Rare 357 Registered Mag Factory 7 1/2"

Very Nice, don't know that I have ever seen a 7.5". What type of sights does it have? I couldn't quite tell.

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Dave

Nice, but where's the story??

Tell us some more!

Beautiful!

I had a 7-1/2 inch Registered back when I began shooting, in the mid-1970's. From the left side, it looked pretty good, but the right side had been horribly pitted, probably from having it sit on a soft, wet surface for a long time. It had then been polished heavily in an attempt to save it, and reblued. The bores and chambers were immaculate and the action was wonderful. I bought it in an area gunshop for a shooters price due to the damage. It shot great and I liked the appearance and balance of that barrel length. I sold it to buy I forget what.

I didn't know much about S&W's then, or what it was. I wish I still had the records for it, the serial and registration numbers. I keep much better records now.

Great karma! Add my name to the hat!

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Misty

I'm in. Thanks!

Jim

Thanks for the pics.

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

Very nice old RM! I would also love to hear more about that one.

Regards,

Jerry

There's a reblued 7 1/2 RM on gunbroker as we speak. I too have not heard of this barrel length until this thread came up and then poof, there's one for sale. $5500 seems like a lot for a reblued Rm, but what do I know since I have never and may never be in the market for one.

Daniel #2322

pics added

Hi
the 7 1/2 was not one of the rarest Registered total production of this barrel length was reported to be 79 revolvers pre smith and wesson records. But still a scrace gun.
jim Fisher

Jim
Will you be at Tulsa ?

Congratulations on the purchase of a classic S&W revolver and yes we would like to hear more about it.

I looked through the pile of RM's in the back of the safe and found a 7 1/2 in. that must have been there 30+ yrs., as I forgot all about it. You forget things when you get old. It's RM # 176 and the letter says it went to a Minn. hardware store with a 8 3/4 in barrel and then was returned to S&W to have the barrel changed to 7 1/2 in. This makes it rarer than the 79 originally shipped in 71/2 in, right?, as it would fall into the sub-catagory of "Factory altered to 7 1/2 in" which may be a one gun catagory! It's 99.9%, with a grip adapter. Ed.

Since RMs could be ordered in 1/4 in barrel increments, we should have all "heard" of every RM 1/4 in barrel length from 3.5 to 8.75. Of course its uncommon but the gun could have been ordered 7 3/4 or 7 1/4 as well, for example. Not that at anyone would, of course.

Looks great! Thanks for sharing the pics.

In my opinion, the 7-1/2 inch barrel RM is reasonably rare with 79 occurrences. The most helpful source of this information is Roy Jinks' Winter 1989 article in Vol. 24, Nos. 3 and 4 of our S&W Collector publication, pp. 971-993. In this article he presents a table that I believe has data showing numbers in each of the 23 (if we include 8-3/8 inch) barrel lengths from 3-1/2 through 8-3/4 inch. Some of these have only one item made.

About 25 years ago, very early in my collecting career, I found my first RM, a factory renickeled one sent originally to a Border Patrol officer. It has a 4-3/4 inch barrel, one of four made according to Roy's article. It remains in my collection as one of my favorites, especially when I recall that I paid less for it than an average pair of prewar magna grips would cost today.

How many RMs does it take to make a pile??

edited btt

Okayyyyyyy
Why bump the thread without telling us about the gun?
Your keyboard broke?

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

I agree--how about some numbers? Do you have a letter? If so, where/when did it ship?

Thanks,
Kevin Williams

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

It must be some sort of anticipation exercise.

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

Factory Letter States shipped on August 27, 1937 & delivered to William
Hoegee Co. Los Angeles, Ca. Records indicate shipped with a 7.5" barrel
equipped with a McGivern Gold bead front sight, deep "U" notch rear sight,blue finish,and checkered walnut Magna Grips.

Great! How about the serial and registration numbers so that we can add to the knowledge base and correlate this information to others?

Thanks.

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

edited/btt

Looking at my pile of Pre War Magnums I found a 7 1/2" Reg Mag.
Ser. 51047 Blue 98%
Reg # 2016
Shipped: March 9, 1937
James Mathews
Road # 1
Stroudsburg, PA
Magna Grips
Gold Bead Front Sight
$1500 2000 G. Newnan Estate

DBWesson