S&W 547

[Sevens]

Why was beryllium necessary in the design? What does this bring to the table that typical metals do not?

 

[Venom6]

Why was beryllium necessary in the design? What does this bring to the table that typical metals do not?

Long distant memory (which is not to be trusted) remembers that it was due to its properties of being strong but flexible.

 

[Rock185]

I must have lucked out and got a couple 547s that were not troublesome. Nothing bent, and extraction was very reliable, nothing hit or miss about it.

 

[Stangman14]

Hey Stangman14, what part of Alabama are you in? I never see one for sale around here, Jefferson and surrounding Counties.

There was 2 at the Hoover show last October. I bought one of them for 1400

 

[bamabiker]

Oh OK, I didn't see them. Maybe they were already gone when I came through.
I have a 3" and 4" but still keep an eye out for them just to see what they are selling for.

 

[Ed333]

I had one for a few years, as well as a 940. The 547 trigger was not pleasant, I thought maybe it was a safety feature for the French police, requiring real intent to fire double action, but the response about heavy springs for hard primers makes sense. It was a fascinating design, left me scratching my head, how did they even think of that? The 940 was a huge disappointment, increasingly difficult extraction to the point where I kept a short length of 2x4 to pound on with a hammer while braced against the bench. For a while a S&W Forum member was distributing on loan, on a round robin basis, a cylinder tool to increase the interior diameter, until someone broke the chain and did not send it on to the next person on the list.

 

[Borderboss]

I have a 940 and like it. I like the performance of the 9mm in a 2" barrel as it's better than that of a subcompact auto.

With the 547, I'm thinking that it might be best to have the cylinder cut for moon clips if the extraction becomes problematic. I doubt parts are available at this point.

 

[jertex]

I bought mine here, on the forum, back in 2019 for $900.

 

[jcelect]

Here are the production numbers over the life of the 547.

Date		per year	serial #
1979		1	3D67260
1980		140	5D59000-5D59139
1981		11	unkown
1982		0
1983		6486	unkown
1984		3460	unkown
1985		178	unkown
1986		3	unkown
Total production 10279

jcelect

 

[Sevens]

Those are interesting numbers! Odd that they spaced them out and also spanned so many years for such an odd model.

My confession:

My very first ever OGCA show must have been maybe 2011 (I am guessing here, I could be off on this date) and I came across a table holder offering a 547.

I had never heard of it, the seller gave me a basic description and it was interesting, but not so interesting that I was will to pay the $400 he was asking.

 

[stumper]

Seems like I recall the 547s were made for a French Police contract that they defaulted on?

 

[Retired W4]

Here is the paper S&W included in the box with the 547. In the last couple years folks brought to my tables one each, 3" and 4". I have seen a few come through and $1400 seems to be the going rate around here for high condition examples. Triggers do seem a bit heavy but mostly I don't like the stubby hammer spurs. S&W's attempt to make a revolver shoot rimless cartridges without moon clips died on the vine like the over complicated Straight Line (4th model Single Shot).