So i just stumbled upon this piece and there was some mail conversation from 1970s between previous owner and S&W. What did i exactly stumble upon? Is it actually something uncommon? What do you make of it? I can provide with further photos were it necessary. Bought it off random shop in my country saw it had original box and said hey that's cool, then i found many documents like this inside.
Preproduction Model 65?
- Thread starter H3rmann
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
You are fortunate, you do not have to spend another $100 for an official S&W letter of authenticity. You have what could be considered a pre-Model 65. These are Model 64-1's that were chambered in 357 Magnum instead of 38 Special.
Shoot it and enjoy it. As the letter states, there were more than a few of the Model 64-1 units chambered for the .357 Magnum. It is possible that a specialized collector might pay a tiny bit more for one like yours, but overall, it isn't a particularly valuable collector piece.
Yours left the factory two years after the original Model 64-1 .357 units were made for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Yours left the factory two years after the original Model 64-1 .357 units were made for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
So most likely that one wasn't part of that batch and thus why it ended up in West Germany of all places? Thanks for the info didn't assume anything but was genuinely surprised when the shopowner didn't even bother with checking those letters just sold me this straight away without even mentioning about the box contents.
The ignorance of gun shop owners and employees is often our friend. 
cadmike
Member
I think that’s a very cool gun. Very much like the model 10s that were chambered in .357 just prior to the model 13. Fire away.
