Massad Ayoob
Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2006
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I would like to respectfully request some information from the many here who are more knowledgeable about S&W history than I.
I recently picked up a couple of five-screw S&W M&Ps, chambered for .22 Long Rifle. Both have six-inch barrels. All the Model 45 revolvers I've seen (several in pix, one in the flesh, or rather in the blue steel and walnut) have been in the Sixties' production format with four-inch tapered barrels. These do not appear to be rebuilds; the cylinders' serial numbers match those on the butts of the grip-frames.
Front sights are half-moon, one appearing to have been filed down (presumably to register point of aim/point of impact). Stocks are round-top with silver S&W medallions, and are checkered walnut service-style with diamonds. There is a small S&W escutcheon on the frame beneath the cylinder latch, and a one-line "Made In USA" on the right side of the frame. Fixed rear sights are standard M&P style.
Serial numbers are only three digits apart, indicating to me that perhaps they were part of a small custom order for a PD that issued 6" M&P .38s and wanted these .22s as training guns. Serial numbers are 605930 and 605933. No letter prefixes.
The .22 M&P is not mentioned among pre-war Smiths in McHenry & Roper. Supica & Nahas reference Model 45s, but nothing that sounds like this earlier fixed-sight model. Jinks has them going back to 1948, but with letter prefixes on the serial numbers.
They're not mint, by any means: little holster wear on cylinders and at muzzles, but lots of scratches, as if they had been stored unseparated in drawers or on racks for a long period of time. Finish is gone from the backstraps, indicating guns that were shot much but stored rather than carried in holsters in between.
Any input at all on these -- numbers, clues as to their history, DOB, etc. would be much appreciated! Roy Jinks' book suggests some 500 .22 M&Ps produced total, but does not distinguish between Model 45s done for Coast Guard and USPS and earlier models such as these, nor does he mention six-inch barrels.
I recently picked up a couple of five-screw S&W M&Ps, chambered for .22 Long Rifle. Both have six-inch barrels. All the Model 45 revolvers I've seen (several in pix, one in the flesh, or rather in the blue steel and walnut) have been in the Sixties' production format with four-inch tapered barrels. These do not appear to be rebuilds; the cylinders' serial numbers match those on the butts of the grip-frames.
Front sights are half-moon, one appearing to have been filed down (presumably to register point of aim/point of impact). Stocks are round-top with silver S&W medallions, and are checkered walnut service-style with diamonds. There is a small S&W escutcheon on the frame beneath the cylinder latch, and a one-line "Made In USA" on the right side of the frame. Fixed rear sights are standard M&P style.
Serial numbers are only three digits apart, indicating to me that perhaps they were part of a small custom order for a PD that issued 6" M&P .38s and wanted these .22s as training guns. Serial numbers are 605930 and 605933. No letter prefixes.
The .22 M&P is not mentioned among pre-war Smiths in McHenry & Roper. Supica & Nahas reference Model 45s, but nothing that sounds like this earlier fixed-sight model. Jinks has them going back to 1948, but with letter prefixes on the serial numbers.
They're not mint, by any means: little holster wear on cylinders and at muzzles, but lots of scratches, as if they had been stored unseparated in drawers or on racks for a long period of time. Finish is gone from the backstraps, indicating guns that were shot much but stored rather than carried in holsters in between.
Any input at all on these -- numbers, clues as to their history, DOB, etc. would be much appreciated! Roy Jinks' book suggests some 500 .22 M&Ps produced total, but does not distinguish between Model 45s done for Coast Guard and USPS and earlier models such as these, nor does he mention six-inch barrels.
