RM Vivas
US Veteran
Archival Observations:
A Man Who Knows What He Wants; The Queen Of Kings
I had mentioned a while back that I was starting to get into .38/44 Heavy-Duty revolvers and the target sighted variant, Outdoorsman. This led me to start trying to organize some of the records regarding these great revolvers.
Well, that may have been a mistake, because now I find my burgeoning interest in the Heavy-Duty/Outdoorsman has metastasized to now include Model 1926 “Wolf & Klar” .44 Military revolvers.
My research has taken me rather deeply into some invoices and reading them has been an absolutely amazing experience. I have come across all manner of interesting tidbits, two of which I thought I’d share here.
A Man Who Knows What He Wants
Roy Jinks has always pointed out, quite accurately, that anything is possible in S&W collecting because the factory would make almost anything if someone was willing to pay the cost. The legendary .22 caliber Registered Magnum is an excellent example of this!
In this instance, a fellow wanted a .44 revolver but with very specific features. As I went through the list of features I realized “Hey, this guy is ordering a darn nice gun; ---I’d--- order this!”
Start with a Model 1926 .44 Military
· Blue
· 4.000” (a 4” Target gun!)
· 1/10” Call Gold Bead Front Sight
· Matted top strap
· Grip Adapter
· Extra rear sight blade 1/10” patridge with edges slightly rounded
I wish the order included his name, as this sounds like the sort of fellow who would be easy to find in the newspaper databases; almost certainly he shot competitively.
The idea of a 4-inch Target gun might sound like an anathema to classic S&W purists (the factory officially considered 6-inch the shortest “Target” length) but the factory did produce a number of 4-inch M&P’s pre-war, notably the New York Police Target models.
That sounds like a nice gun!
The Queen Of Kings
In trying to get a handle on the exact number of Non-Registered Magnums that are floating around and what the most common barrel lengths ordered were, I came across this invoice.
Right off the bat it is notable for being one of the very few invoices that has a gun going to a woman. That’s just how it was at that time.
This particular Non-Registered Magnum (#61313) was ordered by J.A. Cimperman (owner of RM#2821), an FBI man who later went on to be legal attaché in various US Embassies and a bit of a player in World War Two and Cold War intelligence circles.
For whatever reason, Mr. Cimperman ordered this gun for Helen Kleberg of the King Ranch, Kingsville, TX.
Before Yellowstone, there was the King Ranch, the largest ranch in the US. Overseeing the King Ranch at this time was Robert J. Kleburg, Jr. and his wife, Helen Campbell Kleburg. I guess when you have a ranch larger than Rhode Island, even the Mrs. needs a little pocket protection (although a 6-inch N-frame needs a pretty big pocket!).
Best,
RM Vivas
There’s quite a bit of interesting things like this within the archives of the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation and most would never see the light of day without the support of collectors. Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation; you’re a member, aren’t you? S&WHF Membership Link
