Historically the problem was this: In 1940 S&W made fine handguns. The Brits we're at war and needed a close quarters weapon for their Commandos in 9mm cal., so they paid S&W approx. a million dollars to design such a weapon ( which saved S&W from bankruptcy ). S&W came up with the Model 1940, made by S&Ws staff of fine fitters & polishers in cal .9mm. What was lost in translation was that 9mm to the Brits meant their high pressure 9mm military round, not the American low pressure version of the 9mm round that S&W designed the gun to fire, so failures soon appeared from metal stresses, etc. The Brits wanted their money back, but S&W didn't have it, so a "refund" was negotiated that required S&W to supply handguns to pay off the refund. In the 1970s, S&W found around 170, or so, of these guns in their "attic" and Roy Jinks persuaded the factory to sell them to S&WCA Members, rather than junking them. The guns were mostly marked with a plaque on the stock saying they were not safe to fire, due liability concerns. I have fired my Mark 11( Mark 11s were a modification of the Mark 1s, to attempt to solve some problems) many times , with no problems. The guns are classed as C&Rs by the ATF. The Label "Light Rifle" was applied by the Brits as the 9mm cal. was a "Light" caliber in their military language. If you have ever handled one of these, the first thing you notice is they are very heavy - far from light, but beautiful examples of gun making by the same employees that were making Registered Magnums and they didn't drop their standards when the Model 1940s came along. Ed.
