Another Mystery Smith

[walkcubs]

My local LGS has a 38 hand ejector (1905 4th chg) that is interesting. No s&w logo. No "Made in USA". Patents up to 1914 on barrel. SN is 305xxx. I think it was made around 1919. No refinish. All numbers match. I have a smith sn 260xxx from about 1918, but it at least has the s&w logo on the side panel. Is this normal?

 

[Muley Gil]

My local LGS has a 38 hand ejector (1905 4th chg) that is interesting. No s&w logo. No "Made in USA". Patents up to 1914 on barrel. SN is 305xxx. I think it was made around 1919. No refinish. All numbers match. I have a smith sn 260xxx from about 1918, but it at least has the s&w logo on the side panel. Is this normal?

Yep. No logos for a while after WW I.

 

[Absalom]

The interesting thing about this time period around the end of WW I is that there seems to be no chronological consistency; logo and no-logo serial numbers overlap in sequence, at least based on my informal observations.

 

[DWalt]

Closest SN I have listed to 305xxx is 3074xx which shipped on 7/24/19. And that's prior to S&W's heat treating of K-frame cylinders at SN 316648 in September 1919. S&W stopped stamping logos during WWI production and resumed sometime in 1920. I do not have exact dates/SNs for logo start and stop.

"I have a smith sn 260xxx from about 1918, but it at least has the s&w logo on the side panel."
I list SN 2601xx as shipping on 4/7/17. It probably would have a logo, as I don't believe S&W began wartime production until somewhat later in 1917.

 

[bedbugbilly]

To go along with the OPs description . . . why did S & W not put logos on or drop them for a while after WW I?

 

[DWalt]

Story is that it eliminated an unnecessary operation for military revolver manufacture and thereby speeded up production.