S&W model of 1926...44 special.UPDATELETTER ARRIVED..

[Xfuzz]

Has there ever been a serial number range
of the S&W third models that were sent to
Wolf and Klar ?

Seems I ordered a letter via the computer earlier
this year. Is that option still available ?

Thanks in Advance...

 

[Truckman]

Seems I ordered a letter via the computer earlier
this year. Is that option still available ?

I always request the letters online now, Howie, since I was instructed on how to do it with a credit card...The hard part is waiting for it...I'm approaching 7 weeks on my last batch of requests......Ben

 

[quinn]

Howie, you could just send the 44 to me, and I'll research it for you. Promise to let you know what I find out. Oh, I forgot that worked once before... nevermind.

 

[Truckman]

Howie, you could just send the 44 to me, and I'll research it for you.

Hey! I saw the chump first!...Go work your side of the street......Ben

 

[Xfuzz]

I will keep you Gents in mind....

Curious thing about the old thing is
that it wore a butt plate at one time.

Two holes in the bottom of the stocks.
Gotta be an Ol' Lawdawg.

 

[handejector]

Has there ever been a serial number range
of the S&W third models that were sent to
Wolf and Klar ?

They can be any number in the original N frame series from 1926 till commercial production ended in 1941-2 at around 62XXX. They did not have their own number series.
I forget what the lowest numbers for Mod 1926s are, but Muley Gil has a very early one. Ask him to post the number here.

 

[Muley Gil]

They can be any number in the original N frame series from 1926 till commercial production ended in 1941-2 at around 62XXX. They did not have their own number series.
I forget what the lowest numbers for Mod 1926s are, but Muley Gil has a very early one. Ask him to post the number here.

S&W 3rd HE 5” .44 Special, nickel, # 28363, shipped on Jan 27, 1927, to Wolf & Klar.

According to Dr Jinks, the 1st 3rd Model was #28358.

 

[22hipower]

A little later than Muley Gil's but not much; April 1927 according to Dr. Jinks, SN 28757.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

https://flic.kr/p/2pMtT2c https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934231@N03/

 

[murphydog]

I recall reading (perhaps here?) that the model of 1926 was initially a Wolf and Klar exclusive offering. If so, very early serial numbers in the range might have been more likely to have sold from there. Of course, if this is true, no telling when the 'early' SN cutoff might have been.

 

[Xfuzz]

The book on mine indicates 1929 vintage.
Serial Number 31893.
Maybe too late.

 

[22hipower]

This 4 inch, 38302, shipped to W&K in July of 1931. As I remember, S&W made some 5,000 of these and most went to W&K with some going to others most in the later years. The 4th edition says the SN range goes from 28358 to 61412 up to 1941 with SNs overlapping with the 2nd Model. I'm guessing yours went to W&K. If the grips on yours have the SN stamped on them your gun probably shipped in 1930 or later as I think those grips with the silver medallions were 1930 and later.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

https://flic.kr/p/2n1AhAc https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934231@N03/

 

[Hawg Rider]

My modified and re-nickeled 4" nickel 3rd Model .44 HE (W&K Model of 1926) was part of a shipment in May 1927 (s/n 29803). According to Mr. Jinx, the shipment included 80 revolvers, 20 of which were 4" nickel. It didn't come with the original stocks, so it's wearing some Grashorn elk antler stocks.

 

[Muley Gil]

According to Dr Roy's article on the Model of 1926, published in the S&WCA Journal Summer 2024 edition, 1500 3rd Models were built in the SN range of 28358-29857.

Between 1927 and 1936, S&W shipped 4122 3rd Models to Wolf & Klar. After 1936, mixed distributors received 1926 .44s.

I'll post no more from that article, as that should be enough to whet the appetite of .44 Special lovers and get them to join the Collector's Association!

 

[Xfuzz]

Thanks, Muley...

Next time I am at my shop I will print out a copy
of the request letter and send it in.
Looks it may be a possible W&K.

This is the third one I have tripped over in the
last few years.

 

[quinn]

The only 3rd 44 that I have that wasn't sold to W&K is #58972 which shipped 12/21/39 to a Memphis PD police captain. The earlier Houston PD guns were sold through W& and shipped to Houston IIRC.

 

[50 target]

I will keep you Gents in mind....

Curious thing about the old thing is
that it wore a butt plate at one time.

Two holes in the bottom of the stocks.
Gotta be an Ol' Lawdawg.

That alone would spur me to get a letter. A buttplate was a decorative and "usefull" addition I saw until the semiautomatic phased out the revolver. May be a surprise lurking in that letter somewhere. Good luck.

 

[rct269]

The good Doctor Jinks may very well have such a list. I say that based only on my experience with him with just one gun that wasn't shipped to W&K, and was a much later example (#54911, shipped January 28, 1941).

I had an opportunity to acquire this gun, a target. I knew there were targets that wouldn't letter as targets, but didn't know the why of it until I talked to Ed Cornett. I'd talked to Jinks before, and got his blessing to buy the gun ("That gun was made in 1938, you're good to go."). This was ON THE PHONE, so either he has an encyclopedic memory, or pulled up a listing on his computer in a matter of mere seconds.

I bought the gun. It lettered as a target, and I was a happy camper, all except for wondering how in the world he could tell me when it was made pretty much the same as he could tell me his birthday.

I've since learned he has production information beyond that on .44 3rds. I had a 3rd Model Single Shot---6", #4807,------had it for years; and along comes #4826---an 8 ". I pretty much immediately wondered if those two pistols were made on the same day----and asked him. Here comes a letter in reply, giving me chapter and verse on both guns: 4807 was "part of the production run of 31 units completed on May 9, 1911 and entered into the shipping vault on that date." "4826 was in the production run of this model completed on June 21, 1911 and entered into the S&W shipping vault on that same day."

His choice of language ("entered into the shipping vault") struck me as odd, right up until it dawned on me there most certainly was what I'll call a shipping vault LOG (into which was "entered" what was going in---and coming out------on at least a daily basis)---and if not, then how would the marketing folks know what they had in inventory to sell and deliver(??). The next thing that dawned on me was he has more than 100,000 items in his paper collection, and some of that might very well be such logs. It is such as this that comes to mind when you sit and stare --------and wonder. The best part of this bit is it makes sense!

Ralph Tremaine

 

[rct269]

I recall reading (perhaps here?) that the model of 1926 was initially a Wolf and Klar exclusive offering. If so, very early serial numbers in the range might have been more likely to have sold from there. Of course, if this is true, no telling when the 'early' SN cutoff might have been.

W&K's "exclusive" had a wee bit of a "loophole". Yes they had an exclusive on the .44 H.E. 3rd---ten years if memory serves. What they didn't have was an exclusive on the 38-44 Outdoorsman (which came along a few years later) with the "caliber option". Yep, you guessed it! You could buy a 38-44 Outdoorsman chambered in .44 Special and damned if it didn't look just like a .44 3rd Target! And for all I know, there might well have been a "caliber option" on the 38-44 Heavy Duty models too!

Don't ask how I came to know that, 'cause it's just one bit of interesting, if essentially useless information you pick up over a bunch of years fooling with these things----- and you really don't know if there's a word of truth in the whole tale. But if there is a word of truth to it, it was pretty damn sneaky, and you either have to want to shake the hand of the devious soul who thought it up, or shake your head at the thought of such goings-ons----pick one!

Ralph Tremaine

 

[Dosgatos]

Wolf & Klar

I have two of these - 29179 is from 4/16/27, and scratched-up 34451 is from 3/30

 

[Muley Gil]

W&K's "exclusive" had a wee bit of a "loophole". Yes they had an exclusive on the .44 H.E. 3rd---ten years if memory serves. What they didn't have was an exclusive on the 38-44 Outdoorsman (which came along a few years later) with the "caliber option". Yep, you guessed it! You could buy a 38-44 Outdoorsman chambered in .44 Special and damned if it didn't look just like a .44 3rd Target! And for all I know, there might well have been a "caliber option" on the 38-44 Heavy Duty models too!

Don't ask how I came to know that, 'cause it's just one bit of interesting, if essentially useless information you pick up over a bunch of years fooling with these things----- and you really don't know if there's a word of truth in the whole tale. But if there is a word of truth to it, it was pretty damn sneaky, and you either have to want to shake the hand of the devious soul who thought it up, or shake your head at the thought of such goings-ons----pick one!

Ralph Tremaine

A number of years ago, a copy of the sale circular with the option of obtaining a .44 Special version, mentioned in fine print, was posted here on the Forum. IIRC, this was AFTER 1936, when W&K no longer had exclusive rights to the 3rd Model .44.