Rom,

I own the 627-2 that is pictured on page 255 of the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson. When I corresponded with Jim Supica about the gun when he was assembling information for the 3rd edition of the SCSW, he had never heard of that variation before. My gun is exactly as the same as you have described your's and carries the same product code. The box label on mine states SB for square butt, but the gun is actually a round butt.

No much information exists on these and some of it seems to contradict itself. The most believeable, yet unconfirmed report that I have heard on these is that they were a limited run that was basically assembled from spare parts. The other rumor is that they were a run of 200 guns for export through Wiesco (sp?) who was Smith & Wesson's distibutor for Europe. I still haven't sent for a factory letter on mine, it's one of those things that I keep meaning to do but keep forgetting about.

As far as mine, I bought it as new old stock in 2005 for around $600-$650. It was from a dealer who recently moved his shop from southern California and he had several new old stock Smith & Wessons that he was unable to sell in California because they were not on the DOJ approved list. I have no idea how long he had it prior to sale and his shop has since been closed down by the ATF.

I don't know if this helps or not. If you're able to find out anything else, please let me know.