I've just acquired a Brazilian 1917. It's a bit beat up, but I'm curious what grips (stocks) these left the factory wearing. Weren't the Magna-style grips standard then? Were these large silver medallions on all the Brazilian contract guns?
1917 Brazilian - grips?
- Thread starter bubbajoe45
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Jack Flash
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There were two main groups of Brazilians that S&W shipped.
First Brazilian Contract Group (25,000 units), shipped beginning in 1938, serial number range: 181983 to 207043
Second Brazilian Contract Group (12,000 units), shipped beginning in 1946, two serial number ranges: (1) 166,000 to 175150 and (2) 207,196 to 209878.
If yours is one of the First Group, it looks to me like the stocks are correct. For the Second Group, they could be correct, but it seems S&W put various styles of stocks on the 2nd Group. Some folks think they were cleaning out the factory and just used whatever they happened to turn up.
First Brazilian Contract Group (25,000 units), shipped beginning in 1938, serial number range: 181983 to 207043
Second Brazilian Contract Group (12,000 units), shipped beginning in 1946, two serial number ranges: (1) 166,000 to 175150 and (2) 207,196 to 209878.
If yours is one of the First Group, it looks to me like the stocks are correct. For the Second Group, they could be correct, but it seems S&W put various styles of stocks on the 2nd Group. Some folks think they were cleaning out the factory and just used whatever they happened to turn up.
OP
Thanks for the reply. Looks like its from the first group (203,5xx). So, these would also be at home on a 3rd Model HE?
Yes, one from the '30s. The earlier 3rd model .44s wore convex top non-medallion service grips.
beagleye
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Further question-
Were the brazil silver medallion service stock done to different standards than other stocks from the same era? Did they just get uniformly beat up? I haven't seen a pair that looked awesome like so many other stocks from the 30s. They seem all dark with rough wood and rough checkering.
Were the brazil silver medallion service stock done to different standards than other stocks from the same era? Did they just get uniformly beat up? I haven't seen a pair that looked awesome like so many other stocks from the 30s. They seem all dark with rough wood and rough checkering.
Jack Flash
Member
I would guess that S&W made the stocks to the same standard they would for any military or police contract of that era. I do not know if product for the civilian market was generally a little nicer or not.
The Brazilians, especially the first group, are notorious for showing the effects of rough treatment. Obviously, they were in service 8 years longer than the second group. Even more significant, they went over to Italy in WWII with the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, so they have been through a war.
One of our Forum Members from Brazil posted an excellent history of this revolver:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...emembering-brazilian-expeditionary-force.html
The Brazilians, especially the first group, are notorious for showing the effects of rough treatment. Obviously, they were in service 8 years longer than the second group. Even more significant, they went over to Italy in WWII with the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, so they have been through a war.
One of our Forum Members from Brazil posted an excellent history of this revolver:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...emembering-brazilian-expeditionary-force.html
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