547

[Retired W4]

A friend of a friend brought this into the last Expo show to show us. My buddy passed so I was next in line and it came home with me. 4" square butt w/pinned barrel with patent date on the right side. It shipped to Dave's House of Guns (Dallas Tx) in July 1982 which puts it between the 140 unit pilot run of 1980 and the first full production run of 1983. It looked a little funky when I got it but it was just a lot of old dried oil that cleaned up pretty well. I am soliciting comments on the SWCA section, but I wanted to post this picture here. 10270 total units, including prototypes. A very interesting design that never caught on. Enjoy.

Another friend said he's holding out for a 3" RB. Good luck finding one with a pinned barrel.

BTW, no box but I did get the really interesting manual with the gun.

 

[sodacan]

The 547 is an interesting curiosity. It was the solution to a problem that didn't exist. S&W had solved the issue of shooting rimless cartridges in revolvers in 1917 with headspacing and moonclips. Why they had to come up with the complicated mechanism in the 547 is beyond me. Nonetheless, the 9mm model 10 is a pretty cool gun.

 

[Retired W4]

A page from the manual that came with the gun. It probably is a little over complicated, especially for a S&W, but it works.

 

[Patrick L]

Very cool! Dean Grennel was very fond of these IIRC.

 

[22hipower]

Nice buy, I've been watching for one at a reasonable price for years. Missed one at a pawn shop some years ago, guy bought it for $500 bucks as I stood there wishing and hoping he'd say, "I'll think about it" but all he did was slap down his credit card.

I can't provide any useful information on the gun but I did find that Dave's House of Guns went out of business in 1991. I moved to DFW a couple years before that but don't remember ever visiting Dave's if it was still open then. Found another interesting minor point. In August of 1964 Dave Goldstein, who was the "Dave" was interviewed by the FBI who were still looking for the source of the gun (BSR) that Lee Harvey Oswald used to kill Officer J D Tippett. He had sold some, but not the one they were looking for according to the affidavit.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[gmborkovic]

Hello Jeff, keep us posted on a 547 for a "reasonable price", what ever that is. When they first came out, I had two in my case at the shop. Still have the 4" and traded the 3" to a dealer friend. Could not give them away.

 

[22hipower]

Hello Jeff, keep us posted on a 547 for a "reasonable price", what ever that is. When they first came out, I had two in my case at the shop. Still have the 4" and traded the 3" to a dealer friend. Could not give them away.

Understand that, not being able to give them away. You probably had the same problem with 16-4s, 631s and 632-1s.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[Retired W4]

Nice buy, I've been watching for one at a reasonable price for years. Missed one at a pawn shop some years ago, guy bought it for $500 bucks as I stood there wishing and hoping he'd say, "I'll think about it" but all he did was slap down his credit card.

I can't provide any useful information on the gun but I did find that Dave's House of Guns went out of business in 1991. I moved to DFW a couple years before that but don't remember ever visiting Dave's if it was still open then. Found another interesting minor point. In August of 1964 Dave Goldstein, who was the "Dave" was interviewed by the FBI who were still looking for the source of the gun (BSR) that Lee Harvey Oswald used to kill Officer J D Tippett. He had sold some, but not the one they were looking for according to the affidavit.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

I lived in DFW from 92-96 and went to most of the Metroplex gun show and gun shops, and pawn shops. And that's a lot. Never heard of Dave's House of Guns either. There was a guy who had a mini-museum in an old converted industrial building near the assassination site. He had on display what he claimed was Oswald's revolver.

Dave's House of Guns also took delivery of 22 of the special 60-1s (1 of 171) including the first one, SN R56962, in June, 1978. Mine was shipped to Gil Hebard Guns on the same date as all of them.

 

[Torf]

The 547 is an interesting curiosity. It was the solution to a problem that didn't exist. S&W had solved the issue of shooting rimless cartridges in revolvers in 1917 with headspacing and moonclips. Why they had to come up with the complicated mechanism in the 547 is beyond me. Nonetheless, the 9mm model 10 is a pretty cool gun.

They were originally ordered by the French police. That's why it has a solution to a problem that didn't exist.. If I remember correctly they were also supposed to have an external safety.. S&W managed to talk them out of that.