Chiefs Special Airweight with Alloy Cylinder and Bug screw.

[cgt4570]

So I won this one on PB today for $400! I think it slipped under the radar, even though it has a correct description and good pics.
The 'bug screw' makes it a 5-screw J frame.
Condition looks great. Another one with a bunch of finish loss sold for the same price.
SCSW says these features both add premiums.

I know these aren't supposed to be shot (with the alloy cylinder), but if it's been shot before, I might just have to load up 5 rounds a la .22 CB short caps but in .38. I have some .38 Short Colt brass and lots of Goex powder.

It will make a nice safe-companion to my Mod 42 with bug screw. I don't know how many Airweight bug screw J frames were produced, but I haven't seen very many online or at shows. Last time I saw one at a gun show was over 10 years ago and it was rough.

S&W CHIEFS SPECIAL AIRWEIGHT .38 SPL CAL REVOLVER |




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[S42N8]

Nicely done! For sure, do not see those often. Be kind to the elderly revolver

 

[GerSan69]

Wow! Name that girl "Suzanne Somers" 'cause you know she's old but she looks so GOOD!
Congratulations, great catch!

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Congrats.

Glad somebody here got that one.

Go to Roy's "ship date request" forum and search the serial number to find when it shipped.

 

[wlw-19958]

Hi There,



It looks like the "bug screw" has a locking screw. I've never
seen that before. Is that normal for this model?


Cheers,
Webb

 

[two-bit cowboy]

It looks like the "bug screw" has a locking screw. I've never seen that before. Is that normal for this model?

As you have suggested, Dr. Jinks calls the top side plate screw the “bug screw” because, it’s been said, the factory workers claimed the skinny screw with its large head was a “bugger” to install. The bug screw on Chiefs Special Airweights reportedly had a tendency to back out of the thin alloy side plate so S&W installed a small retainer screw to hold the bug screw in place. The retainer screw appears on some Airweights shipped after June 1953.

Probably due to this complexity the Chiefs Special Airweight was the first J-frame to change from a 4-screw frame to a 3-screw frame. That change occurrs with the Airweight production run beginning in early 1955 around the 52600 serial number range. The earliest carbon steel Chiefs with a 3-screw frame appear in the 73xxx serial number range.

 

[colt_saa]

Wonderful snag

That looks to be in very good condition

 

[Engine49guy]

Congrats, very nice early variation.
I've only seen one in real life but foolishly passed on it.
The 5 screw pre model 12 is another rare variation but I don't recall if those had the "Bug" screw or not.

On a random side note Im reminded the Ithaca model 37 shotguns all had a similar "bug screw" system.

 

[gmborkovic]

So do the Browning "humpback" auto shotguns.

 

[Engine49guy]

Interestingly the Auto 5 and Ithaca 37 are both Browning designs IIRC.

 

[gmborkovic]

Also the Remington Mod-11.

 

[DWalt]

Some Mauser military rifles also have “bug” screws. I am not partial to any alloy frame revolvers, at least not as shooters, but if I had one I wanted to shoot I would make up .38 Special handloads approximating .38 SC or .38 S&W factory load ballistics, lead bullets only.

 

[Doug M.]

Asking out of pure ignorance: is a standard .38 special target wadcutter mild enough to shoot in this revolver?

 

[rct269]

Asking out of pure ignorance: is a standard .38 special target wadcutter mild enough to shoot in this revolver?

Absolutely! And for the doubting Thomas's, let me suggest a couple of points to ponder: First, look up the specs on regular, everyday 158 grain .38 Specials----loaded as they were at the time of this revolver. ( I don't know what they are----also don't know what the time of this revolver is----don't even care, because I know what they aren't. What they aren't is powerful enough to damage the revolvers or the shooters-----and of course the reason for that is what's usually referred to as the plaintiff's bar. I reckon most everyone knows what that is, but just in case, it's a group of folks----young, old, and in the middle; all of whom have been to law school, most of whom are making a good living being lawyers; but most all of them have a dream about coming upon a situation where someone's been dumb enough to put a product on the market that's going to do harm to person or property. And then they dream about jumping on their white horse, and galloping off to BY GOD SET THINGS RIGHT!!!!----------and become a reformed attorney.

Now that's another thing I don't know anything about---reformed attorneys; but I figure that's one that's struck gold settin' things right-----just another day at the office.

Ralph Tremaine

 

[Mk VII]

They are, but they STING! Maybe with different grips they would sting less.

 

[jcelect]

pre 37

I have a pre mod 37 with the retainer screw but a steel cylinder. I've never seen an Al cylinder with the retainer screw!
jcelect

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Well, I hate to burst your "never" bubble, jcelect, but....

Here's s/n 29562.

One of 923 with a square butt and an aluminum cylinder, according to Dr. Jinks. It has a retainer screw. Shipped October 1953.

 

[jcelect]

Well, I hate to burst your "never" bubble, jcelect, but....

Here's s/n 29562.

One of 923 with a square butt and an aluminum cylinder, according to Dr. Jinks. It has a retainer screw. Shipped October 1953.

The last time you "burst my never seen bubble" it cost me a lot of money! I had to eat beans for a month! But I now have a J frame that eluded me for a long time! Thanks Cowboy!
jcelect

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Hmmm.

I rather like beans.

A good thing, I've sure eaten my share lately.

 

[JudgeColt]

Here's s/n 29562.

One of 923 with a square butt and an aluminum cylinder, according to Dr. Jinks. It has a retainer screw. Shipped October 1953.

I have square butt 2909X, which shipped June 24, 1953, without the "bug" screw. Of course we know guns weren't necessarily shipped in order, and it is risky for a Colt guy to speculate on what Smith & Wesson did, but can one speculate that the "bug" screw was added somewhere among the 500 guns built from June to October 1953?