Mo

[RdrBill]

All.
14234

 

[colt_saa]

It looks like a cut down 6" from your pictures, but so what

As long as you paid a shooter price for it, just enjoy it.

I love 41s and would have bought it on the first trip if the price were right.

 

[Sebago Son]

Nice Gat there Brother Bill!

 

[shawn mccarver]

All.
I have been doing a little Sporting Clays shooting around ARIZONA. Also manage to visit a few gunshops in other towns. I found a new to me Model 57. It was not NIB or anything really special. It does have a 5 inch barrel. It took a couple trips to Tucson to convince me to buy it and I spent several hours on the web doing a little research. There appears to be one known lettered 5 inch Model 57 out there. Owned by our own Doc44.
I have spent a day looking at the 4 inch and 6 inch 57's I own and comparing them to this new 5 inch. 5 inch is used, some wear. Signs of reblue on the ejector rod head. The barrel crown, ramp and front sight blade show no signs of cutting, replacing, or tampering. I cannot find proof that Bubba cut the barrel from 6 to 5.
Is it a true factory 5 inch Model 57? Won't know till it letters.
Front sight insert does not match the 4 and 6 inch guns. S&W stamp on side plate does not match location of the 4 and 6 inch guns. 5 inch gun is serialized about 1/2 way between the 4 and 6.
It will be a unique gun and I will get a weekend to shoot it soon.
Couple of pics.

N120346 is serial number

Bill:

Nice find. I love 5 inch barrels, and I think S&W should have made more of them in the various models, especially the Models 14, 19, 27, 29 and 57, and their stainless counterparts.

As to yours, it is hard to guess from the pictures, but I vote for "cut down." Something doesn't look "factory" about the front sight insert.

On the other hand, if the job is well done, then you still have a "keeper."

Good show.

Shawn

 

[bmg60]

Hi.
here is the information on the 5 inch 41 owned by Bill Cross his gun was a special production for a friend of smith & Wesson. there are only two known and both are Nickel.

Model 57 Special Order

Caliber 41 Magnum
Serial Number S-270532

Remarks: Shipped 1/19/1968
To Camfour Inc. Westfield
Massachusetts.

This revolver was shipped with
a 5 Inch Barrel, Nickel Finish
and Checkered Diamond Walnut
Grips.

This revolver is extremely rare as
this was built for Col. Cumingham
who was close to the Smith & Wesson
Company. There are only two 5 Inch
Nickel revolver that exist in this
model.

Just my guess on your Gun, The front sight is not Factory, and I think it has been cut.
Hope I am wrong.

Jim Fisher.

 

[Sebago Son]

For comparision purposes, these are factory service ramps with both red and yellow inserts.

 

[justintyme]

Sweet, I have a 5 Inch 57, mine is cut down, but I love it!

 

[Malpasowildlifer]

very nice! I'd like one

 

[crsides]

yep, get the letter and then we'll know for sure. It looks righteous to me.


Charlie

 

[TDC]

Exciting possibility!!

Of all guns S&W should have produced in quantity it was the big N frames with 5" barrels.... The 25, 28, 57 and 29 all should have joined the 27 in being offered with a 5" barrel.

Gotta wonder how many thousand barrels S&W could sell today if they manufactured new pinned 5" barrels that could be swapped out on all the existing early N frames....

I hope your 57 is for real! It would give many of us hope that maybe a forth, or even a fifth still exist out there somewhere...

 

[Scotter260]

I usually like 4" anything with 6" seeming just too long - I have to say though I've always
loved when folks share photos of their 5" N-Frames - 5" looks like perfection.

I hope it turns out as being original but if not, it would seem like great fun shooting as
much as possible.

 

[tgoose1]

Would be interesting to know if the muzzle/crown area is finished exactly like known S&W factory M57's of same era?

 

[SuperMan]

If the barrel actually has a front sight base that was machined with the barrel I can not see how it could be anything other than original S&W. S&W front sight bases were pinned to the barrel until the late 1960s when they were then machined as part of the barrel. Your serial number indicates a 1973 vintage gun so if the ramp was pinned to the barrel that would indicate a cut down barrel... In 1981 S&W started machining the barrel, base and front sight blade as all one unit. I had two blue 57s from 1980 that were a few hundred numbers apart. The earlier one has the sight blade pinned to the machined on ramp and the later gun has the blade machined as part of the base.

If I recall correctly, in one of Doc44s posts about his 5" S&W 57 nickel he stated he one saw a picture in a magazine article about a blue one but he was never able to prove the gun existed.

I have a cut down 1964 that a local smith did a very nice job on. It started out as a badly rusted 6" blue and so there was nothing to loose by cutting it down. It is pictured here with a 64 6" and a 64 4"...








If you could post some closeup pics of your front sight base, crown and front sight area it would be appreciated....

Bob

 

[M29since14]

It sure looks like a cut down six-inch gun but as others have said, if you bought it as a shooter, it doesn't much matter since presumably you paid a "shooter price." Can't see how the sight could be other than pinned. Good close-up pictures from both sides, top, and muzzle would tell the story.

It's a nice looking gun and you will have fun with it. Like Superman, I had a 5-inch 44 made from a Model 29-2 that the bore had been allowed to rust in the first 1/2"-3/4" at the muzzle end. It was a fun experiment but only confirmed my preference for the 6.5-inch gun. As Elmer Keith said many years ago, the 4-inch is popular because it is as long as most guys can handle when seated in a car. It's a perfect compromise if you are driving. If not driving, then shorter barrels aren't much advantage unless you just happen to shoot them better - and some guys do.

 

[FireCop203]

I'd love to have one of those. From the description, I'd say it has been cut down. I like the 5" model cause it looks like its "balanced". The 4" looks too short and the 6" looks too long.

Many years ago Cylinder and Slide offered the barrel reduction. Don't know if they still do it or not.

 

[silentflyer]

A 57 5" .41 magnum? Skeeter would be proud of you and tell you "you did real good" son...

 

[M29since14]

Bill, that does not look like a factory crown to me, and I believe your front sight is pinned, judging from the muzzle view. I think it is a shortened barrel, probably originally a 6-inch barrel. Be interested to learn what your factory letter says. Either way, it is a nice looking revolver.

 

[Scotter260]

Well, even if it isn't factory it sure looks nicely done to my uneducated eye!

 

[410bore]

I will add that the odd colored and unusually long front sight insert does not aid in proving its originality

 

[captaint]

I have a model 57 made in 1968, a 6" gun. It is, without question, my favorite S&W revolver. Probably the most accurate, also. Got it without box or papers. It would be the last of the S&W's I would ever sell. Of course, I don't think I will ever sell any of them ..... Mike