Quote:
Originally Posted by Absalom
I think we may be taking these precise semantics a lot more seriously than Smith & Wesson ever did 
As a general practice, there can be no question that the company, the advertisers/retailers, the literature, and most users have tended to treat the model number as an addition, not a zero-sum replacement for the name. When I first got into S&W handguns in the 1970s, as a user, not a collector, we talked about the Chiefs Special (the first S&W I fired) and the Combat Magnum (the first I owned); the model numbers were for nerds.
The best case in point that S&W did not necessarily intend the model numbers to be replacements for the model name is the 586, which was introduced around 1980 with both a model number AND the "Distinguished Combat Magnum" name; I seem to remember the marketing making quite a fuss over the name. |
When I was toting a badge, most cops referred to handguns as "my Model 19, my Model 66, my 686, etc". Now the Chief Special usually was called that, not the Model 36. But most referred to their "Model 60".