Help with 27-2 Stock Modification

[jw mathews]

Very interesting find & a good price also. I never saw a revolver with buttplates before this thread but if they are thinner than on thee police guns mentioned in previous posts above, and are gold or gold-plated, my guess is that they were intended for decoration or possible engraving Why not try a factory letter or the S&W Historical people to see if those plates are mentioned in the records? Given the info on the inside of the right stock found by the OP, that seems like a possibility.

 

[GerSan69]

We had a source for these back in the 70s-80s in the Denver area and many of us had these back then. I recall that the maker had to have our grips to fit the plate perfectly.
I had one with my name and badge number engraved on it. Quite stylish. An engraved USMC symbol was popular among that service's Vets. Others had our badge engraved.
I kept the plate but I'll be darned if I know what I did with it. All the ones I've ever seen were one piece with little brass screws as was described by others. I've never seen two pieces like the OP's.

 

[rubiranch]

Nice catch. Congratulations.
Those brass butt plates look pretty cool.

 

[Nightowl]

Beautiful 27! Kinda unusual to find a nearly 50 year old in nearly perfect condition with box.And at a great price. I've seen guns like that priced in the $1500 range.
Back when your 27-2 shipped, it was shipped with Magna stocks and standard hammer and trigger, like you have on it now, unless it was special ordered. I found many years ago that the target triggers are not the best for double action shooting, which is about all I do anymore, except with full load .44 Magnums and up. (I finally came to the hard realization that I cannot control double action full .44 Magnum loads anymore)
That sure is one to treasure!! Congratulations.

 

[Arquebus357]

Super nice pick-up. I would leave those plates alone. The brass has acquired a nice patina. If you were to polish them, it would take years to get back that look. Sort of like the patina you see on brass lever action receivers.

 

[2152hq]

Gold (24k) was $35/oz in 1970.
Late in '71 we went off the gold standard (backing the dollar with gold) and it went up to around $38.00/oz. Around $45/oz in '72. and onward.
A shop I worked at in '73 went bonkers and changed their 14k gold line inlay on a shotgun contact build to .99 Fine Silver because of the cost increase.

The plates look like they could be 10k gold which looks remarkably like most common brass alloys we see. It tarnishes about the same as well.
10k gold is 10/24th gold, or 5/12th pure gold alloy. (Take the alloy number (10k, 14k, 18k, etc) and make a fraction over pure gold (24k) to get the fraction of purity of that alloy)

Around that time ('71) 10k sheet gold would have cost about $20+/oz. Add labor of course for the job.
Not an extreme amt, though taking into consideration what we made back then, it wasn't pocket change as it is today.
$30 back then could have paid for just the 10k gold to do that job IMO judging from the pic.

I'd guess the plates have a peg or two each soft soldered to their backs that are inletted into the grip wood and the plates and pegs epoxied into place. The pegs giving extra strength to the assembly.

It could be brass,,I could be all wrong.

So..I would take the grips to a jeweler or one of the We Buy Gold places and have them test the metal for gold content. Simple test.
At todays values, even 10k gold, the plates at scrap value have some $$ not to be tossed aside.

If you don't care for the gold and grips replace them. At least you'll know what you are dealing with if you decide to replace them and possibly get rid of them.

Nice revolver BTW!.

 

[Qmark]

Never saw or knew anything about the brass plates. It does however explain the screw holes in the bottom of a set of N-frame target grips I picked up at a yard sale a few years back.

Found the grips inside a Pachmayer box. Can pretty much assume somebody got caught up in the rubber grip fad. Despite the holes and slightly rough edges I turned the grips for about a $50.00 profit on EBay.

BTW for only 675, you're a lucky stiff and I'm very envious. About a year ago I was hooked up with a friend of a friend that had a cherry 27-2 with box. The seller backed out. Him being a San Francisco resident and working for a law firm didn't want to jump through the red tape of FFL transfers after a lawyer co-worker questioned it being on Commiefornia's approved list. I offered to pay the fees but he quit responding to my email, texts and voice mail. I got the feeling he might have been just picking my brain to see what it was worth.

 

[diecidecimi]

Unusual, but I like that stuff. Well crafted, not invasive for the look . Keep it as it is.

 

[Hawg Rider]

Thanks for all of the valuable information and feedback. Because there are two plates, not one, mounted on the stocks there is no issue with removing the stocks for cleaning. I guess the plates could be 10K gold, so I'll stop by my local jeweler and have him test it. Should prove interesting. And yes, I consider myself very fortunate to have been offered this revolver at such a great price. I purchased another revolver from this same friend a couple of years ago, and he is also a very good leathercrafter. I've had him make me some beautiful knife and tomahawk sheaths and holsters. Now I'm waiting to see if his Dad will be selling some more S&Ws in the near future!

 

[Art66]

Congratulations on a great purchase! I think the "special order gold" stocks make the gun unique and historically interesting. They certainly add to the value of the 27-2. Lettering the gun might reveal if the stocks were originally ordered with the gun. I'm envious as I would love to have a Model 27, especially one as unique as yours.

 

[H Richard]

If you know and decent size jewelry shops you might ask them to test the "gold". They should be able to tell you if it is real gold and the grade of it.

 

[Jeromejr]

Very nice! I rarest of the 27s. Merry Christmas to you.

 

[tg4360]

Not as much any more what with the proliferation of plastic and rubber grips; you can still go into just about any court in America and figure out where the cops sit by looking at the chairs and seeing the scratches and dings from pistol butts.

Same thing with door frames both in buildings and cars.

There will often be a worn spot on the car seats too.

Conversely, chipped grips, particularly on the larger target types used to be common.

I've had to modify the pocket holster I made for my issued Sig P320 as the slide has a sharp corner on the muzzle end that started wearing a hole in the pocket where I normally carry. I'd considered filing the corner and still may but in the mean time I added a leather cover over it.

Practical modifications like this come from experience and possibly will always puzzle future owners.

 

[hanksnow]

That is a very nice score! The brass looks great also. I have a model 10 with a very thick one piece plate on the bottom of stocks. It has been monogrammed with someones initials. And it appears to have quite a few nail head marks like the wife hung a few pictures with it! Good thing for drop safeties!

 

[Hawg Rider]

The verdict is in...

Took the 27-2 stocks and butt plates to the jeweler today for a gold test. They failed. The jeweler couldn't be sure of the metal, but felt that the plates were made of a very high quality brass alloy. I also PM'd Jim (Hondo44), who told me that he was unaware of S&W ever sending out factory special order stock plates- brass, silver, gold, or otherwise. Soooo, the inscription inside the right stock ("Special Order Gold") must only refer to the gold color of the brass plates, but I'm not sure who the original owner would have had make those plates as a special order. Anyway, I am still thrilled to have such a nice 3-1/2" Model 27-2.

 

[Abbynormal]

Back in the 70's around Indy, a lot of cops had their Dept's "hat" badges mounted on plates fitted to the butts of revolvers.

Some would include the officers name and badge number.

If you had butt stroked a perp with these, it would have given bad guy a well torn up wound(s) a lot and left a lot of flesh in the badge.

 

[jrd1976]

What if you damage them getting them off and then find the base of the stocks were already badly damaged beyond simply refinishing?

Leave them as is.

 

[S.B.]

I've been into S&Ws for over 50 years and have known many a LEO that carried them and never seen or heard of any of the reasons listed here but. always willing to learn new things about them.
Steve

 

[Shotgunner]

To quote Bill Jordan, someone might " bump their head" on those stocks. Good to have them protected. Probably did not expect to put up wanted posters with it.