I asked Bill Cross to search the Smith Wesson Histoical scanned documents for information on Kansas City Registed and Non Registered Magnums.
Following is a copy of an interesting gun he found. This is 1 number off from the one I posted photos over the weekend. L.B. Reed was the Chief of Police when all the .357s were purchased.

Wow Roy, it looks like this was Lear's specific gun. Extremly interesting.

Roger

Very cool documentation! Thanks for posting it, and the magnum itself.

Would explain the nearly unused condition. He wore it twice a year to formal functions and the rest of the time it was in a drawer.

Thanks for additional information. It makes one wonder if the other 3 1/2" barreled gun in the shipment wasn't also ordered for someone else in the upper ranks of the Dept?

Best Regards,

Jerry

I have not asked for a ship date for this one but with the date on the note/invoice being June 28,1940 and the engraving being simple and the serial numbers I would guess this was the 2nd 3 1/2 inch in the July 3, 1940 shipment.