547 export gun?

[cmannie]

Hello,
I recently acquired a 4 inch,pinned barrel 547.
The pinned barrel is hard to find,but what has Me wondering is the fact that this gun the SCSW says that Early (Pinned bbl dropped in 1982) And standard production serial began at "6D" and,"earlier guns in the "2D and 5D serial number range reported,but not verified" This gun is,"9D372XX"
Thus,NOT an early gun,put pinned still.It IS a square butt,so not a round 3" with 4" barrel installed.
Next,it has export markings. On the flat of the barrel,the machined area where ejector rod sits;has stamped,"9MM PARA"Then under that,appears,DEA" Then "AMH4866"
And under THAT,a German proofmark,the "N" under an eagle font.Beside that,in an oblong circle,"Akah"
In the left frame,just above trigger guard,"the German proofmark,same as above described,and "IC" (as in a date code) and the old,"ULM" antler stamp.
The face of the cylinder,(where old Smiths had the serial number stamped) it the German proof again..
Stocks ARE numbered to the gun.
Anyone have any insight??
Any help is appreciated.
THANKS!

 

[M2MikeGolf]

I've never been sure about this export stuff, although some of the veteran 547 owners assure me that many were exported. There were some stories about the 547 being made for the Israeli police or French police, but sources differ on this subject; one source says that there was a consideration for 9mm revolvers and perhaps S&W tooled up thinking there would be a big market for them, then the "wondernine" explosion happened. Seems odd, because Europeans have always really preferred autos, although I think Manurhin, the French guys, made .38/.357s for their police for awhile, and of course the UK had the Enfield forever. I have a 547 that I purchased in Germany, but cannot verify that it was ever exported. Europe and Germany in particular require proof marks, and the Germans in particular like to stamp the proof marks on the barrel, frame and cylinder. Yours was proofed at the proof house in, you guessed it, Ulm; they still use that antler stamp. For instance, mine was proofed in Munich. The Germans like to make sure they differentiate cartridges, which is critical as there are no less than four "9mm" caliber weapons in Europe. 9mm Parabellum is their designation for what most of us Americans refer to as "9mm" or 9x19. On mine, they stamped "P" right after "9mm" on the barrel, and it annoys me because they didn't do a great job of it. The "N" refers to "nitro" or smokeless powder. I forget what AKAH means, I have several German guns with it as well, may also be an ULM thing, will look into it if you are interested. Most of my US stuff ended up getting proofed in Ulm. I have a S&W (619) that I bought here and it was proofed in Belgium interestingly. The Europeans have a sort of consortium for proofing, but they definately all have to have government proofhouse marks, no matter where they are in order to be used. I have an old Drilling and got really interested in proof marks awhile back, because the Germans used a lot of codes back in the day, and in order to not fire the wrong stuff in something, you had to be sure what you were looking at (there are four very different "8mm" for instance).

In order to fire a weapon in Germany, it must be proofed. For example, I have several US made weapons, to include an old M-1 Garand, and in order to fire them, I had to have them all proofed. So the proofs just mean that the weapon was over here. They could even possibly have been sold in US military rod & gun clubs as there were dozens of those over here when the 547 was made.

Here I was thinking I had the only German proofed 547 and now you come along! Anyway, I think it makes an already unusual S&W even more unusual. Mine is also pinned and has the 9D serial number; I have a 547 that I bought in the US that is near identical and pinned, with an earlier "9D" serial number. In fact our serial numbers for our German proofed 547s are close which is interesting; mine is 9D37020.

Welcome to the 547 club, we are few, but loyal!!!

 

[tekarra]

A long time ago I read they were intended for the Surete but have no first hand knowledge. However, I have a couple of 547s that were imported from Israel. This was back in the 80s.


M2MG,
Thanks for the photos of the markings. I have not seen a 547 so stamped.

 

[M2MikeGolf]

Hey Tekarra, good to see you again; saw you on the other board about the 940. Still really want a 3"er, never seen a 940 over here though.

I showed my 547 to a gunsmith, he said that he was surprised the Munich guys were so careless with that stamp. Maybe we can get cmannie to post a pic of his as I'd like to see if Ulm would do a better job. Ulm stamped several of my guns, they rubbed in white paint to make sure I noticed them or to show me how proud they were. However, they did them much more cleanly than my 547. It may show a little bit where they were sold; usually they get sent to the nearest proofhouse, so mine may have been originally sold in Bavaria, but I bought it in Hessen. I would think if they were imported, they would all have been sent to the same proof house, but that's hard to say. Would be interesting to know more about the origins of the 547 for foreign markets and military.

Are your Israeli models in the normal serial range or was there a seperate number range? Are they pinned? Curious about when they stopped pinning 547s and why the even pinned them at all...hadn't S&W stopped pinning by the time the 547 was originally released?

I remember the old 1917 got confusing because there was the commercial model, then the Brazilian models that were often just reworked initial WWI issue. Wonder if the 547 has some peculiarities like that, or were all of them simply numbered from beginning to end.

 

[tekarra]

Good to see you as well M2MG.

None of my 547s are pinned and I am not sure when the change from pinned to unpinned was made. Still have not purchased the SCSW! The serial numbers do not appear to be a special run which supports my guess that those sold on the local market were overruns.

Like you I am looking for a 3" 940 to accompany my 2" 940 no dash. Saw one a few months ago but it was out of my price range.

 

[cmannie]

547 export

Thanks very much to everybody for the great info...I know more now than I did before!!

 

[Model52]

Interesting information guys! I recently purchased a 547 - 4 inch , pinned barrel in mint condition. I attach two pics. My SN is 9D373XX , so our three guns are fairly close together. It has the Belgian proof stamps on frame, cylinder and barrel. Beautiful piece!

 

[European]

Most of the European countries that produce firearms are member of CIP, an internacional agreement for firearm testing. Each country has at least one State-run proof house where firearms are tested according to the CIP standards. There is mutual recognition of proof marks so (as hinted in a previous post) a gun proof-marked in Belgium doesn't need to go through the same process in Germany.

 

[Smithhound]

AKAH is the abbreviation for 'Albrecht Kind, Hunstig bei Dieringhausen', I believe they would have been the importer of the gun. They also made leather goods and such.
RD

 

[Model52]

Most of the European countries that produce firearms are member of CIP, an internacional agreement for firearm testing. Each country has at least one State-run proof house where firearms are tested according to the CIP standards. There is mutual recognition of proof marks so (as hinted in a previous post) a gun proof-marked in Belgium doesn't need to go through the same process in Germany.

On the other hand, I imported a Model 52 (also mint! in the box!) from Germany, which had the German proof marks, and I had to deliver it to the Liege proof bench to be marked. So in Belgium, apparently the Germans proof marks are not accepted... And what a hassle to import it! United Europe is just a joke.