A Quest Fulfilled...

Been trying to put these together for years. The little suckers are just plain tough to find.




Now if someone would kindly cough up an 8 inch Model 2 Army, I'd be greatly appreciative

Nice group...I've been trying to find an early post war Detroit PD gun.

You have four of those and I have never even seen one? That don't seem hardly fair!

Spectacular quartet -- round, square/blue, nickel. Can't beat that with a stick.

Really, I'm impressed. Congratulations on putting that package together.

Are these all part of the documented 250? Or was there a later production run that upped the prewar snub count by a few dozen more?

Finding rare revolvers is hard enough, when you guys find them in high condition that's even more amazing.

GF

If I am not mistaken, I see a real and obvious error in this collection. If you'll note - they do not belong to me!

Big time congratulations on this magnificent set. Amazing condition and splendid to see them all in one place.

Thanks for the great comments. Almost gave up on finding the fourth. Glad I didn't.

DCWilson said:

Are these all part of the documented 250? Or was there a later production run that upped the prewar snub count by a few dozen more?

Click to expand...

Don't know, David. I know the June 1933 order by Wesson was for 250 barrels for round butt blue revolvers but I don't know of any listing of what was made. Also there are numerous documented late shipments of pre war 2 inch M&Ps after the war. Are they part of the 250 that didn't sell? Not sure anyone knows for sure but I'd love to hear it if someone does.

Holy Cats Mike, I'm not a big fan of pre war M&Ps' but even I like that
quartet!

Well done.
See you at the S.W.C.A. meeting.

Allen Frame

Very nice! I really like the square butt's. Tell us how you came across them.

Congratulations on the collection as it's down right impressive and great photography

Well done, Mike. Congratulations.
Folks, unless you are a student of the Pre-War M&P, you may not realize what an accomplishment this is! There are 3 very rare guns and a rare gun in that pic.

Question-
Did the two RB's letter with wood grips? You know we usually see black hard rubber on those guns.

Number produced-

pace40 said:

DCWilson said:

Are these all part of the documented 250? Or was there a later production run that upped the prewar snub count by a few dozen more?

Click to expand...

Don't know, David. I know the June 1933 order by Wesson was for 250 barrels for round butt blue revolvers but I don't know of any listing of what was made. Also there are numerous documented late shipments of pre war 2 inch M&Ps after the war. Are they part of the 250 that didn't sell? Not sure anyone knows for sure but I'd love to hear it if someone does.

Click to expand...

One day, after all the records are digitized, we will be able to count the 2" guns. Were all 250 barrels used? Probably close in my opinion. Or, were all 250 used up, and another run produced? Possibly, but I doubt they got very far into that 2nd batch(IF it exists) when WW II hit and most, then eventually all civilian production ceased. We must also remember that hundreds of Victory Models in 2" were manufactured. Did they pull out the 2" forging die, or had they made a second run of barrels large enough to produce them?

Square Butts-
The following is SUPPOSITION. I have no hard data to confirm this:
The very few I know of were LATE shipped guns. I believe they exist because of WW II production. The factory was already involved in the 38/200 BSR production. I think they simply did not have the jigs and tooling available to produce round butts.

Pre-War guns shipped Post-War-
Very puzzling.
We know that WW II , and particularly the Battle of Britain was a Godsend to American gun manufacturers. The Brits assumed Hitler was about to INVADE, and they bought anything that would shoot, including Colt SA's, Winchester lever guns, single shot shotguns, etc, etc. There are even stories that they had agents riding around the country buying guns off the shelves of dealers and hardware stores. The factories were able to sell them all the turkeys that had been collecting dust in the vaults for years!
OK, so how could those 2" guns have sat in the vault for the entire war? Either the gun-hungry dealers or the Brits would have bought them in my opinion, unless they simply and literally were somehow buried in the factory and not found till the post-war cleanup.
Or, were those frames nearly finished before the war interruption, and grabbed immediately for early post-war production even though they were fitted with the obsolete hammer block that was now deemed unsafe?
Very puzzling, but that's part of what keeps the game interesting.

handejector said:

Well done, Mike. Congratulations.
Folks, unless you are a student of the Pre-War M&P, you may not realize what an accomplishment this is! There are 3 very rare guns and a rare gun in that pic.

Question-
Did the two RB's letter with wood grips? You know we usually see black hard rubber on those guns.

Click to expand...

Hi ya Lee...

Thanks...and thanks again for your contribution to the quest.

The nickel RB lettered as pictured. Jury is still out on the blue since the letter request just went out, but given the fit and finish, I think it'll letter with the wood too. We'll see and I'll let ya know.

Wow, just plain WOW.

Those are just beautiful, Mike. What an accomplishment!

Congratulations and thanks for the post & picture. This is probably as close as I'll ever get to one of those. I do appreciate it.

Jerry

those are spectacular. rounding up the four in such pristine condition was quite a feat! thanks for the pics.

I am very impressed, great job!

Wonderful grouping. Congrats.

B2

Thanks for the eye candy! Being that I have limited knowledge, could anyone explain the difference in checkering on the two round butts. One obviously has much finer checkering than the other.

Beautiful display, thanks!

pace40 said:

Hi ya Lee...

Thanks...and thanks again for your contribution to the quest.

The nickel RB lettered as pictured. Jury is still out on the blue since the letter request just went out, but given the fit and finish, I think it'll letter with the wood too. We'll see and I'll let ya know.

Click to expand...

Just got the letter on the blue RB. Shipped as pictured with the checkered walnut silver medallion grips on August 14, 1934.

Cool.
Now you need a 2" RB blue and a 2" RB nickel with black hard rubber.