I have never seen one of these with a barrel shroud like this. Any idea who made them? Looks like it is held on by a couple pins along the rib. Very well done. I'd like to remove the shroud to oil it underneath but until I learn from someone who has done it, I'm going to leave it alone. Anyhow, I thought I would share some pictures, enjoy.

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That is not a shroud, they are barrel weights, to stop the barrel jump these models had. Along with the trigger & hammer & grips on this it may have belonged to a known shooter. It would be well worth a S&W letter, which adds value in itself, & much value if shipped to an individual.

Let me suggest the barrel weights serve to balance the gun to suit the shooter. As they come out of the box, they (the 10" versions) are anything but well balanced, and remind me of trying to hold a fly rod steady----not that I can think of any reason why you'd need to hold a fly rod steady.

Among the options available (6-8-10" barrels), the 8" is the VERY best balanced of the lot! They just feel right!

As to barrel jump, and I never had, much less fired a 10" 1st Model in .38 S&W caliber, I suppose there might be some with that caliber. Given that there is such, I'm hard pressed to think of a disadvantage arising from it. It ain't like it adversely effects a follow-up shot being fired.

Ralph Tremaine

I have seen a number of partial and full-length weight sleeves, but that is the most professional appearing I have observed. The Roper (?) grips aren't bad, either.

Bob

Yes definitely there to add weight. Sure seems like a complex way of doing it versus screwing some weights or a weight tube to the underside of the barrel. And it does seem to work well.
Am I correct that the front sight is aftermarket as well?

The ramp leading up to, and perhaps surrounding it on the sides of the front sight is not factory. The sight itself, may or may not be. The early 3rd Models carried a blade front (Thin Round Top Blade--near as I recall), and then the Patridge later on.

The rear sight blade (itself) is some higher than standard.

As an aside, the rear sight on these models is the first from S&W with screw adjustable windage.

As yet another aside, my 6" and 8" 3rds were numbered 4807 and 4826 respectively. I was foolish enough to suppose they might well have been made on the same day---and even more foolish enough to ask Jinks about it. THAT was my downfall!! Here's what he had to say about it----chapter and verse!!!!

4807 was "part of the production run of 31 units completed on May 9, 1911 and entered into the shipping vault on that date." So far so good! Then he goes on with 4826-------"this pistol was in the production run of this model completed on June 21, 1911 and entered in to the S&W shipping vault on that same day."

Then he smacks me upside the head with this parting shot (as if to emphasize the fact we've been told time and time again S&W didn't necessarily make guns in serial number)----"This certainly establishes that they were not produced in the same production lot of Perfected Single Shot Pistols."

Yes Sir!----it "certainly" does!!

As an aside, 4826 was a special order for a single unit---and was shipped the day after it was finished. 4807 sat in the vault for FOUR AND A HALF YEARS before it was shipped---or it sat somewhere.

The auction catalog said it was part of the factory display. It certainly deserved to be part of the display, as it was wearing the most drop dead gorgeous set of grips you ever saw! Jinks smacked me upside the head on that too! "There is no indication that this handgun was ever part of the Smith & Wesson Office Display."

Well, you win some and you lose some! Sometimes you lose ALL of them!

Ralph Tremaine

As yet another aside, this gun here is the VERY BEST example of one modified to suit the owner I've ever seen---a true work of art---and "Form follows function!"

AND--------I almost forgot one of my VERY best discoveries (SWAG's)!!

Note the grooves on the side of the frame. Note also the "fancy flat" treatment ground on the bottom of the barrel lug on the 3rd Model---keeping in mind the fact simply grinding it flat will suffice to enable fitting the barrel to the frame.

So what's up with all that?! There was a time when I supposed the grooves were pure aesthetics---simply to break up empty space. Then, after I put on my guy in the upstairs corner office hat, I decided any of my folks who were spending MY time and MY money on aesthetics were going to be looking for work elsewhere!

Then I had a brainstorm! God only knows why, but I hearkened back to a time long, long ago when we were building our first race car trailer---and was asked where I wanted the axle placed. All I had was I wanted the trailer to behave empty as it did loaded. Thank God for small favors, but my partner was there---along with his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering. All this is child's play for him! He proceeds to do a "Moment Balance" calculation which ends up saying where to put the axle----and where to put the blocks positioning the race car on the trailer. All was well!!

Balance stuck in my mind. I got out a 10" example of one each of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Model Single Shots, cocked the hammers, and hung them on a dowel rod by their trigger guards---the rod supported by the backs of two identical chairs. All three guns were hanging at virtually the exact some angle---I say virtually because my 1st Model had been messed with (action job with a smaller (lighter) mainspring, and a larger (heavier) front sight, all of which made for a better gun (but screwed up my experiment a little bit).

Bottom Line: The grooves and the "fancy flat" grinding were done to lose weight---not for the sake of weight, but for the sake of balance! Pretty damn sneaky!!