With nothing else to do this afternoon, I went to a small local gun show expecting to find nothing of interest. I passed a small display with what appeared to be a rough 4" pre-27. Upon closer examination, the tag said, "Registered Magnum". After inspecting the revolver, I found it was indeed RM#806, had been refinished and was wearing grips not numbered to the gun.



Although the owner did not have a factory letter on the gun, he did have documents from the Historical Foundation showing it was ordered by Claude Goldsmith, deputy sheriff c/o the Police Department, Port Arthur, Texas. The order is dated January 20, 1936. He also had what appears to be an internal document from Smith & Wesson acknowledging the order. Most interesting to me, is the fact that Deputy Goldsmith requested that the gun be sighted in at (an optimistic) 200 yards.






Although it is certainly not the prettiest example I've ever seen, I just couldn't resist the character of this great old revolver and had to bring it home with me. By the way, it has the smoothest action I have ever felt.

Perhaps this will show why the seller said the gun had been refinished. There is some rounding around the side plate.

Unreal Great story. great gun. that would be a heck of a Deer gun at 200 yards. LOL. Great piece of history there . Jealous to say the least. Hope you got it at a price you could live with.

Some great old guns are coming out of the woodwork these days. Nice buy, probably a good story to go with it.

A quick ancestry.com check shows Claude W. Goldsmith as an accountant in a refinery in 1930, in 1940 he shows as a Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff working 72 hrs per week earning $2448. No pay period stated.

Very Very nice great find

Very nice find!

Very nice Registered Magnum. I am green with jealousy

I too would have snatched that one up in a second if my wallet would have permitted. Congrats!

That's awesome.

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Regards, Ty

An outstanding find! Was it a factory refinish? It looks very well done.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Hondo, no it was not a factory refinish as there is no star by the serial number and no date stamps on the frame under the grips.

Excellent find, DGT.

I'd be interested in knowing what leads you to believe that the gun was refinished. From the pictures you have shown, I don't see any clear evidence that it has been. It just looks like a fine old gun that was used extensively for the purpose for which it was built.

(Two hundred yards...6 o'clock hold! Don't recommend messin' with a deputy who has that kind of self confidence.)

Bob

Yes, I agree with Bob. It looks darned original to me, but of course I'm not holding it in my hand as your are.

Another thing, generally speaking you must have a letter first before requesting documents from the SWHF. So the absence of a letter is a bit of a surprise at least to me.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Congratulations on a wonderful find! Great story too, ... especially the sight-in at 200 yds.

Jerry

Gotta' love the gun shows.

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Living a dream - S&WCA #2364

$2,448 comes out to $47.07 per week. Not bad wages for the day.

Thanks for posting the photos of a grand old revolver!!

Great find indeed sir.
Ya' don't mess with the deputy who sights in his .357
at 200 yards. I wonder what was up with that?
If he ever got into a close range gun fight he would be aiming
his front sight at the perps waist or lower.

Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

I find it interesting that the factory said they could not sight beyond 200 METERS, not yards. I think that would have been an odd unit of measure to use in the US at that time.

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NHI, 10-8.

Nice gun with a neat back story. Thanks for sharing!

Goldsmith was working 72 hours a week... I hope the poor guy had a wife to cook and do his laundry.

Thanks for all the comments. As for the refinish, I am going mostly from the fact that the seller said it had been refinished although I questioned that myself.

Since posting, a fellow forum member contacted me with letter dated 7/26/2007 which indicated this RM was part of an estate liquidation of Claude W. Goldsmith at that time. The letter states that Mr. Goldsmith served as Chief of Police in Port Arthur from 1944 to 1949. I guess working 72 hours a week pays off

I have had many lettered guns but none with as much retrievable history as this one. Thank to larry21556 and RKmesa for going to the trouble to help with additional information. Like I've said many times, the nicest folks in the world are on the S&W Forum.

I love the gun and I love the supporting paper. What a catch!

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David Wilson

Awesome, just awesome...

I note that this gun has the old style service stocks. It probably kicks the web of the hand pretty hard with full .357 loads.

When did Magna grips become std. on the .357 Magnum?

This story makes me want one even more. I would also
agree with the other forum members on the question of
refinish. It looks good to me!!

Outstanding gun and history!!!

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George Jamison

The only thing I see in the photos that would invite me to consider a refinish is the slightly flattened end of the trigger slide return spring stud. I don't see any evidence of a secondary polish or reblue anywhere else on the left side.

Do the frame and sideplate edges meet seamlessly, or is there a bit of turn down there? Is the front face of the ejector rod knob in the white or blued?

The seller must have had a reason for calling it refinished, but if that happened it seems like it must have been a light job and a long time ago.

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David Wilson

A great find and interesting story with it. Thanks for sharing.

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Sheriff Russell Cottle. ret

Here is a picture of the revolver showing the side plate. although the fit is tight and straight along most of the plate, there appears to be rounding between the trigger guard and grip. I assume this is what let the seller to state it was refinished.

Could be the lighting, but I see some rounding of the cylinder flutes, esp at the rear. The cylinder also looks like a higher polish that the rest of the gun. Nice old gun either way. Congrats.

BTW, the Magnas introduced in 1935, but many early RM's were fitted with svc stocks and the grip adapter.

The invoice indicates the Magnum was shipped with the Wesson Grip Adapter attached.

Bill

I know these are not the original grips because they are numbered to a different gun.

The apparent difference between the finish on the cylinder and frame is due to the lighting. In reality, the finish is very consistent.

The area in question is between the front grip strap and the rear of the trigger guard,
just above where the frame rests on the first finger. That bottom edge of the
sideplate is a bit rounded over, so that the seam between the sideplate and the
frame has a pronounced appearance to it.

Usually most of the sideplate-frame seam is very noticeable with an obvious
refinish. This does not look like the typical case - but the dealer apparently felt
it was important to say something about it.

Regardless, its a nice LEO registered magnum.

Mike Priwer

Just an update... I had a chance to get #806 to the range today. This thing could easily become one of my favorite shooters.

Although I shoot quite a bit, I am by no means an expert shot but is one fine shooting revolver. Once I got used to it, I was able to keep all 6 shots in a 5" group at 12 yards and a 4" group single action, both off-hand. This is sufficient to convince me that he gun is dead-on and it's only limitation is me.

There's nothing quite like taking an old RM out for a drive!

Jerry

I stumbled upon this thread on a Google search. I am a Detective at Port Arthur PD. Inspector Goldsmith was promoted to Chief in 1939 if I remember correctly. His duty shotgun is hanging on the wall in our Chief's conference room. I was lucky enough to stumble upon what was his duty pistol prior to the magnum purchase. I have his Colt SAA .45. What I did learn is that he, like many Officers of the day had their weapons re-blued regularly. They had very high standards of appearances in those days that still existed when I hired on and an officer could get reprimanded or even time off without pay if your weapon wasn't spotless and looking new. The SAA that I have is fresh blued out of the Colt factory. It was Mfg. in 1903 and is in mint condition.
Here is a link to a pic with Chief Goldsmith - [Port Arthur Police] : The Portal to Texas History

Mick

People on this forum never cease to amaze me.

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Oh well, what the hell.

That's a sharp looking crew, isn't it? Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting that.

Hey...how about some photos of the chief's SAA? Please?

I don’t know how I missed this thread the first time. That’s a great old 357 with plenty of character. Congrats!

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John
S&WCA Life Member

shouldazagged, I'm with you, the people on this forum astonish me on a regular basis with their kindness and helpfulness.

Mick, thank you for the update and PM.

Thats a cool example of a well built smith. I am actually interested to know if you can go shoot it at 200 yards and see if she is on target.

Don't know about then but now that would be a paycut of biblical proportions.

I can barely see my truck at 200 yards, much less try to sight-in a revolver.

Thats a cool example of a well built smith.




Roof Repair Pittsburgh PA

what a great thread...very interesting

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

Yes,yes...That's all well and good but how did you do at 200 yards?

(very nice find BTW)