S&W Mark II Flare Pistol

glowe

glowe

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I have an old 10 ga Mark II Flare Pistol, serial numbered 253, and am wondering if anyone has any information on how many of these are around. I have searched the Internet and can not find any examples.

I also contacted Roy Jinks, who was very helpful, but could only confirm that S&W made a small number of flare pistols around the turn of the century. Even Roy did not have an example or even any pictures in his collection.

I have a couple of pictures posted and would appreciate any comments from members who might have seen or owned one of these pistols.

Thanks in advance for any assistance,

Avid S&W Collector
 

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Briefly mentioned on page 372 of our "book". not much info, and no idea of value. All that said this thing is cool! Thanks for sharing it with us. I'm sure someone will be here that knows something about them. Hope you stick around and post some other photos of equally cool stuff. Kyle
 
I believe the national archives has the contracts between the US and S&W for the manufacture of these flare pistols, so research there may help the estimating of how many were delivered to the US Gov't. I know the contracts for the S&W made bayonet scabbards for the Springfield trapdoor rifles, for approx. 17,000 scabbards, are in the archives, and they are mentioned in the same 1899 newspaper article describing the flare pistols ( see SCSW p. 372 ) About 2,000 scabbards were delivered before the contract was cancelled and the Spanish American war was over. I have one of these Trapdoor rifles, with the S&W scabbard, that was issued to the US Navy in WW 2 ! ( Yes, that's WW Two, not WW one! ) Ed.
 
S&W made bayonet scabbards for the Springfield trapdoor rifles, for approx. 17,000 scabbards, are in the archives, and they are mentioned in the same 1899 newspaper article describing the flare pistols
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Ed, tell us what you were doing that day when the paperboy delivered the 1899 newspaper and subsequent article??? I envision you sitting on the veranda having coffee with toast and jam.;)
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. As I suspected, I did not find anyone that actually owns one of these Mark II flare pistols.

Leads me to believe there are not many left out there. That makes it very hard to value. Guess I will just go ahead and shoot of a flare or 2 every July 4th!
 
Mark II flare gun serial number 263

Hello,

First of all I'm sorry to post on a old thread but I think it would be interesting. I got a flare gun mark II with serial number 263. I would like to know the year of manufacturing.

Thanks by advance and cheers from France !
 
There is not a great deal of information out there, but what we do know it that Remington manufactured the bulk of the Mark IIs from 1896 to around 1900. I have only ran across a handful of S&W marked pistols and the highest number was in the 300s. Remington also manufactured a Mark III for WWI, but there are no records that S&W was involved in production of the Mark III.

It is thought that S&W was contracted to deliver 3000 to Remington, but most experts suspect that very few were actually delivered, so there are not many out there. A Springfield newspaper from 1899 states that two orders for a large number of signal pistols was completed, but no other information noted. From the research I did, my suspicion is that Remington had the order with the government and S&W was a sub-contractor to Remington. I think the newspaper actually referred to the overall contract, which was mostly filled by Remington and only a few were stamped Smith & Wesson.
 
Club Gun Fan said:
I own one as well. My computer crashed and I'm getting it fixed. I'll post pictures when I can.
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Don - I will help you out until your computer is up and running.
 

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DWalt said:
What is the legal status of these? Like a shotgun with a barrel less than 18"?
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When I was trying to get information on the 10 ga Flare Gun, Roy said they were most likely all manufactured before 1898 and would be antiques, so they are basically non-firearms. Besides you would only shoot these once with a standard 10 ga. shotgun shell. With the brass frame, short chamber, and very thin-walled barrel I don't think they would survive the blast.
 
Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm really impressed by the manufacturing of this flaregun, it's well done for a weapon of this era. Anyway I can't keep it, my girlfriend want me to sell it and it's pretty illegal in France to own even this kind of antique gun without authorization. What will be the better way ? I was thinking about something like gun-auction like website, something secure for the buyer and for me. I wish I can sell it to someone who already have a collection of these.
Thanks by advance to everyone.
 
Does French law designate it as a firearm, as it was not intended to fire a projectile? Maybe there is a loophole allowing you to keep it.
 
DWalt said:
Does French law designate it as a firearm, as it was not intended to fire a projectile? Maybe there is a loophole allowing you to keep it.
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I have the one that is pictured. It does fire a 10 GA round. After I bought it from Gary, I bought a Remington with a belt, holster and 50 10 GA blanks. I haven't fired it, but, you could shoot it.
 
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