My gun has a K frame with a heavy 2" barrel, blue finish, checked walnut square butt grips with the back strap marked "U.S." Would guess condition at 85%. I have had it for since my dad died in in 85' he owned it since the sixties. Was wondering actual value, has letter from S & W with description and origin. Has no reference to value or rareness. Says 15,205 were made and shipped to Robbins Air Force Base in 1963.

Welcome to the Forum!
The Model 56's are extremely rare and valuable. The last one that I saw for sale was $7500
David will be along shortly. He is Forum expert and chased one down a couple years back. He has a lot of history on them

Great! Thanks for your time and input.

The M56 is very rare and highly valued by collectors, though it's basically just a 2" M15. It's said, most were destroyed by the Air Force. Just guessing, even in 80% condition, you're probably looking at $2000 plus.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

here's a final sale of $6500 from last fall for ref.

Item:11739323 Smith $ Wesson Smith & Wesson Model 56, US Air Force, rare For Sale at GunAuction.com

Please post some pic's

PM sent for photo posting instructions. We can give you a much better idea of its value with photos.

If you have any thoughts about its family attachment or collecting S & Ws in the future, however, I'd give serious thought to keeping it. It will only go up in value and be very difficult to replace.

Having said that, you will probably realize the highest net value on an online sales/auction site like Gunbroker, Gunauction or Gunsamerica.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

There was one on gunsamerica recently for $7000.

One sold here in NC last year, high 90%s, $5600.

Don't continue to store it in a leather holster, as this can cause finish damage. Get a Silicone treated storage bag to keep it in, to help prevent any further finish damage.

The easiest way I found is by creating a new (free) account with photobucket. You upload your pic's into your library on their website. It's quite easy to do, I'm using a Mac as well. When you want to add a pic to your post you go to the quick reply box at the bottom of the thread and click the "go advanced" button at the bottom of the message window. You then go to your photobucket library page and click on the picture you want to add to your message. Once the picture comes up there are 4 "share links" choices on the far right of the picture. If you click the bottom one that says "IMG", the window will go yellow and the picture will be copied to your post. All you then have to do is put the cursor anywhere in the message window and hold down the
"command" key and then hit the "V" key. The picture will show up as a code until you either submit the reply or preview the post. Once you do that the picture shows up in the message window. I'm not a computer scientist by any stretch, but after a couple of try's it works fine for me.

Hope this works!

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Great Caesar's Ghost! You have a gem there. I have long dreamed of owning one of these, but they are way out of my price range. There cannot be many of them around, in any condition, and this one is relatively nice.
If you do sell it, by all means don't give it away. Lots of guys would shell out some bucks to have that one. I hope David comes along soon and gives you some advice on this.

Also, I agree wholeheartedly about not storing it in leather any longer.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

It's different how the rear sight tang extends all the way to the font sight base. The rear sight, in that it has no grooves, kinda looks like a M28 sight.

__________________
~ S&W aficionado in training ~

I would agree with $5000-6000 or higher, depending on how motivated the potential buyer(s) became with seeing it for sale.

I still hope you decide to keep it .

__________________
Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Easy way to change file size- drag and drop onto email to yourself, choose file size (file size tab is lower right on upper margin), send, receive, drag and drop off email onto desk top.

Neat find, one wonders what the thought process was with the Air Force people wanting a 2 barreled 38 special with adjustable sights. Especially when they could get a model 10 with a 2 inch barrel "over counter" Had to have cost an extra 20-30 dollars a gun at the time. If you do sell it let us know how you do. Great piece of history.

I am first hand familar with LE Dept owned 2in M15's . The thought process is faily streight forewards.

During the revolver era it was common protocol for Ofc of a certain rank ( ie Liut and up ) , and/or having primarily administrative duties to be issued a 2in revolver rather than the 4in revolvers of the rank and file.. Sometimes they are "allowed" to use a personally owned revolvern sometimes the Dept has specific 2in revolverd to issue. ( A gun savy person would inwardly laugh or shake their head to see a Chief Spl worn in uniform , but it happen. The person doing so probably saw it as a status symbol ).

Sometimes the 2in revolvers thus issued would be a 2in version of the standard Dept revolver , hence the 2in M15's. Being that I have a strong liking for 2in K Frames, and shoot them well , I was always lusting after a particular Capt's 2in M15.

But FWIW , the practice has largely died away in the current era of "service size" bottomfeeders. Even though in the initial stages of the semiauto era, I know of a local County PD that then had general issue Berretta M92's , but Detectives had option of being issued 3913's instead.

In the early '80s , I was told an interesting tale from the '70's . At that time US Customs Spl Agents were required to carry " snub nose revolvers that fired the issued .38spl ammo " . They weren't issued , rather the Agents purchased their own , and were reimbursed for the cost. And the popular choice of gun savy Agents ? 2.5in Colt Pythons. [ I know this is a S&W Forum , but I got a kick out of it. ]

There is a police department in Virginia that, as of when i left VA in 08, issued Glock model 27's ( the sub-compact model) with an extended mag as the duty gun for patrol.

I wonder what percentage of the M56's were used by Air Police versus aircrews or the guy's in the missile silos. I think if I was down in a silo, sitting in a comfy chair all day, a 2" snubby would be the way to go.

__________________
~ S&W aficionado in training ~

I was at Robins AFB in the 1970s and these were what they kept in the alert box on the aircraft. Even as aircrewmen, when we qualified annually we didn't use these, we used the standard 4-inch M-15. I carried the 2-inch from time-to-time when transferring documents, but never fired one - I don't think many people did. Oddly, the regs required us to load only five chambers, just as if it were a hundred-year-old Colt Single Action. It's a nice piece.

Different!

A snub nose revolver with adjustable sights..............now, that's funny!!

Good luck on your toy

Those were some Standing Orders that stood for a looooong time!

__________________
~ S&W aficionado in training ~

I can't answer that in full, but did serve with some Air Policemen who had those at Fairchild AFB, WA. They told me that qualifying with the snub was much harder.

We were all at Lowry AFB, CO when I heard this, and we just had the four-inch .38's and a few .45 autos. Investigators, officers, and OSI agents could use Colt Detective Specials with hammer shrouds and I think, S&W M-36's. One Lt. did carry a shrouded Colt, but I never saw anyone else use one. The other officer carried a K-38 that was personal property.

I have sat at a desk for hours, and in the proper holster, a four-inch barrel or .45 auto worked fine, and you had more power. Some issued ammo was that weak M-41 stuff. Our base bought some commercial Hi-Velocity .38 ammo, prob. .38-44 specs. I was glad to see it!

BTW, one of those guys fired at something in the dark with his AR-15 in Vietnam. Some bullets hit a helicopter, but his commander congratulated him for being alert and willing to shoot!

I think the problem was that sailor who dropped a .38 that fired and killed him in late 1944. Not all of the Victory Models were altered to have the new internal safety developed after that, so the general order to load just five rounds applied to all revolvers. And .45 autos were to have empty chambers.

I bet it was largely ignored in case an attack on a base was imminent or an airman was down in hostile territory.