1917 question?

[fat tom]

Recently bought a pretty nice 1917. All matching except the barrel. The bbl is correctly marked,but un-numbered. Would I be correct in assuming that the replacement would have been done by the military (amount of wear is consistent with the rest of the gun),or do you think it was provided by some surplus jobber after the war?
f.t.

 

[DCWilson]

I don't know how to choose between those two options. I do think there is a third choice, that the barrel is original but simply escaped numbering when it was on the factory floor. Or, much the same scenario, the gun's original barrel was thought to be defective after assembly, and a new unnumbered barrel was quickly fitted to the frame so the gun could be shipped while the numbered barrel was destroyed.

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

FT
Mine is the same way, but I think it's possible that it was re barreled at some time. There is a forth option however, wasn't production at S&W taken over by the federal government during part of WWI? If so, it should be no surprise that unmarked barrels slipped through on occasion if only in the interest of speeding up production.
John

 

[Jack Flash]

My money would be on the theory that the barrel was damaged, corroded, or the like and that it was then replaced.

But that theory is no better than any of the others advanced so far. If you check U.S. Military Dates of Manufacture you can get an idea of the month / year it was made. Then cross compare that date to the start / end of the government taking control of S&W, which may add support to John's "fourth option".

 

[fat tom]

The gun was shipped to the Army the week of January 11th,1919. That makes it one of the later ones to be shipped. Guess there's really no way to be certain. Oh well. It's really no biggie,one way or the other. Thanks to all just the same.
f.t.