smith and wesson of 1881

[Ravenn]

I read an article receintly in a magazine about the "Earps" in Tombstone. The writer stated it was unlikely that any of them carried a S&W single action revolverf at the fight at the "O.K" Corral(actually Fremont Street ina vacant lot) due to the fact the cal. of the revolvers were "Obsolete" and if they had it would have been a double action. I thought the American Model and ammo were available in 1881, and double actions did not appear until either the late '80's or '90's.The article was in Wild West magazine ,April 2013 edition #26, page 5.
Thanx
Rich in Ky

 

[opoefc]

Rich, The S&W Model .44DA did not appear until 1881 and it's very unlikely any of them got as far west as Tombstone by the time of the OK Corral shootout on Oct.25, 1881. What you read in most publications about events in the old west is 5% reality and 95% poetic license by the author. There is an interesting S&W connection to the OK Corral event. For many years a man by the name of John Gilchriese had a shop in Tombstone and was the primary purveyor of Wyatt Earp memorabilia, etc. I knew him casually. ( I grew up in the Tucson-Tombstone area as a child and played Cowboys & Indians in the OK Corral with real cowboys and real Indians!) In 1970 I was passing through Tomstone and visited John's shop. He had an engraved American Model on display as being the gun Wyatt Earp used at the OK Corral gun. fight. I examined the gun and told John that the serial number indicated the gun was not made until after the time John claimed it was Earps , so it's likely hood of it being Wyatt's pistol, was very slim. John did not agree with me. Later Franklin Mint came out with a series of replica firearms used by famous western personalities, such as Bat Masterson, Gen. Custer, etc. One of their series was to be a replica of the .44 American owned by Gilchriese, which he was claiming to have been Earp's. The gun was to have S&W stamping on it, as did the original. I notified S&W management of Franklin Mint's plan and S&W sued them to stop the use of the S&W name on a fraudulent representation of the gun being used before it was made. S&W won the suit and all examples of the gun sold by Franklin Mint have the barrel rib blank where the S&W name is stamped on the real American model. John later sold the gun and I don't know where it is today. The booklet included with the replicas sold by Franklin Mint still claims the gun was Wyatt's at the OK Corral fight. Ed.

 

[glowe]

That is a very interesting account Ed. I actually have one of those Franklin Mint American replicas. It has a serial number on the butt - 20029, which would have a ship date of 1873. I have read just about every account of the Earps' life since my Great Great Grandmother and Great Aunt & Uncle were Earps.

From what I have read, it is very likely that the Earps owned many hoglegs during their careers and that would suggest that there were S&Ws in that long line of firearms. Problem is that there is no documented evidence that any specific S&W sidearm was owned by the Earps.

Colt firearms associated with the Earps are mostly not properly documented either. I know of very few and one is still in the possession of my Uncle Bob Earp's descendents in California. The story on that revolver is that Wyatt bought it at a hardware store in California before his first trip to Alaska, well after his lawman days. I have always been suspicious that most of the Earps guns were bought at local hardware and general stores throughout their travels in the Old West and either lost, broken, or sold without documentation.

 

[opoefc]

Gary, I don't recall now the serial number on the gun John had. Jinks has the file on the court case of S&W vs. Franklin Mint. I do remember it was shipped later than John was claiming that Wyatt owned the gun. You will note that the replica gun has no S&W markings on it. Jeff Milton and Tom Rynning, both legendary lawmen of the old west, gave speeches to my Boy Scout troop in Tucson, before WW2, and their opinions of the Earp bros. were very low. Milton said that whenever he came to town ( Tombstone) the Earps made sure they had business elsewhere. Both men wrote interesting books of their lives, For great reading see "Jeff Milton, A Good Man With A Gun" and "Gun Notches" by Rynning. Ed.

 

[jleiper]

I am having a problem understanding something here:
The gun in question here was an American, i.e. an OOM frame No. 3 revolver, correct? Regardless of serial number, these were taken out of production in 1874. When the general production of the No. 3 terminated in January of 1878 there were still in stock several OOM frame revolvers, either No. 3 Americans or OOM Russians (this is documented). However, Smith & Wesson cleared their shelves in May of 1878 by shipping the existing stock to M.W. Robinson. If the shelves were cleared at this point to make room for the newer New Model No. 3, how can it be that the revolver in question was shipped in the early 1880s? Regardles of the revolver's provenance to the Earps, it seems to me that the argument of this particular type of revolver not being shipped in time for the fight doesn't make sense.
Joe

 

[Ravenn]

Gents,

thank you for your replies. Western history related to firearms has always been of interest to me. As has the evolution of the S&W revolvers of that time (as well as Remingtons and Melwin Hulberts)... now if only S&W would reproduce that #3 with todays metalugery knowledge...........

Thanx again...Rich

 

[rboineau]

I'm with Rich on repro-ing the Model 3. Target version, in 38 and 44 Special calibers (And maybe 22 as well, if the weight could be kept down).

 

[mg357]

I did some research in the SCSW 3rd edition and here is what I found. Second Model American (Model No. 3 2nd Model Single Action) serial number 20029 has been attributed to Wyatt Earp as the gun used by him in the gunfight at the OK Corral. although there is some question on this.

 

[jd45]

Thanx for the help, Dave. jd45