New 40-1 Centennial Classic

[JRD]

Turnbull did all the color hardening on the Classic line and put a clear coat over them to protect the relatively fragile colors. Aggressive solvents will affect that clear coat.

I wasn't aware that Turnbull marked the frames he colored. What is the marking you believe signifies his work and where on the frame are you seeing it?

While the color case frames do look great, we all know it was never an original S&W finish. There had been some Heritage Series revolvers with that finish in the early 2000's and then S&W did more color case in the Classic Line in the later 2000's. There was a color case fad at the time with some companies doing color cased 1911's and other guns that were never historically cased. S&W wanted to get on the color case bandwagon and admittedly the guns looked fantastic.

 

[colt_saa]

Turnbull did all the color hardening on the Classic line and put a clear coat over them to protect the relatively fragile colors.

I believe that you are mistaken.

Doug Turnbull did all of the color case hardening on the Heritage series. He stopped doing them towards the end of that run and I do not know who took over the work for Smith & Wesson

I wasn't aware that Turnbull marked the frames he colored. What is the marking you believe signifies his work and where on the frame are you seeing it?

On the frames that Turnbull did the color case hardening on you will see his mark under the left grip panel as pictured below on this Model 25

 

[boykinlp]

I believe that you are mistaken.

Doug Turnbull did all of the color case hardening on the Heritage series. He stopped doing them towards the end of that run and I do not know who took over the work for Smith & Wesson

On the frames that Turnbull did the color case hardening on you will see his mark under the left grip panel as pictured below on this Model 25

So, Turnbull didn't do ALL of the Heritage series guns! I am glad to now know this because I want a Heritage gun, and I believe his work is superior. Anyone know where the change took place according to serial number?
Larry
Larry

 

[ACORN]

I also heard the Turnbull did do all the guns however S&W had him stop marking them as such.
I don't remember exactly where I read it and don't know why it we stopped.
It was on the internet so it must be true.

 

[colt_saa]

I also heard the Turnbull did do all the guns however S&W had him stop marking them as such.
I don't remember exactly where I read it and don't know why it we stopped.
It was on the internet so it must be true.

Folks that own Smith & Wessons that were not done by Turnbull have been passing the word that Turnbull did all because they want their firearms to have more value

Turnbull stopped doing the color case hardening to the Smith & Wessons back in the early 2000s. The reason was that with his process the Smith & Wesson frames were warping at a greater percentage than was acceptable

I do not recall the exact date that this occurred nor do I recall what company began doing the color case hardening for Smith & Wesson.

If Doug Turnbull did the color case hardening on your revolver his logo will be stamped on the grip frame. If there is no logo stamped on your grip frame it was done by the other company

 

[notsofast]

Most of my S&W focus/lust has been for N frames recently but I still want very much a model 40 J frame. Congrats yours sure looks good!

 

[JRD]

Time to get this thread going again. I didn't want to post anything further until I completed my research. I consulted multiple contacts at Big Blue, some of whom did some digging and finally got back to me.

1. Doug Turnbull obviously did the Heritage Series color case revolvers. These were Performance Center guns and sold through Lew Horton. I don't know if they all did, but some definitely got the DT stamp on the tang. These guns may also have the serial number moved from the typical butt location. Note Colt_SAA's number is on the side of the tang covered by the grips.

2. Engineers who worked on the Classic Series confirmed that Doug Turnbull did the color case. None who are left at S&W can remember anyone else but Turnbull doing the color case on these. (As a side note, S&W did experiment with doing some color case samples in house. They didn't look good and S&W decided to use Turnbull. Those samples were never used in production.)
None of them can recall there being any special marking requirement for Turnbull to stamp guns he did.

Acorn's 40-1 is in the factory records as going to Doug Turnbull Restoration, then returning to S&W and being sold as SKU 150205 to Sports South in 2009. Acorn's 40-1 is an example that for certain Doug Turnbull did not put the DT stamp on all guns that he did.

Perhaps the difference is that the Heritage Series guns were a special run through the Performance Center, while the Classic Series were production guns in the catalog that had a production process set up in the factory that used Turnbull as a vendor operation for the finish.

 

[ACORN]

If Doug Turnbull did the color case hardening on your revolver his logo will be stamped on the grip frame. If there is no logo stamped on your grip frame it was done by the other company

Apparently not.

 

[CountryKind]

Grips for 40-1

Can anyone tell me what frame size I should be looking for? I've got a bunch of regular j frame grips and none of them fit. I was told to look for I frame grips but I'm unsure. As of now. It has the almont walnut grips. I just don't want to ruin them by carrying it sometimes. Thanks in advance.

 

[ACORN]

They're J frame but special on the Centennials.

 

[OldLawman]

The difference is that the half-circle recess that matches up to the frame is a smaller diameter.

 

[.38SuperMan]

I know why 40's are hard to find, you guys own all the good ones. Nice revolvers!

I don't remember ever running across one for sale until recently. I traded a Smith 17 4" back to the guy I got it from for a nice M40-1. I had looked for years and finally found one and had to have it. Over all noce with a little pitting on the top strap. I don't remember the year but it a late reissue version.

 

[PALADIN85020]

For what it's worth, here is a pic of my 40-1. I had my choice of the 3 finishes and I just liked the glitz of the nickel version. It's a nice "throwback" but I don't like the omission of the grip safety lock-down pin - it should have that to be true to the breed.

John

 

[NCBeagle]

Deleted. Didn't realize that I had already replied to this thread.

 

[gto364ci]

Nice guns.

 

[demkofour]

Here's my 40-1 next to its older cousin, a mint 42 from September 1970. My crummy photos don't do either one justice…