Chiefs Special Airweight with Alloy Cylinder and Bug screw.

[two-bit cowboy]

Hi JudgeColt, and thanks for weighing in.

I believe you've added an extra "0" in your Airweight's s/n. 2909x, right?

Yes, I also believe your estimation of when S&W added the retainer screw to the bug screw is exactly as close as we can get with the known examples we have.

S&W record keepers didn't document all the little nuances we today have come to "value" (i.e., number of frame screws and whether an Airweight had the retainer screw on the upper side plate screw) so we have to wait to "see" one in the flesh to document "such frivolous" things.

There might have been as many as 4,000 of those early Airweights, but they sure don't present themselves often in today's circles. Because of that our data points are limited.

 

[jcelect]

I have square butt 29009X, which shipped June 24, 1953, without the "bug" screw. Of course we know guns weren't necessarily shipped in order, and it is risky for a Colt guy to speculate on what Smith & Wesson did, but can one speculate that the "bug" screw was added somewhere among the 500 guns built from June to October 1953?

Your question is based on the assumption that there were 500 guns produced between those two serial numbers in that time period! Also you are assuming that all the guns were Chief's Special Airweights when the Chief's Specials were numbered in this same series of serial numbers.
jcelect

 

[JudgeColt]

I believe you've added an extra "0" in your Airweight's s/n. 2909x, right?

Right! I will blame the old keyboard I was using when I composed my post, which sometimes repeats characters. I have corrected it above.

Looks like you and jcelect disagree on my "assumption." I know what "assume" often means for "you and me." I don't know enough about what jcelect mentions to "assume" one why of the other. You guys fight it out!

I only know that acquiring an alloy-cylinder Chief was one of my first priorities after I started buying Smith & Wesson guns after I got back from Vietnam and started my civilian career. I have always been a "pocket carrier," so light weight is a priority. I actually carried my first alloy-cylinder Chief with a special low-pressure wadcutter defensive round available in the early 1970s. (The name escapes me half a century later, but I think I still have a box somewhere on the ammunition rack.)

I use "pocket carry" because I have to be able to take off my suit jacket without a holster being visible. The Chiefs Special fits well in most breast pockets. Recall the humorous "Absence of Malice" scene on Paul Newman's character's boat when Sally Field's character could not take off her jacket in the heat because she was wearing a wire!

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Looks like you and jcelect disagree on my "assumption." You guys fight it out!

Oh, I don't believe there's anything to fight about.

Joe makes a fair point about production numbers in that short span, and the database doesn't offer enough examples with "ship dates" to make a definitive conclusion.

We will likely never know if there were 50, 500 or 1,500 Airweights produced in that five-month stretch.