THE Story of a S&W 1917 in .45LC the "Wimer vs Jinks" Controversy:

Moon Guns · #1 04-18-2024, 02:37 PM

Our story starts on a cold winter New Years Eve Dec 31, 1925 in the West Virginia Coal town of Bluefield when Mr. W.R. Albert took his S&W 1917 Serial # 89915 to Bluefield Supply Co. Wholesale Hardware, Mine, Mill, Electrical Supplies & Equipment to have them send it off to S&W for a repair. On April 12, 1926 the Bluefield treasurer sent a letter to S&W to follow up on the 12/31/25 repair order, he stated they had told S&W to furnish necessary repair for $5.81 on March 13th and ship as early as possible. Our customer is asking for a shipping date and we will thank you to let same go forward as early as possible, advising us what to expect. S&W received the letter on Apr.14 and replied on the 15th. There is no record of what the repair was but, in 1926 $5.81 ($104.00 in 2024)...that was Big $$$ for a 25 year old in the Depression plagued Appalachians with the coal mines closed after WWI,d strikes at the ones left open employment was hard to find. Jump to Feb. 6, 1926 as W.R Albert pens a request to S&W(in his words)to fix his S&W DA .45 to Remington .45 S&W regular lead nose cartridges, clean the barrel & install Pearl grips. S&W received the letter on Feb.8,1926 and the paperwork shows he shipped it this time along with the letter via the Express Office. S&W responded on Feb.10,1926 that they would use a .45 Colt cylinder(which will chamber the .45 S&W as it's an 1/8 shorter) for $7.64($120.00 in 2024 $) and that they cannot furnish Pearl or Ivory stocks(which I found strange). On Feb.15 W.R. Albert sent a money order and requested it be returned to the Bluefield Express Office, S&W shipped it back on Feb.24. I remember reading somewhere that the .45acp was in short supply after WWI, possibly there was a good supply of Remington .45S&W available and this might have been his reason for the caliber change. His occupation, one can only guess as there is no employment record. He was killed in a hit & run car accident Feb.27,1945. William Russell Albert 1905-1945. We jump to July 15, 2002 La Grande, Or. and S&W collector George Wimer has purchased a S&W 1917 chambered in .45 Colt not .45acp as all others are and the cylinder is properly numbered 89915(no S proof), he requests a letter on the S&W 1917 Serial #89915 that he knows is chambered in .45Colt hoping for the letter to confirm a caliber that was never produced in a US 1917 by Colt or S&W during WWI. Well the letter came back as all 1917's do shipped July 30, 1918 Springfield Armory .45acp, 5-1/2" barrel, blue finish, walnut grips as part of a very large shipment. Mr. Jinks stated that it was changed to .45 Colt probably by the factory after it was sold as war surplus. Well, sticking to his Gun's Mr.Wimer would have none of that and an exchange of letters between "Wimer vs Jinks" ensued (all included for your reading enjoyment) until Sept.11, 2002 ending with an apology of sorts to Mr. Jinks with Mr.Wimer still insisting that with the confusion of rushed wartime production of thousands of pistols someone at the factory built the 1917 in .45 Colt during the WWI production run a fabled "Lunch Box" gun, Mr.Jinks standing firm on his post war S&W conversion. We jump to May 2003 Nevada City, Ca and I purchase the 1917 from George and put it away in the safe. Next to Mar. 2024 and I'm getting ready to sell the 1917 so I take a closer look at the serial # on the cylinder with a 16X lope and Damn there was no way it was not done by S&W... taking up Georges quest hoping to verify the .45 COLT caliber, I sent a request with the all the "Wimer vs Jinks" correspondence to Mr. Michael Helms at the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation to see what he could find on a chance there was a record of the repair....A few days later I received an email from Mike..."You had better go buy a Lottery Ticket" as he found the correspondence & repair order for the .45 Colt cylinder and an earlier invoice for a repair. I was Blown Away as that was a real long shot...What a Find...Mr. Jinks was right...Sorry George! So that put an end to the decades old "Wimer vs Jinks" controversy of a 1917 in .45 Colt with 14 pages of correspondence/documentation. I uploaded five of the doc's for your reading pleasure, didn't know how to post the balance?
I had a fellow collector make this comment about the 1917 and I have to Agree!
I like this story. Buy the gun, not the story. Yours is the exception. The story is the gun is the story! The gun is the story is the gun! As they say in this case. My good friend, the late Jackie Frescerelli, long time Colts employee, always said ".... never say never about Colts or Smith & Wesson....". I hope you do well on your old wheel gun. It's and odd-one-of-a-kind. FT
A Special Thanks to Mr. Michael Helms SWHF Historian for his invaluable research on this 1917!