Help smith model 10 Mfg 1960

[Drewshooter]

[Hello everyone! new to the forum so forgive my novice use of this platform Need help on info on this Smith & Wesson model 10 .. from what I can tell it was manufactured in 1960. It's has a stamp of a number of some sort on the left side of the frame below the cylinder. Never seen anything like this before. See pictures. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[murphydog]

Welcome! It is a property or inventory mark, from an LE agency or security company. I think I have seen a similar one here on the Forum, someone else here may recall it specifically.

 

[Drewshooter]

Thank you so much! I'm sure already know the answer to this but is there anyway to identify what agency?

 

[murphydog]

In a 17 year old thread on another firearms forum, it was suggested "BACX" may have been in reference to a railroad company but there was no follow up to that post.

 

[Drewshooter]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for your help .. you are indeed correct. After a quick Google search it is a railroad companies side arm. MERCHANTS DESPATCH TRANSPORTATION CORP. (C. A. BURNETTE CO. INC.) got this information from the following sight see link. For anyone else needing this information Railroad Reporting Marks_B

I guess it was the railroads security side arm. Anyone know if conductors carry firearms back then? Just curious as to what positions a railroad company would be armed. I have came across a lot of model 10s and pre and this is my first time finding a piece like this. I would assume there fairly rare?

 

[majick47]

Model 10

Railroad might of transported US Mail, not sure when the requirement for armed guards ended. Or the railroad had their own private security or police that would be armed. Similar to the Amtrack police today.

 

[mh51]

BNSF (Burlington Northern-Santa Fe) has their own agency police, and I suspect that other railroads do as well. They investigate thefts, vandalism, and other crimes occurring on railroad property.

 

[Drewshooter]

WOW! Thanks for the information guys! Far more than I could have ever found out on my own. This piece is awesome to me then. Had relatives that worked the railroad during the 60's and 70's so this is some cool history IMHO.

 

[JP@AK]

Railroad rolling stock had reporting marks that reflected the road that owned the equipment. If the reporting mark ended in X, it was non-railroad equipment. In other words, it was a company associated with the railroad but not an operating company of the railroad. For example, UTLX was Union Tank Car Company. Every major road used UTLX cars.

In this case, it is the C. A. Burnette Company. Their refrigerated cars carried meat products (and maybe other products, but meat primarily). I suspect they had their own security force, which would explain the mark on this revolver.

 

[JP@AK]

Here is a picture of one of BACX's reefers.

 

[Drewshooter]

That's too cool! Thanks! Just love the story these old guns have. Not a war piece but still just something you don't see everyday.

 

[Muley Gil]

Welcome to the Forum.

I used to go through Phenix City on occasion, during the years I spent studying (yes, I DID study, a little. Ask member tennexplorer) at Auburn. At the time, the legal age to buy alcohol was 21 in Alabama, but it was 18 in Georgia. The statute of limitations has expired for the crime of bootlegging across state lines.

Plus, there was a great gunshop right next to the river, at the 14th Street Bridge.

 

[Truckman]

The statute of limitations has expired for the crime of bootlegging across state lines. .

Hmmm, that reminds me...I should check the statutes of limitation for bootlegging across county lines for transporting from wet counties to dry counties in East Texas during the 70's...

A friend was asking......Ben

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Ahhh, Drew. Unlike some of my friends here, I never bootlegged liquor from GA or FL...that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Welcome to the forums from the Wiregrass! Yes, RR conductors carried firearms. Here is a picture of "2 Gun" Ben Harper on his retirement run in 1964. He was a conductor on the Atlantic Coastline RR for 45 years and, as his nickname reveals, carried 2 revolvers. Unfortunately, we don't know what guns he preferred. Picture taken at the Ashford, AL, depot.

Photo courtesy of the Ashford Area Heritage Foundation.

 

[handejector]

After a quick Google search it is a railroad companies side arm. MERCHANTS DESPATCH TRANSPORTATION CORP. (C. A. BURNETTE CO. INC.) got this information from the following sight see link. For anyone else needing this information Railroad Reporting Marks_B

Very cool.
Thanks for sharing that link. I have made sure it will always be available here-
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...porting-marks-past-present.html#post141737284

 

[AC Man]

Cool piece! Why do you think it is a model 10? is is stamped as so? My granddaddy was a railroad freight train engineer from the 30's thru the 60's in Tennessee but I don't remember him carrying a firearm. Very interesting.