REX APPLEGATES BABY CHIEF

bmg60 · Dec 20, 2013

HI
Col. Rex Applegate was the person that convinced Smith & Wesson to produce the
Chief Special revolver. While he was in Mexico he carried a 38 S&W Hammerless.
He had to use it to defend him self and the 38 S&W was not up to the job.
He used his in with the factory to get the small revolver produced in 38 special caliber. In his Collection was this Pre Model 36 (Baby Chief) serial number 111.
It was sent to him as a blued plain gun and then it was returned to the factory and Engraved and inscribed with his name.
Jim Fisher

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HERE IS MORE INFORMATION ON COL. REX APPLEGATE.

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sw1834 · Dec 20, 2013

Thanks for the story. Looks like a great gun. Thanks for adding the close-up pictures.

SWCA #1834

A10 · Dec 20, 2013

What a great piece of history! Does it sit in your collection now?

Malysh · Dec 20, 2013

bmg60 said:
HI
Col. Rex Applegate was the person that convinced Smith & Wesson to produce the
Chief Special revolver. While he was in Mexico he carried a 38 S&W Hammerless.
He had to use it to defend him self and the 38 S&W was not up to the job.
He used his in with the factory to get the small revolver produced in 38 special caliber. In his Collection was this Pre Model 36 (Baby Chief) serial number 111.
It was sent to him as a blued plain gun and then it was returned to the factory and Engraved and inscribed with his name.
Jim Fisher

Very nice, Jim. You are one of the consumate S&W collectors.

I've heard that story about Rex Applegate, too. I'm pretty sure it was in a gun magazine.
The way the author told it, Applegate was carrying a Centennial and he dropped 3 or 4 banditos. I'm not doubting your story, I'm just mentioning what I read long ago.

bmg60 · Dec 20, 2013

Its mostly the same story when Rex was in Mexico it was right after the war
the centennial did not come out until 1952. Rex was back in the US at that time.
I am sure the writer did not know the proper name for the revolver he carried.
Jim

Malysh · Dec 20, 2013

bmg60 said:
Its mostly the same story when Rex was in Mexico it was right after the war
the centennial did not come out until 1952. Rex was back in the US at that time.
I am sure the writer did not know the proper name for the revolver he carried.
Jim

I wouldn't doubt it.
I've seen too many errors in print data and/or editing over the years.

Hannibal Barca · Dec 20, 2013

Malysh said:
Very nice, Jim. You are one of the consumate S&W collectors.

I've heard that story about Rex Applegate, too. I'm pretty sure it was in a gun magazine.
The way the author told it, Applegate was carrying a Centennial and he dropped 3 or 4 banditos. I'm not doubting your story, I'm just mentioning what I read long ago.

Maybe the confusion was because both of them, the centennial and the .38 safety hammerless, have the nickname of "Lemmon Squeezer". But it was a top break .38 S&W, .38 Corto (short) like we say in Mexico, the one he used for defending his life here against a man who attackeh him with a machete.
The story is in the massad ayoob´s book greatest handguns of the world.

Malysh · Dec 20, 2013

Hannibal Barca said:
Maybe the confusion was because both of them, the centennial and the .38 safety hammerless, have the nickname of "Lemmon Squeezer". But it was a top break .38 S&W, .38 Corto (short) like we say in Mexico, the one he used for defending his life here.
The story is in the massad ayoob´s book greatest handguns of the world.

Oh, very good!

I confess I haven't read that particular book. I read the anecdote in some other source. It's too long ago for me to remember where!

kwill1911 · Dec 20, 2013

There is no need to use secondary sources. The Autumn 1993 issue of the S&WCA Journal (Volume 27, Number 2), has an article by Col. Rex Applegate entitled "Some History of the Centennial." Rex tells the story about the Fourth Model .38 Safety Hammerless he carried and used near the Guatemalan border (in 1950) to kill "a very drunk, machete wielding Indian...." He mentioned the incident to W.H.B. Smith. "We both began wondering why it was not possible, and advisable, for S&W to consider the production of a model similar to the Safety Hammerless using the Chief Special frame in the more potent .38 Special caliber." They discussed it with Carl Hellstrom and on his next trip to the factory in 1951 Hellstrom presented him with a prototype of one of the first Centennials.

Regards,
Kevin Williams

Malysh · Dec 20, 2013

kwill1911 said:
There is no need to use secondary sources. The Autumn 1993 issue of the S&WCA Journal (Volume 27, Number 2), has an article by Col. Rex Applegate entitled "Some History of the Centennial." Rex tells the story about the Fourth Model .38 Safety Hammerless he carried and used near the Guatemalan border (in 1950) to kill "a very drunk, machete wielding Indian...." He mentioned the incident to W.H.B. Smith. "We both began wondering why it was not possible, and advisable, for S&W to consider the production of a model similar to the Safety Hammerless using the Chief Special frame in the more potent .38 Special caliber." They discussed it with Carl Hellstrom and on his next trip to the factory in 1951 Hellstrom presented him with a prototype of one of the first Centennials.

Regards,
Kevin Williams

Thanks for sharing and quoting the source, Kevin.
Unfortunately my budget doesn't allow me to join the SWCA or the CCA this year.

JSW · Dec 20, 2013

Thanks for posting!

rusty37874 · Dec 20, 2013

I recently had the opportunity to inspect a Factory Engraved Colt Officer's Model that was shipped to Gus Peret, uncle of Rex Applegate.

Gus was a fairly well known trick shooter, & Remington/ Peters rep.

Texas Star · Dec 20, 2013

I had lunch with Applegate at the Ruger 30th Anniversary celebration at the NRA Convention in San Antonio, I think in 1979. I told him that I had my father's 1944 edition of his book, "Kill or Get Killed."

He laughed and said, "Well, I was certainly thinner in the photos for that edition!"

I have all three sizes of the Gerber A-F folding knives, and like them very much.

I have read of the Mexican incident in several places. In one, it was stated that a Mexican officer with Rex shot the Indian with a .45 when the .38 failed.

ddixie884 · Dec 21, 2013

Jim, you have so many neat guns. THANX for sharing them with us. Your valuable historical references also add a lot of depth.

kwill1911 · Dec 21, 2013

This thread quickly drifted to the story of how the Centennial came about but I'd like to point at that the same article I cited above also contains a paragraph about Applegate's influence on the introduction of the Chiefs Special. He again credits W.H.B. Smith, himself and "a number of firearms writers and police authorities" in urging Hellstrom to come out with a small .38 Special revolver to compete with Colt's Detective Special.

As Jim reports, Applegate got SN 111 in 1951. It was shipped through Corpus Christi TX to the Naval attache in Mexico City so that he could avoid Mexican Customs. It is not pictured in the story but his prototype Centennial is--SN X84 and it is heavily engraved.

crsides · Dec 22, 2013

thanks for sharing the pics and the story Jim.

Charlie

moosedog · Dec 23, 2013

Great post sir.

Old TexMex · Dec 23, 2013

Jim, thank you. This is like a Christmas present from you!

hotrod150 · Dec 24, 2013

FWIW on the cover of "The Snubby Revolver" by Ed Lovette, is a photo of a cut-down Colt New Service engraved (or more like just stamped with very plain letters) "To Rex From Fitz". Applegate's failure-to-stop incident with a 38 S&W is mentioned in the book, as is his consequently talking S&W into coming out with the 38 special-chambered Centennial model.
Good book BTW, I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in snubbies.

Malysh · Dec 24, 2013

hotrod150 said:
FWIW on the cover of "The Snubby Revolver" by Ed Lovette, is a photo of a cut-down Colt New Service engraved (or more like just stamped with very plain letters) "To Rex From Fitz". Applegate's failure-to-stop incident with a 38 S&W is mentioned in the book, as is his consequently talking S&W into coming out with the 38 special-chambered Centennial model.
Good book BTW, I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in snubbies.

I have that book. I've read it twice.
Maybe that's the source where I read the Applegate anecdote.

REX APPLEGATES BABY CHIEF

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