Mod. 41 - 5.5" barrel > never seen before

[DocP]

Hello,

I want to buy a Model 41 and now, I found two advertiseses which sees be good.

But the barrel of the pistols let me thinking. It is a 5,5" barrel, but at the front, it looks like a 7 / 7,5" barrel. Also the rear sight is the same as the 7 / 7,5" barrel. I've heared about barrels, which have 5" and are cutted from 7 / 7,5" barrels. But these have a plug at the front under the muzzle.
This is not at the both described pistols. You can see pictures here: Link


Was there a time, who S&W has this barrels with the M41 delivered as standard? Does anyone knows this barrels and can me say something at this?

The serial number of the guns are A484... & A591... so I think, they were manufactored between 1979-1981 (is it right?). The advertised pistols are at the german market.

Thanks a lot and nice greetings.

 

[Old_Cop]

Welcome from Pennsylvania. I am not an expert in Model 41s, but it appears to me that the barrel was cut very professionally to that length. From what I can see of the front sight it might be secured with a screw and the shape is not right. Just my observation, might there be a barrel length limit for some European pistol match?

Edit: Or it could be a factory field barrel. I am sure some experts will add their observations.

 

[H Richard]

It is probably a "Field Barrel",

 

[TOM BECKWITH]

The pistol shown is a late CI unit with a 7" bbl modified to shorten to about 5.5" (possibly 6"?). Looks like high quality work including front site, muzzle, and trigger smoothing. Grips (RH) also appear to be quality work.

Did not see a second piece?

 

[DocP]

I don't think about a barrel length limit in europe. Longer barrels are authorized and when not, there some "standard" 5,5" barrels of S&W.

A field barrel is a original barrel of Smith&Wesson which was added before delivering, right?

Here, a picture (not so god quality) of den 2nd:

 

[DocP]

Does anyone else know these types of barrels?
I can't imagine that these barrels were only in Europe and not in the United States.
How are the cut 5" barrels from the shooting behavior?
A field barrel is a original barrel of Smith&Wesson which was added before delivering, right?

 

[125JHP]

I had a 5.5" bbl at one time, I'll see if I have any closeup pics, I didn't get the impression it was cut down from a longer unit...


Here is the only pic I could find... I think I recall it was a 5 1/2" not 5" (mounted on the gun).
As you can see the front of the barrel is not fluted like the original, if it were a cut-down, it wouldn't be a flat slab-side.