Rare 357 Magnum Transition Model

[moosedog]

Very nice, thanks for showing us that one.
I am on quest for one of the other 141.

 

[GF]

A few of the Transitional items are:

1. Pre-war "long action" hammer (humpback or standard) with the concentric grooves on the sides of the hammer.

2. Large ejector rod nob and corresponding cutout in the ejector rod shroud.

3. Pre-war frame (a bit longer in the grip portion of the frame) with exposed pins on the left side - on later models the pins were machined flush with the side of the frame.

4. Usually a one line "Made in USA" on the right side of the frame. Note: One of the transitional 357's that I have seen had the 4-line Marcas Registradas on the right side.

5. Pre-war barrel with the rib cut flush with the end of the barrel (as opposed to the slightly recessed rib on the pre-war mags).

6. Post war micrometer rear sight.

7. Fitted with post-war magna stocks cut for the larger pre-war grip frame.

Thanks for the rundown of transitional magnum. Great post!

GF

 

[j38]

What a truly handsome revolver! ... and a great lesson on transitional magnums.

Thank You,

Jerry

 

[sw357nm]

Transitional 357 Magnums

RKmesa,
Thank you for an excellent response to the question about Transition Magnums.
I can only add some information about the serial number range of the revolvers known to still exist. The numbers are scattered through the N-Frame serial numbers (except for the .45ACP revolvers, which had a different range). As most of you know the manufacture and shipments were not in chronological order by serial number. The lowest s/n that I have for Transition Magnums is S71598 (shipped on 12/15/48) while the highest s/n is S71992 (also shipped in Dec. 1948).
The earliest shipping date is the one shown here S71642 in November 1946 while the last one was S71885 shipped in November 1949.
Other specimens will undoubtedly come to light and we will slowly increase our knowledge.
I want to thank Jim Fisher for these numbers.

 

[cgt4570]

Thanks for the rundown of transitional magnum. Great post!

GF

The most significant feature that makes it a 'transitional' gun (missing from the previous posts) is a pre-war long action hammer with the end-of-war/post-war hammer block safety cut. (hense the 'S' serial number prefix)
Same deal with the K frames.

 

[50 target]

Nice Transitional !! That lady must have been a treasured possession for someone to have taken such good care of her. She is a beauty. I have one transitional gun, a 44 special target, ser. # S713xx and it has all of the features on yours. Appears that most transitional guns were in this range.

The most interesting feature to me on these is what I refer to as "the K22" front sight. It just looks so odd on that big ole gun. Enjoy her. She is quite a gal.

 

[Hunt200]

That is awesome!!

 

[Doc44]

I had S71885 in my collection for several years. It has an 8 3/8-inch barrel and bright blue finish. It was shipped on January 18, 1949.

Bill

 

[JSR III]

One thing that we fans of the S&W have to remember is that when we talk about numbers of those guns known to exist, we are referring to those known to the gun collecting fraternity.

There are still quite a few beautiful S&W's tucked away in private collections that never are seen at shows or discussed here on the gun sites. Unfortunately, there are also those that have gone the way of the dodo either through fire or flood or government torch etc.

One of the things that makes colecting rewarding is when you find that rare bird tucked away in granny's sock drawer.

 

[lowhog]

up to the top.

 

[ACK95]

Thanks for pointing me to this thread. It surely sheds some light on my gun... Much appreciated

 

[JSW]

Congratulations you have a very rare gun. Yours is only the fourth one I've seen and certainly the best condition. I believe most transitional 357s were sold to law enforcement and were heavily used.

 

[bmg60]

hi
the reason we don't see a lot of the Transition 357 is that there were two shipment one of 50 and one of 25 shipped to the Kansas HP. we think that the other
67 were small shipment to police depts. or single gun shipments.
In my data base i have 3 shipments of single guns out of 12 total
guns. the rest were in the 2 shipments to Kansas.

My best guess is that a lot of them were chopped up.
Jim Fisher.