1875 Schofield First Model
- Thread starter fsteele
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I am soooooo jealous!
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Very Nice!!
huthike
Member
Sweet! Sweet!
Model19man
Member
Looks legit. Nice one!
opoefc
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
Very nice 1st Model Schofield. It was not shipped from S&W July 12, 1875, but earlier. Dr. Jinks uses the date the S&W factory invoiced the Schofields to the US Government, as the "ship date" as the Schofield shipping records are too fragile to access w/o damaging them. A wise decision. However, you can access the Springfield Armory archives to see when they recorded receipt of the gun from S&W. They were shipped in wooden cases , with a doz. guns in each case, as I recall, and serial numbers were recorded on each case for the guns inside. You will sometimes see in the Army unit inventory of Schofield in various cavalry units, early guns, like your ser. # 779, already in the hands of troops in the field before July 12, 1875. Ed
Model 1 Schofield
Welcome Aboard!! Very nice early Schofield. Hard to find a Model 1 in this condition and not sold to Wells Fargo/ American Express with a shortened barrel.
Ed,
Here is the timeline on the Model 1 Schofield from my notes:
September 1874: Letter from General Benet requesting a "modification" to the Schofield design to chamber a "dual purpose" 45 cal cartridge". This cartridge manufactured and designed by the Frankford Arsenal. One that will chamber and function in both the Colt and Smith & Wesson revolver.
Smith & Wesson agrees to perform the work at an additional .50 cents per gun. So $13.50 each. I initially thought the Army Arsenal performed the modification but it is actually documented in letters to D.B.Wesson and the Chief of Ordnance that Smith & Wesson perform the modification which slowed production and delivery of the first 3000 guns in Model 1 configuration by no less than 4 months.
Letter to Schofield from S&W dated March of 1875 confident that they can still deliver the 3000 guns by contracted delivery date in batches until complete. I believe they actually started delivering them in April of 1875 in lots of guns that were modified to conform with the new 45 cartridge.
U.S. Army records list 3035 Schofield revolvers inspected by June 29, 1875. 35 were rejected.
Delivery of all 3000 guns of the Model 1 Schofield revolver was completed by July 12, 1875
So, basically the guns were slowed due to a required chamber modification to allow the dual-purpose cartridge to both chamber and eject in the Schofield and Colt SAA.
The guns were delivered from April to July of 1875. Almost a full year "before" the battle of Little Big Horn.
Murph
Welcome Aboard!! Very nice early Schofield. Hard to find a Model 1 in this condition and not sold to Wells Fargo/ American Express with a shortened barrel.
Ed,
Here is the timeline on the Model 1 Schofield from my notes:
September 1874: Letter from General Benet requesting a "modification" to the Schofield design to chamber a "dual purpose" 45 cal cartridge". This cartridge manufactured and designed by the Frankford Arsenal. One that will chamber and function in both the Colt and Smith & Wesson revolver.
Smith & Wesson agrees to perform the work at an additional .50 cents per gun. So $13.50 each. I initially thought the Army Arsenal performed the modification but it is actually documented in letters to D.B.Wesson and the Chief of Ordnance that Smith & Wesson perform the modification which slowed production and delivery of the first 3000 guns in Model 1 configuration by no less than 4 months.
Letter to Schofield from S&W dated March of 1875 confident that they can still deliver the 3000 guns by contracted delivery date in batches until complete. I believe they actually started delivering them in April of 1875 in lots of guns that were modified to conform with the new 45 cartridge.
U.S. Army records list 3035 Schofield revolvers inspected by June 29, 1875. 35 were rejected.
Delivery of all 3000 guns of the Model 1 Schofield revolver was completed by July 12, 1875
So, basically the guns were slowed due to a required chamber modification to allow the dual-purpose cartridge to both chamber and eject in the Schofield and Colt SAA.
The guns were delivered from April to July of 1875. Almost a full year "before" the battle of Little Big Horn.
Murph
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It looks like someone use a knife or a nail to scratch it out. the scratch marks run both horizontally and vertically. Otherise, to be honest, it's the best looking Schofield I've ever seen outside of a museum. That why, when I saw it, I wasn't going to let it get away.
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opoefc
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
The final military inspector's cartouche on the grip panel is the only place you will see that. Individual parts will have the sub inspector's initials . Rare non-military " commercial" 1st model can be tentively identified by the absence of the final inpector's cartouche on the stocks,( and a ser. # of 35 or under) however both military & commercial examples will be seen with the "U S" stamp as that was put on frames early in the manufacturing process and commercial models often used rejected military parts. Ed
Giorgio Italy
Member
Hi
It would be interesting to know how much you paid for it!
Giorgio
It would be interesting to know how much you paid for it!
Giorgio
OLDSTER
Member
She's a beauty. Welcome 
Oirginally asked Seven. I haggled them down to Six, Five, at a famous store in Houston, about three years ago. I then traded them a few things to get the amount down from there (some of which I have now re-acquired -- still need to reacquire a Nambu Type 94 and a .455 Webley).
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Very nice Schofield! I love seeing these in their original configuration. I have number 57X, but it did not escape the express companies, and was refinished afterwards. But it still has the "been there, done that" that only an original Schofield can, and it makes it a little easier to fire a few rounds down range once in a while. The only thing better that owning a piece of history, is experiencing it.
2nd Model I just acquired.
I finally found a Schofield! Been looking for one I could afford for years in the original 7" version. The gun is all original except for the stocks that appear to be from an Uberti replica. Price was right and I almost had a heart attack when I saw it's condition! The survival rate of originals must be very low. Near perfect bore and chambers and perfect working order. Letter says shipped to Springfield Armory Oct. 1876.
I finally found a Schofield! Been looking for one I could afford for years in the original 7" version. The gun is all original except for the stocks that appear to be from an Uberti replica. Price was right and I almost had a heart attack when I saw it's condition! The survival rate of originals must be very low. Near perfect bore and chambers and perfect working order. Letter says shipped to Springfield Armory Oct. 1876.
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Beautiful piece of history. Having a Schofield now that's a collector. Back in the day, the choice between a Colt and a Schofield is such a no brainer. Thank you for sharing.
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Another beautiful thing, congrats...and welcome aboard.
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