Yes it has the post hammer block safety. The Chiefs Special was introduced in 1950 and by that time all Smith revolvers had the safety. But like you said, probably it was done mistakenly. I 've come to realize not all gun shooters are necessarily gun savy.
"Jack Ruby's other gun"?
- Thread starter Tom K
- Start date
Yes it has the post hammer block safety. The Chiefs Special was introduced in 1950 and by that time all Smith revolvers had the safety. But like you said, probably it was done mistakenly. I 've come to realize not all gun shooters are necessarily gun savy.
twaits
Member
This isn't about the death of a great president. This is about the death of that great president's alleged assassin. And even so it's not even really about that...this is simply a gun owned by the killer of the alleged assassin. What is there to be upset about?
Either way it's a part of American history and therefore fascinating.
twaits
Member
I remember when I first saw this and the auction listing a couple years ago. I think the guy wanted like $10,000 for the gun. I was very skeptical of the story. I'm betting that seller is going to be kicking himself someday for not doing the research himself on this gun. One day you will probably see this gun at at auction and it just may pull the $10,000 he originally was asking.
OP
Hi All, Originator of the thread here.
I just received the August 2024 issue of Guns Magazine and one of the articles is titled, "Guns of the JFK Assassination!" The articles covers the three primary firearms involved: Oswald's Carcano, his S&W .38 and Ruby's Colt Cobra .38. Naturally the S&W Chief's Special that is the topic of this thread is not mentioned (since it wasn't actually involved), and it may very well be that the author didn't even know of its existence. I have to wonder if this thread might even be the only readily available documentation about the gun?
Anyway I just though I'd bump this thread back to the top. It's an interesting read!
I just received the August 2024 issue of Guns Magazine and one of the articles is titled, "Guns of the JFK Assassination!" The articles covers the three primary firearms involved: Oswald's Carcano, his S&W .38 and Ruby's Colt Cobra .38. Naturally the S&W Chief's Special that is the topic of this thread is not mentioned (since it wasn't actually involved), and it may very well be that the author didn't even know of its existence. I have to wonder if this thread might even be the only readily available documentation about the gun?
Anyway I just though I'd bump this thread back to the top. It's an interesting read!
Forgive my ignorance, but it seems to me that I have read (multiple times, and from multiple sources) that the gun Ruby used to assassinate Oswald was a cut-down 38 S&W BSR that had been re-bored to chamber 38 specials.
So, I'm totally confused by the article references that say Ruby used a Colt Cobra to gun down Oswald.
Wasn't the ready availability of cheap imported handguns (like the modified BSR Harvey used) one of the justifications used to push the GCA of 1968?
I'm feeling really confused at this point...
So, I'm totally confused by the article references that say Ruby used a Colt Cobra to gun down Oswald.
Wasn't the ready availability of cheap imported handguns (like the modified BSR Harvey used) one of the justifications used to push the GCA of 1968?
I'm feeling really confused at this point...
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Lincoln was shot in 1865 not 1960 !
Exactly, you can't carbon date metal.
kwill1911
Member
Oswald's BSR:
Ruby's Cobra:
Ruby's Cobra:
Model19man
Member
Well your version is totally at odds with every version I have ever heard. Like this one:
Lee Harvey Oswald - Wikipedia
sigp220.45
US Veteran
Oswald used a cut down BSR to kill Dallas PD Officer JD Tippit.
Ruby used a Colt Cobra to kill Oswald.
Both guns were taken into evidence from the hands of the killers.
AHA! THAT was the BSR connection! I knew there was one somewhere in the story.
The old memory just ain't what it used to be!
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Sistema1927
US Veteran
Another reminder to "buy the gun, not the story".
No way I’m buying that. I know a guy who has Audie Murphy’s M&P 40 compact and he said he’d sell it to me for half of that.
Auctioning an item like this that was used in a crime is the glorification of a scumbag, and the crime, in my humble opinion.
It doesn’t matter who the victim was, and that he was also a scumbag, it was still a crime. I guess maybe best not to get into it though.
It doesn’t matter who the victim was, and that he was also a scumbag, it was still a crime. I guess maybe best not to get into it though.
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That is one view and I can appreciate what you're saying.
An alternative view is that these are historical artifacts, and as such they have intrinsic value.
A flintlock pistol used in battle by George Washington might be viewed as a firearm used to commit the crime of insurrection by someone residing in the UK. That would have certainly been the view of the Monarchy at the time.
But to an American that same gun is a significant artifact of our history.
By the same token, some would see the guns Oswald used to commit his crimes as unworthy of interest, but the gun Ruby used to kill Oswald in retribution as something of value.
It is less about "glorifying" the acts committed with these guns, and more about their significance as pieces of history. After all they are the only ones there are. There are no others.
Just like the gun that killed Jesse James, or the gun that killed Baby-face Nelson, they are unique in their connections to historical events, and that gives them special, unique, historical and monetary value.
So, as I see it, it is really just a question of perspective - both personal and historical.
JMO.
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What would you propose should happen to Hitler's P 38, which he used to commit suicide?
I do not see it as glorification of a scumbag, but rather an object involved in a historical event. Part of history.
Patton's guns, Elvis's model 53, just pieces of metal or artifacts?
Custer's Battle Field, glorification of a serious military blunder or a Native American victory or just prairie grass, prickly pear and sage like millions of the acres that surround it and valued for far less?
The flag raise on Mount Suribachi didn't kill any Japanese, it didn't save any lives, IT IS HISTORY and priceless
Good or evil, we should keep remembrances of such events dear least we forget the GOOD OR EVIL of men.
Tearing down statues of Confederate Generals will not make the history of the civil war go away. It will not make the men thy represent less brave, more or less moral. It will help speed the mistakes of the past fade from memory and the lessons learned more apt to be forgotten.
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OP
I don't know what crime you think this gun was used in. The police report in post #67 only says that Ruby had this gun in his pocket when he was fighting with some guy - in 1954! - that Ruby thought had cheated him out of some money. This is not the gun that Ruby shot Oswald with - it is, as the thread title indicates, "Jack Ruby's other gun". If you actually read the very first post that has the text from the original ad (which admittedly is rather long and rambling) it is clear that this is just a gun that Ruby owned at one time. This gun is notorious only by association, and as far as we know was never used in a crime.
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