Piecing together a Reg. Mag. history from the SWCA Foundation info.

[bettis1]

I just received several Foundation letters and documents relating on a number of guns and several of them open windows to speculate on the histories of the guns.

One of my favorites is Registered Magnum 472xx, Reg. # 739. It is a 6.5" and was ordered with a Patridge front sight with gold bead and square notch rear sight.

I knew previously, from Roy Jink's letter, that the gun had shipped on January 7, 1936 to Joseph A. Lorch in Washington, D.C. Mr. Lorch was a contractor and dealer in sporting and athletic goods in the Capitol. Besides this being a first year RM, the gun was ordered exactly one month after I was born in Washington, D.C. Coincidentally, my father was playing pro football for the Washington Senators in the American Professional Football League at that time so there is an excellent chance that my dad had been in Mr. Lorch's athletic goods store in that period.

In the December 21, 1935 order letter for the gun, besides stipulating the characteristics of the barrel, sight, etc., Mr. Lorch made the comment: "Please ship with this revolver two extra pair of the new style grip that you are now supplying with this gun. (NOTE: Roy has told me that this is the ONLY time that he has ever lettered a gun that was ordered with TWO extra pairs of grips.) Kindly also see that this revolver has a tight fitting cylinder and that the barrel is of exact size and dimension and bore. My customer is a very particular party and has the habit of testing the bores of his revolvers with bullets to be sure that there is no loose space in any portion of the barrel."

D. B. Wesson responded, in part, to Mr. Lorch on Christmas Eve, 1935: "The points that you mention are part of the regular inspection of our arms, and you may rest assured that your customer will be definitely pleased with the new arm when he receives it."

Apparently Mr. Lorch's customer was an active user of his new gun because, shortly less than a year later, on November 2, 1936, Mr. Lorch returned the gun with a letter stating: "Customer complains this gun has developed a creep. Kindly adjust and return as soon as possible."

There is no factory marking on the gun indicating that return to the factory in 1936. However, the date 7.42 is stamped on the butt frame. There is no star or other markings on the gun. The gun remains in 99% condition since the 1942 factory return. It also had the original ordered Patridge sights replaced at that time with a square gold bead McGivern (King) reflector front sight and white outline rear sight.

Apparently, following its return to Springfield early in World War II, the original owner never fired it again. We can only wonder who that "very particular party" was in Washington and what happened to him.

Bob

 

[LEO918]

Mr. Bob: Thank you for the very interesting report. It's this kind of writing that keeps me coming back to the forum.

Best Regards - Leo

 

[kwill1911]

Bob,

I know you know this because I pointed it out to you back when you acquired that RM but Lorch was also Colt's representative in Washington D.C. and many, many Colt's passed through his hands to military decision makers and other well-placed politicians in Washington.

Regards,
Kevin Williams

 

[Art Doc]

Well, correct me if I am wrong but given the price of the RMs I suspect nearly all the buyers were well-heeled, highly placed individuals, no? Save the police orders, of course, which were discounted.

In DC it was likely a government official, a member of Congress, a judge, etc.

 

[bettis1]

Thanks, Leo.

And yes, Kevin, I do recall you giving me that info on Lorch. I started to include it but felt that my narrative was getting a little long. Roy told me that Lorch also became a jobber for S&W in Washington. Since this was a relatively early RM, it is possible that this was an important link in future S&W sales in the area.

Saxon, I think you are right on target with your suppositions. To add to that, getting the Factory to do a refinish on a revolver less than a year into WWII when they were completely consumed in the war effort, probably took some "pull".

Bob

 

[RKmesa]

Bob:

Great post! The only thing that is missing to make it "complete" is the photos.

As always, thanks for sharing.

 

[bettis1]

In re-reading the documents from the Foundation I see that I had assumed that Lorch's customer was an individual. However, his wording "My customer is a very particular party..." may have indicated that the buyer was a representative of an organization or department rather than an individual.

Lots of questions remain.

Bob

 

[JSR III]

The term "party" could also be referring to an individual, as in "the party of the first part." One must remember that speech was slightly different back then.

Since your father was in that area and possibly frequented that store, maybe your father bought the gun?????

 

[boykinlp]

D. B. Wesson responded, in part, to Mr. Lorch on Christmas Eve, 1935: "The points that you mention are part of the regular inspection of our arms, and you may rest assured that your customer will be definitely pleased with the new arm when he receives it."

Really enjoyed the history on your RM. One thing that I noticed, that you probably would not see today, is a high ranking offical in S&W writing a letter to a single customer on Christmas Eve. Service and reputation were paramount back then. BTW, where are the pics?

 

[bettis1]

James,

I rather doubt that my dad bought that gun. While playing pro ball he was working as a clerk in the Library of Congress card files to feed my mother and me and being paid by the piece that he filed. At one time I had one of his payroll records and the piece rate was a few pennies. He once got a raise and the raise was calculated in mills. That tells a lot about the difference in salaries between the pro ballers back in the leather helmet days and now.

boykinlp,

Unfortunately, I just haven't gotten around to picturing many of my guns so you will have to use your imagination. But, you've seen one Registered Magnum and you've seen 'em all.

Bob

 

[old bear]

"My customer is a very particular party..." may have indicated that the buyer was a representative of an organization or department rather than an individual.

Perhaps the owner wanted to keep his/her purchase private. many reasons for that.

Yes, to get any arms maker to do a special job during the war must have taken some clout.

 

[bettis1]

Thanks to Kevin Williams, here is a picture of Mr. Joseph A. Lorch with several men at the White House in 1925. Admittedly, it predates the shipping of my R.M. by 10 years but it indicates his access to power.

It is hard to imagine a more distinguished and more British looking gentleman than Mr. F. J. Pullan with his topcoat, fedora, bow tie, Van Dyke beard, and furled umbrella. He looks like a character from a Hercule Poirot episode. Mr. A. Walford also appears to be pretty influential. I would guess that the younger man, H.C. Walford is the son of the elder Walford.

Wish we knew what their mission might have been at the White House.

Bob

 

[lowhog]

Bob,I would rather see a picture of the rm than Joe Lorch.You seen one lorch you seen them all.

 

[bettis1]

Bob,I would rather see a picture of the rm than Joe Lorch.You seen one lorch you seen them all.

ZING! Ya got me, Mike. I'll try to find a picture and get it up.

Bob

 

[mikepriwer]

Bob

The comments a year later, about the revolver developing a creep,
coupled with the earlier comments about the party being very
demanding, suggest that the buyer was one person, and not a
department. It might have been a FBI Special Agent who was on
some shooting team, but on the other hand, SA were having guns
sent directly to them.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[bettis1]

Mike,

You may very well be right that it was an individual. That was also my first thought. However, I think that it might also have been purchased for testing by some agency. I can't get the request for "two extra" Magna grips out of my mind. I think there must be some message there and some reasoning that has escaped us all (including Roy) to this point. Perhaps they were to be modified to fit some special purpose or individualized for different shooters.

Bob

 

[kwill1911]

Perhaps the buyer/tester was Colt's.

 

[bettis1]

Kevin,

I asked Roy that very question when I first got the gun. He told me that there was no reason for Colt to have gone through a third party to get a gun from S&W because it wasn't uncommon for the two manufacturers to exchange arms directly.

Bob