Will any and all of you who have an Olympic chambered 3rd Model shipped before 1921 please tell me the shipping date and the serial number.

Many thanks!!

Ralph Tremaine

It is not an Olympic chamber, but my 3rd model S/N 8694 shipped in July 1917. If that's any help.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

No, but I certainly appreciate the thought. A friend and I have been doing some research----with predictable results. We are now in deep do-do----and going back to ground zero----or what we think/hope is ground zero--------- looking for a way out.

Ralph Tremaine

Hi Ralph,
Looks like your not getting much response to your request so I'll give it a try. I don't have much time right now to list all the numbers and dates but a quick check worked out as follows:
From around # 9395 shipped in 1920 on back I only found 2, but from # 9550 shipped in 1921 on up to the end of 1924 I found over 25.
H.M. Pope

Ralph,

Sorry I don't have any data to add, but I do have a question in regards to what you are researching...if you don't mind me asking!!

Question is...are you possibly thinking that after 1921 the 3rd Models with Olympic Chambers were more the Norm rather than being Special-Ordered with them...Just Curious??

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Masterpiece

Thanks, H.M.

I'd like to have the data for the early shipments----the exceptions rather than what appears to what is becoming the rule. (And I'll be back tomorrow with the what's/why's and wherefore's, and maybe someone can make some sense out of all this.)

RT

Okay---------many years ago I read in Neal & Jinks about a special group of pistols made up for the 1910 Olympic Team. That stuck with me.

I read also (in History of Smith & Wesson---by Jinks) how the factory developed the Olympic chamber in the course of assisting an Olympic shooter with his quest for more accuracy. I wonder if there's any significance to the fact he didn't say which factory.

Fairly recently I read a post on the forum dealing with the Olympic Model. I remember next to nothing about it, except that it contained a quote from a Jinks' letter---or perhaps a copy of the letter. The gist of the quote/letter was to the effect that S&W started shipping (commercial) Olympic Models in 1920-21-thereabouts. The wording was ambiguous at best----as I recall it. That didn't make much sense to me----given that S&W got into this Olympic chamber business in 1910. I put it out of my mind. I would appreciate it if someone who knows what I'm talking about could come up with this post.

Enter my friend Douglas Johnson. He reads books too. The book he read----just the other day, is the Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers, by Julian S. Hatcher---circa 1935------- General Hatcher being one of the hipper of the hip dudes of the time. Hatcher speaks of one A.L. Woodworth, a Springfield Revolver Club Member-----and an Experimental Engineer with the Springfield Armory, who (says Hatcher) noted S&W's bore size (.226") and their standard chamber was not conducive to best accuracy----and developed the Olympic chamber (along with a smaller bore size--.223)------and all was right with the world-------and the 1920 Olympic Team was equipped with the resultant pistols.

Let's go back to that Olympic Team of 1910------the one S&W built the special batch of pistols for. There were no Olympic Games in 1910----so maybe that was a typo. It's somewhat off-putting to think I've been making judgments based on a typo------but??? In all fairness, N&J didn't say there were Olympic Games in 1910----just that there was an Olympic Team.

Now let's go back to those bore sizes (.226" vs. .223"). I checked the bore sizes of a standard gun from 1916 and an Olympic Model from 1923. The bores are the same------within .0003"-------and are .223"---thereabouts. So-----------------------???!!!

Now, IF-----IF the Olympic Model guns came into being in the late teens, rather than for the 1910 Olympic Team, then it makes sense that nobody responded to my inquiry above----nobody except Brother Pope----and his example was shipped in 1920; which is plenty close enough for government work----and close enough for me too. It should be manifestly clear right about now that I didn't really expect any responses to my inquiry----and would be more than a little miffed if I'd gotten any----because this whole business is more than a little irritating----especially the part about not being able to remember anything worthwhile about the phantom post.

And like that!!

Ralph Tremaine

Hi Ralph,
I Only have two before 1921.
# 8866 Shipped 1-1919.
# 9396 Shipped 7-1920.

Many years ago I wrote a few articles on the first US Olympic Pistol Teams in 1908 and 1912. The US team used S&W Single Shot Pistols with UMC 22 Long Rifle ammo. The Pistol event was shot at 50 meters. The only modifications mentioned were lead weights taped to the barrel, some grip modifications, and all the Pistols had 2 pound triggers. There were no mention of special chambered barrels used in the 1908 or 1912 Olympic Pistol events.

BTW,
The US won both the 1908 and the 1912 Pistol events with those S&W Pistols and UMC 22 Ammo.
H. M. Pope