vigil617
US Veteran
Today we try to answer the intriguing question, "Are there a hundred or so all-black Shorty 45's out there?"
I've been mystified by this for some time, and remembering that the Shorty 45's were a Lew Horton's special, I went to our friend Earl Minot there by email this week, and asked him.
"Earl, one of our Forum members, who hasn't been active now for quite a while, had obtained in 2011 a Shorty 45 from the first run (I call it the Mark I, as opposed to the Mark II) that was finished in all black instead of the stainless-with-polished-accents slide and natural alloy frame. The product code was 170075, same as the rest of the Mark I series, and it had the correct SFF prefix but he never revealed the serial number. He was definite that it was etched "Shorty 45" on the right front of the slide, and that it came with night sights, which I'm sure would be additional evidence it was a special order.
Maybe this pistol was a one-off, but according to the member, he called a man named Jim Ray at the Performance Center about the pistol's provenance. He said Jim told him that 100 to 125 of these were shipped to Lew Horton's in the same configuration that he had. This was to surprising to old hands on the Forum at that time, as they had never seen or heard of such a pistol before.
Unfortunately, the pictures that once existed are no longer posted on the site, and nobody seems to have any, either. Personally, I have never seen one of these guns or even a photo of it, but if a hundred or so of these do exist, they would be nice to be able to document.
Without a full serial number, is there any way you can determine whether this story is accurate from the Lew Horton side? Would these perhaps have been a single special order, say for a police agency or a shooting club? The member who had obtained one was a North Carolina resident, I believe, if that helps any."
Here's what Earl had to say:
My records show the first run of the Shorty 45 was approximately 662 units. A quick look found no information regarding any all black guns.
I found an old photo copy of the Shorty 45 spec sheet done by S&W. No mention of any all black guns.
Jimmy Rae was the Performance Center revolver guru. He was a fixture at the PC, designing many of the guns manufactured by the Performance Center, and many of our Special Editions. If Jimmy actually said they exist, then I’d have to definitely respect that even though I don’t remember seeing one.
I’ve dug into my archives of sales flyers and found nothing. Between SHOT Show 1996 and SHOT Show 1997 we had one or the other version of the Shorty 45 listed and pictured in 5 separate sales flyers. There was no mention of any finish other than the stainless slide/natural alloy frame. I also checked back though a sampling of serial numbers to see if there were any changes in the descriptions … negative results. Selling 100 to 125 units of a gun that was fairly expensive in its day would have required some advertising to help it along. I found nothing.
We did a total of 662 units of the 170075, and 179 units of the 170088. The 100 to 125 units would represent almost 20% of the production of the 170075. I cannot see S&W doing that many of any gun without a different part number and price. Smith usually had a 300 gun minimum for new models. Adding a black finish would have added cost to the gun, which is something I’m not seeing.
Could it have been a single Special order. It absolutely could have been. Could it have been finished in black aftermarket? Sure could have.
That’s what I got on this one....
So, fellow Third Gen PC afficionados, that seems to be the answer on this one. But if any of these black pistols are out there -- other than the one that we know exists -- and you can provide a photo or documentation, I'm sure we would all love to see it!
I've been mystified by this for some time, and remembering that the Shorty 45's were a Lew Horton's special, I went to our friend Earl Minot there by email this week, and asked him.
"Earl, one of our Forum members, who hasn't been active now for quite a while, had obtained in 2011 a Shorty 45 from the first run (I call it the Mark I, as opposed to the Mark II) that was finished in all black instead of the stainless-with-polished-accents slide and natural alloy frame. The product code was 170075, same as the rest of the Mark I series, and it had the correct SFF prefix but he never revealed the serial number. He was definite that it was etched "Shorty 45" on the right front of the slide, and that it came with night sights, which I'm sure would be additional evidence it was a special order.
Maybe this pistol was a one-off, but according to the member, he called a man named Jim Ray at the Performance Center about the pistol's provenance. He said Jim told him that 100 to 125 of these were shipped to Lew Horton's in the same configuration that he had. This was to surprising to old hands on the Forum at that time, as they had never seen or heard of such a pistol before.
Unfortunately, the pictures that once existed are no longer posted on the site, and nobody seems to have any, either. Personally, I have never seen one of these guns or even a photo of it, but if a hundred or so of these do exist, they would be nice to be able to document.
Without a full serial number, is there any way you can determine whether this story is accurate from the Lew Horton side? Would these perhaps have been a single special order, say for a police agency or a shooting club? The member who had obtained one was a North Carolina resident, I believe, if that helps any."
Here's what Earl had to say:
My records show the first run of the Shorty 45 was approximately 662 units. A quick look found no information regarding any all black guns.
I found an old photo copy of the Shorty 45 spec sheet done by S&W. No mention of any all black guns.
Jimmy Rae was the Performance Center revolver guru. He was a fixture at the PC, designing many of the guns manufactured by the Performance Center, and many of our Special Editions. If Jimmy actually said they exist, then I’d have to definitely respect that even though I don’t remember seeing one.
I’ve dug into my archives of sales flyers and found nothing. Between SHOT Show 1996 and SHOT Show 1997 we had one or the other version of the Shorty 45 listed and pictured in 5 separate sales flyers. There was no mention of any finish other than the stainless slide/natural alloy frame. I also checked back though a sampling of serial numbers to see if there were any changes in the descriptions … negative results. Selling 100 to 125 units of a gun that was fairly expensive in its day would have required some advertising to help it along. I found nothing.
We did a total of 662 units of the 170075, and 179 units of the 170088. The 100 to 125 units would represent almost 20% of the production of the 170075. I cannot see S&W doing that many of any gun without a different part number and price. Smith usually had a 300 gun minimum for new models. Adding a black finish would have added cost to the gun, which is something I’m not seeing.
Could it have been a single Special order. It absolutely could have been. Could it have been finished in black aftermarket? Sure could have.
That’s what I got on this one....
So, fellow Third Gen PC afficionados, that seems to be the answer on this one. But if any of these black pistols are out there -- other than the one that we know exists -- and you can provide a photo or documentation, I'm sure we would all love to see it!
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(And I've edited my original post to emphasize that.)
