Pinto 19-3

[huthike]

First Pinto I had ever seen for sale. Not in perfect shape - original grips but pretty beat up and underside of trigger guard is scratched up a bit.

Box and papers, timeline maybe 1970.

Hopefully factory original, but only time, patience and a letter will tell. I overpaid if it isn’t, underpaid if it is - but have decided that it’s pretty and I’ll enjoy it either way.

Thoughts welcome.

 

[22hipower]

I like it. If that is the original box though I think the factory would have indicated it to be blue and nickel. The nickel screws and thumb piece suggest that someone outside the factory put it together as I don't remember other pintos having those. . . .although I haven't seen that many and am certainly no authority on them. I like it anyway and would have snagged it too if the price was at all reasonable.

Edit: Saw the box label later with the B/N, did the factory indicate two different finishes with those letters?

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[505Gibbs]

I like it. If that is the original box though I think the factory would have indicated it to be blue and nickel. The nickel screws and thumb piece suggest that someone outside the factory put it together as I don't remember other pintos having those. . . .although I haven't seen that many and am certainly no authority on them. I like it anyway and would have snagged it too if the price was at all reasonable.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

The box shows B/N.

 

[22hipower]

The box shows B/N.

Yes, noticed that and edited my comment but I don't remember in the one or two boxes, or letters, I've seen that the finish was indicated that way. Maybe, hope so. A letter will confirm for sure. Good luck.

Edit: Checked a few known factory pinto pictures and some do have nickel thumb pieces although I didn't see any with nickel screws. I did remember, what I couldn't think of in my first comment, that the factory usually referred to the finish as "two-tone."

2nd Edit: Did a little more checking, found a picture of a box with finish showing B-N (and this one, a J frame, also had nickel screws), another with B.N. and an earlier one with a nickel sticker added to a box labeled "blue" so apparently the factory had several ways of identifying two-tone finish on boxes.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[Sevens]

Is there any kind of back story or tale behind the Pinto guns? Who came up with them, when, any kind of why?

 

[huthike]

I agree the screws look nickel in the photo, but I’m not sure they are. They may just be blue and shiny - hard to tell.

 

[22hipower]

Is there any kind of back story or tale behind the Pinto guns? Who came up with them, when, any kind of why?

Here's a link to an earlier, much earlier, thread discussing two tone finishes.

https://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-r...ate-pinto-thread-2.html?highlight=tone+finish

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[mikeruns]

This model 19 looks well used and well loved, I like it!

 

[CH4]

Cool piece! I think it’s legit.

 

[Sevens]

Here's a link to an earlier, much earlier, thread discussing two tone finishes.

https://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-r...ate-pinto-thread-2.html?highlight=tone+finish

Jeff
SWCA #1457

Great thread and lots of stunners but no real answers as to how these came about.

 

[paplinker]

I hope its legit for you.

Only concern I have is my 14-3 box the end sticker was put on upside down. Yours appears right side up.

 

[22hipower]

I hope its legit for you.

Only concern I have is my 14-3 box the end sticker was put on upside down. Yours appears right side up.

That and the writing seems to have all been done by the same person with the same pen although I'm no handwriting expert either. Only a letter will tell us for sure.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[RKmesa]

I hope that it letters as a pinto. Here's a box and gun for a factory lettered 19-1 pinto...

 

[Dvus]

The label corners are too rounded, trimmed by hand ( I've seen a lot of these off of flea-bay with square corners)and there is no light blue S&W logo in the background. Plus the aforementioned right side up positioning. And it's hard to tell from the photo, but the box appears to be newer than the gun. A dash 3 box should have print on the inside of the lid. I believe the box to have been "created" for this gun. However, the gun may still be legit. Only a letter will let us know for certain.

 

[huthike]

Received the letter yesterday. It letters as a "Special Finish Variation" with blue frame, nickel cylinder and thumb latch.

All good thus far - but no specific mention of the barrel finish.

I checked with the historian and he indicated the records show it shipped with a blue barrel. So, not so good.

So, either the factory records are in error or someone added the nickel barrel later.

The more I thought about it, the more I agree with dvus about the label as well. The box contents in terms of paperwork were assembled later, too, which leads me to suspect the label as well.

So, I have a cool piece with a somewhat checkered history, I guess.

 

[murphydog]

Nice gun! To me it has all the finish variation of a true "pinto", including the nickel sideplate screws (and barrel). So I would be confident it came from the factory that way.

And the only thing checkered about it to me are the hammer spur and stocks . Enjoy!

 

[snw19_357]

And the only thing checkered about it to me are the hammer spur and stocks .

LOL!

With that ‘8c’ ampersand on it, if the barrel was changed later, they sure picked the right vintage.

 

[RKmesa]

Received the letter yesterday. It letters as a "Special Finish Variation" with blue frame, nickel cylinder and thumb latch.

All good thus far - but no specific mention of the barrel finish.

I checked with the historian and he indicated the records show it shipped with a blue barrel. So, not so good.

So, either the factory records are in error or someone added the nickel barrel later.

I would guess that it shipped with the nickel barrel and somehow the paperwork/records are incomplete.

Here are some glamour pics (the pics are nicer than the gun in person) of a 19-2 in the configuration that is described by the historian. This is one that shipped as a blued gun. I had an extra nickel cylinder and thought it was cool to add (along with the nickel thumbpiece and screws), as the blue cylinder had some corrosion.

 

[CajunBass]

I don't think I've ever even seen a Pinto out in the real world, but sure do like them. They are sharp.

 

[mogwan]

S&W and their VERY limited manufacture of 'Pintos'

About two weeks ago, I pulled apart a (very misleadingly represented) Model 17-6- Blued, 4" Full under-lugged, Combat Gripped gun that I bought from a seller (of poor character) who is/was a member of this forum. Gun was presented ANIB however, upon arrival, the Trigger 'frame pin' was falling out of the frame and needed to go back to S&W to have it re-peened into the frame. S&W did a nice $170 job, but failed to mention that at one time, the original, under lugged .22lr barrel had been re-lined. it wasn't readily visible as the liner started about 3/4" into the muzzle and 1/2" from the breech. it also had a fair amount of 'Kitchen table" Bubba gunsmithing done to it. I figured, I'd 'part it out-sell the mint Combat grips, 1/2" target trigger & hammer and try to get some $$ out of it.


I pulled the cylinder to see if it would 'fit' into my M617 Stainless 4" .22... if nothing else, I'd see if the 1/2" hammer and trigger would be a decent fit w/o hours of work. Hours of work later, it was a 'home-made' Pinto.

This inspired me to do some S&W research regarding Pintos. First off, S&W never used the term "Pinto" to describe any handgun with 'mixed finishes' and pretty much stated: The only 'real' S&W revolvers made in the factory with mixed finishes were Custom Orders - usually around 250 pieces; and made only for their larger distributors like Talo, Davidson, etc. They COULD NOT be ordered from S&W as 'single piece' custom build 'Pintos.'

Also it is common sense that if one of these 'alleged' 'mixed finish' guns was lettered from Roy and crew at S&W, the letter would certainly state who the original customer was, the configuration, how many were built in the custom order, and what Distributor ordered them. So if a letter is lacking all of this info, I think one could pretty safely say "you've got a very nice '3rd party gunsmith build- but S&W did not assemble it'

So if you're looking to buy one 'represented' as a Factory Pinto, good luck. moving certain parts from gun to gun- forged parts to MIM Parts- can be a challenge ( why aren't there still hundreds of 'gunsmiths' at S&W as opposed to MIM Parts filters now?

Looking to acquire one? Imperative to have any gun represented s a Pinto throughly checked by a very competent S&W gunsmith first.

At best, you may be acquiring an attractive novelty- not a 100% genuine S&W assembled product.

Just my two cents- unless someone can show me a genuine 'lettered' Pinto.