Quote:
Originally Posted by rjb1
Here's a theory about why so many S&W's were shipped in March, 1946:
During WWII the Office of Price Administration (OPA) set the upper price for everything from wheat to steel, including consumer goods. After the War the price controls gradually came off one by one for a period of about a year and a half or so.
In a search on the subject I was able to find specific dates for the elimination of price controls for various things, but so far not for firearms. So, this is slightly speculative, but I think that the common March, 1946 shipping date for numerous S&W's is because that was when the price controls for guns were removed. (More $ for S&W)
Consider this a good theory until someone can find the specific date for the removal of OPA constraints on the firearms industry.
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Relaxed OPA controls continued into 1947, but they remained in effect during most of 1946 in the same form as they existed during the war. I have also wondered why S&W waited so long after war's end to re-start distribution of M&Ps, but I doubt it was price controls. It may have had something to do with establishing new marketing channels which had lapsed during the war. I am unaware of how many postwar commercial SVs were shipped, but certainly it was not a large number. They were assembled and finished by S&W from frames (and probably other components) remaining in factory inventory after VJ day, when government purchase contracts were cancelled.