dpast32
Member
Hello Guy's,
I'm interested to know if anyone else of this Forum had ANY knowledge of a particular S&W Model 19 I have in my collection ? I purchased in locally, back in the early 1990's. Being a long time S&W lover / collector, I knew as soon as I looked at it that it was somewhat unusual ! Although I've owned many M-19's with Round Butt's, they were all either a 2.5" or 3" barrel. This example was Blued, w/ the P.C. style adj. sights & P.C. style service grips. It looked exactly like a basic 4" M-19, except for that ROUND BUTT ! It was either an unusual, special contract / production run, or someone had installed a 4" barrel on a short bbl'd M-19 ? After a check of the box label, & bit of investigation, I learned that it was from a contract of @ 680 pieces mfg'd circa March 1988, for the U.S. Govt.. ( S&W BOX LABEL: Serial # AYY 4XXX / Code: 100704 / Spec. Order: 9584 ) The ultimate end user was the U.S. Dept. of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, for issue to their D.S.S. Special Agents. ( DSS = Diplomatic Security Service ) The only other production run I'm aware of using this particular configuration of a 4" bbl's K Frame w/ Rd Butt, was for issue the U.S. Navy's N.I.S. Agents, a few years prior. ( NIS = Naval Investigative Service ) I tracked this unusual S&W from the factory to Lew Horton's, then ultimately to the local shop where I picked up. This special run appears to either never been issued at all, or perhaps just a few of the contract were ever issued for use by the DSS Agents. When received by the Govt., they were in the process of transitioning from revolvers to SIG P.228 9mm pistols for duty use. Apparently, this particular batch of revolvers arrived too late in the transition process to be issued & used. That's a good thing as I see it, because it allowed me to end up with a brand new, unissued example for my collection !! OK, that's pretty much what I know about these unusual S&W's. If anyone has ANY information concerning this contract / production run, I'D DEEPLY APPRECIATE hesaring from them.
Regards, dpast32
I'm interested to know if anyone else of this Forum had ANY knowledge of a particular S&W Model 19 I have in my collection ? I purchased in locally, back in the early 1990's. Being a long time S&W lover / collector, I knew as soon as I looked at it that it was somewhat unusual ! Although I've owned many M-19's with Round Butt's, they were all either a 2.5" or 3" barrel. This example was Blued, w/ the P.C. style adj. sights & P.C. style service grips. It looked exactly like a basic 4" M-19, except for that ROUND BUTT ! It was either an unusual, special contract / production run, or someone had installed a 4" barrel on a short bbl'd M-19 ? After a check of the box label, & bit of investigation, I learned that it was from a contract of @ 680 pieces mfg'd circa March 1988, for the U.S. Govt.. ( S&W BOX LABEL: Serial # AYY 4XXX / Code: 100704 / Spec. Order: 9584 ) The ultimate end user was the U.S. Dept. of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, for issue to their D.S.S. Special Agents. ( DSS = Diplomatic Security Service ) The only other production run I'm aware of using this particular configuration of a 4" bbl's K Frame w/ Rd Butt, was for issue the U.S. Navy's N.I.S. Agents, a few years prior. ( NIS = Naval Investigative Service ) I tracked this unusual S&W from the factory to Lew Horton's, then ultimately to the local shop where I picked up. This special run appears to either never been issued at all, or perhaps just a few of the contract were ever issued for use by the DSS Agents. When received by the Govt., they were in the process of transitioning from revolvers to SIG P.228 9mm pistols for duty use. Apparently, this particular batch of revolvers arrived too late in the transition process to be issued & used. That's a good thing as I see it, because it allowed me to end up with a brand new, unissued example for my collection !! OK, that's pretty much what I know about these unusual S&W's. If anyone has ANY information concerning this contract / production run, I'D DEEPLY APPRECIATE hesaring from them.
Regards, dpast32
