One of this Forum’s greatest strengths is it allows us all to learn from one another. In the spirit of knowledge sharing, I’d like to post the following factory letter from Roy Jinks, S&W Factory Historian about some of the special order S&W Model 14 revolvers that have been the subject of recent threads.

This factory letter was in response to a request to confirm the authenticity and ship date on a 4” Model 14-3 s/n 1K32110. . . which Roy Jinks addresses in the last paragraph. (Note Roy made a typo and referred to it as a 14-2 . . . like the rest of us, he’s human) Although this shipment to Olympic Wholesale contained 20 units, LC’92 just shared with us his 4” 14-3 factory that says another 50 were shipped to Gil Hebard the same month . . . and I’m sure there were others. To my knowledge, we don’t have a good total production on this very desirable 4” Model 14, but I’d love to start a research project.



In the historical information paragraphs that Roy Jinks thoughtfully shares, he provided some general information on the special ordered 5” pre-model K38s for the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Illinois State Police. What we have learned from more detailed research is that the MSHP and ISP special orders accounted for only 835 of these very special 5” K38s . . . meaning that influential S&W distributors & dealers who had an appetite for special barrel lengths etc, ordered almost four times as many for sale to the general public. It’s an undeniable truth that not every special-ordered 5” K38 went to either of the MSHP or the ISP . . . not that that makes them any less desirable to those of us fortunate enough to have one.



Roy also provides general information on the 4” K-38 Heavy special ordered by Dayton Gun Headquarters. I don’t believe the quantities of 1,040 and 200 in the two runs that Roy references are meant to be a definitive . . . “that’s all there were, folks” . . . number, but rather information readily available to him at the time of writing this letter. The shipment of 200 units in 1966 we know was followed by at least one shipment to Dayton Gun Headquarter in January 1967 (including K660813 which I own). Since I don’t have any first-hand information on the total produced, I won’t offer my opinion . . . other than to say the best information from a VERY reliable source is 2,038.



Gathering and documenting historical information is an ongoing process, so it’s not surprising that as collectors study these fine S&W revolvers we learn more. Stay tuned and please share what you learn so we can all benefit from the knowledge.

Russ