is stamped in the frame?

What in the world will the story be on this from Smith?? Interesting how they finished the barrel end of the frame. That slight indent left over from a 4" frame that was altered? What length is that slide? Surely it's going to standard to one of the other models.

So where in the world did you find this unicorn? Mind sharing what they were asking?

Thanks for posting this! Blows me away.

Lou

Thank you for sharing the pics!!! Very awesome find!! Congrats!! Never say never in the S&W 3rd gen world!!!

Cheers!!!
David

Looks like they did shorten the muzzle of a larger(4.5" or 6") 2206.

The slides are all the same across the 2213/14 422/622/2206, with the minor caveat that the dovetail for the fixed sight on the 2213/14 is different than the dovetail for the fixed sight on the others.

I'm sure they used the 3" barrel from a 2213/14.

I think it is interesting how the muzzle is finished as well, I've been trying to decide what to do with my project 3" gun, not sure I like the rounded treatment that is factory.

Here is a pic of my project so you can see what is left of the muzzle milling when they are cut.

That is a very unique piece, but I'm skeptical that it is factory. Some items that lead me to believe this:

1) The 107006 product code is for a 6" adjustable sight 2206.
2) The "3" in the barrel length doesn't look the same as the "3" in the serial number or the "630" above the model number. (the following picture is a composite of all three numbers)

3) This 3" pistol has adjustable sights, were the 2213 and 2214 do not.
4) The front of the frame has remnants of the 6" 2206 lightening slot.
5) The front of the frame is rounded unlike any other 422/622/2213/2214/2206.
6) The texture of the bead blasting on the frame looks a little off.
7) The front sight doesn't match any other 22's or 3rd gens that I can tell.
8) Balancing and inverting the label colors shows the "3" with a different ink hue, and I can see a hint of a rectangle surrounding the "3"... interesting.

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All that being said, the way to be sure is with a letter; if it is truly a 3" 2206 you have yourself one rare pistol.

One thing I've discovered in building my own 3" full frame pistol is that the hole in the muzzle for the barrel is smaller in ID at the very end to keep the barrel centered. The only option for fixing this after the fact is to machine a bushing. Would be interesting to see what if any solution is used on the 2206 pictured. What strikes me is that since these pistols were CNC machined, I don't understand why they wouldn't just run the 2213/2214 program for the top half instead of cutting a larger pistol down.

Also as you indicate the rounding on the muzzle doesn't match the standard profile for any of the other pistols in the series, and they are all the same including the 2213/2214.

I'm with you, skjos -- that "3" certainly doesn't appear to be the same as the other on the label, and has other appearance differences as well. There's a chance, of course, that it could have been done at the factory to denote a one-off in the series, but as you say, only a letter will ever confirm it.

Anyone checked the "TVA" prefix to see what it correlates with in other pistols?

It's a cool little pistol, for sure, but I tend toward a nicely-done and workmanlike modification of a longer production model using the 2213 or 2214 barrel. Just a guess, of course, and no disrespect intended to anyone.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Clicked through his album on PB with the pics, there is a pic of the other side of the gun, some engraving, I suspect by the person that did the mod...



Looks like Simpson LTD guns, here is the ad for it:

SMITH & WESSON 2206, Simpson Ltd

The Simpson Ltd pics do show the bead blast texture pretty well, it looks like it may have been blasted after the front sight was installed.

They advertise as a collectors shop, and the prices on their S&Ws reflect that. Yowzah! But I do wonder whether they did the work on the gun, as the site doesn't mention any such services. Yet, why would they engrave the gun if they didn't do the work? Still a chance this could be a factory job, maybe by an employee, and the gun eventually got into circulation as a curio. Interesting mystery, and a cool little gun.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Only S+W can tell us for certain. It is a cool gun, no doubt about it, and I'm glad it popped up so I can see what someone else has done in building a 3" and make some changes to what I want to do.

Based on what we have seen, I would bet good money it is a gun someone built as a one off, likely not an S+W manufactured piece. Regardless they did some nice work on it. I'm not sure I would pay what they were asking for it on the website, but these pistols seem to fetch prices that surprise me at times.

I would still like to see how they addressed the barrel space in the muzzle, if they did at all.

If it has the box, which seems original, with the S&W label, which seems original, wouldn't this confirm more or less, this is a special order item made by S&W and not an aftermarket job?

I have purchased before from Simpson, and from my understanding, they put their mark on all of their firearms when sold and shipped out.

Personally, I'd start with a call to S&W customer service and see what they might tell the OP regarding the serial number. See what the config on record is. Next call would be to Simpson to see what they know about it. Perhaps they would pass the OP's contact info to the person they got it from.

A word of caution regarding labels. I know for a fact that at least some customer reps had the ability to reprint labels. It might not have been policy, but they had that ability. Aside from the shrewd forensic work pointing out the difference in the "3"s, if the work was done, as one suggested, by a S&W employee at the factory, is it still possible that the label might be authentic but reprinted to reflect mods? If so the factory info on the serial number might not reflect the factory mods.

Most fascinating pistol in this series that I remember seeing. And that's going a ways with Shoot Summ's collection.

There is a Dr on here that puts me to shame, he still owes us some pics of that Champion...

I would think that marking a rare and collectable firearm with your company's logo would decrease the collector value. Much like an import mark decreases the value of military surplus arms.
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However, putting your stamp on custom work can increase the value if you are a very reputable custom shop.

That is Simpson's import mark. They have a fairly active import service and import (re-import?) a large number of U.S.-manufactured guns, many from a single supplier. I've purchased a couple of shooter-grade Browning Medalists from them that were imported by them and they are marked the same. They were marked on the bottom of the magazine well, making it unobtrusive. I've also not purchased an otherwise pristine one-liner K22 because it had their import mark on the left side of the frame, right below the cylinder window.

An import mark make sense, I see on their website:

"What is it going to cost? Our fee for processing your import license is $200 for the first two guns, with additional guns being $75.00 each. This includes the cost of Laser Engraving the import marks upon arrival. "

So it was imported? Man this just gets curiouser and curiouser.

Any update here?

bumpity bump

Looks like he sold this one....

WTS S&W 3" 2206<<<<<<<SOLD>>>>>>