Saw a true crime show today where the suspect (and later convict) had a S&W Model 56. He claimed to have lost the gun, and it wasn't recovered, but the box was. Anyway, I had never heard of a 56, looked it up. Apparently a 2" K frame marked US on the backstrap. Very rare. The victim was supposedly shot with a .357, so it said, although how to know this as opposed to a .38 Special wasn't revealed since the gun wasn't recovered; could have been a .38. The show maintained the 56 was a .357, although from what I was able to find out, the gun was actually a .38.

The guy was convicted of killing his wife and was in prison when the video was released.

It’s essentially a 2” M15 .38 spl that was made for Air Force pilots. Very rare and pricey (I’ve heard only 27 survived destruction). I fondled one a few years ago at the Big Reno Show. IIRC it had a $5500 price tag.

I carried a 4” M15 during the 80s when I was USAF Security Police(LE).

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213th FBINA

The Model 56 is pretty rare but I've logged over 70 of them still in existence, out of the original 15,000+. Unfortunately, they were declared obsolete at a time when small arms were crushed or torched rather than selling them through the DCM/CMP. They pre-dated the Model 15 and have several differences with them but they are a K frame .38 Special (not .357).

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

Kwill1911
Thanks for showing (off) Might you describe the differences you mention between the 56 and 15?

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

Minor differences between the 56 and the 15-2 include barrel weight (56: heavy) and whether the rear sight foot is smooth (56) or grooved (15-2). There is also a smooth/grooved distinction for the ramp of the front sight.

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

Interesting....I'd never seen a 56 before. I presume they were marked as mod 56 in the yoke frame? That'll give me something else to chase that I'll likely never find.

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Mike H

Yes, they are marked "MOD 56" in the usual place. Here's a photo of a Model 15 (shipped to the Navy) next to a Model 56.

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

This turns up on cop shows all the time. The ME recovers a bullet from a victim, looks at it, and pronounces that it is from a .357 Magnum. How in the world they think they can tell that is beyond me. Both the .38 Special and the .357 Magnum shoot bullets of .357-.358 diameter. It is not possible to say the bullet came from either one by just looking at the fired bullet. Script writers!

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

I believe that most or all of any spotted discrepancies are fully explained by your first words "Saw a true crime show today." "Saw" and "show" imply a second- or fourth- or tenth-hand recounting done with all the technical competence for which TV and movie producers are infamous.

That's all, folks.

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Formerly Model520Fan

I saw one for sale locally (relative term, about 110 miles away) and never heard of this so stumbled upon this thread.

It's lettered and the shop wants $12K. I'm guessing they would probably be happy with a lot less.

Marked US on the backstrap and Mod. / 56 on the frame.

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aka "Mooncat"

A local consignment only gun shop has a Model 56 which I never heard of before. Then I found this older thread. The guys there are very sharp so I knew it wasn’t a misprint model number on the price tag. The price was somewhere north of five grand.

Is there any chance you got the serial number?

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

Wow, they discovered a unicorn! And $5K may be a realistic asking price considering the scarcity of Model 56s. Here is a Model 15-2 that we inherited from my wife's grandfather (a Calif. LEO and Chief of Detectives in the 1950s-70s). The frame's s/n (K509199) dates it to 1962 and is the middle of the s/n range for Model 56s (K500001-K515205). This 15-2 may be one of the first 15-2 snubbies that was assembled and introduced in 1964 (it has the lined backstrap and is not marked "U.S.") after S&W quit manufacturing Model 56s and the USAF destroyed most of the production. Forum experts tell me that there is probably no way to ever know if our Model 15-2 was originally destined to be a Model 56.

Attached Images

IMG_0594.jpg (132.5 KB, 22 views)

You should letter that gun. It might clear up the mystery as to when it was produced.

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

They went even further in the second Dirty Harry movie, "Magnum Force"; a perp dead in the car, the ME ( or ?) looks in at him and says "Looks like they used a magnum"

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA