SW #3 New Model with shoulder stocks Australian

[wwingsong]

getting these next week, consecutive serial numbered Australian Contract .44 Russian cal. factory letter and refinished at SW factory circa 1950. Are in the boxes factory shipped them in in 1950. has holsters and one stock. anyone have a feel for value? They are beautiful and make me smile big to hold them. These are my first antique SW revolvers so any advice much appreciated.

 

[Breakaway500]

They look beautiful! Def in the 5 figure value range.Make sure you post more pics when they arrive!

 

[opoefc]

There are several "Australian" contracts and value can depend on which one and where the Australian Police assigned the guns. Not all Australian Police NM#3s were cut for shoulder stocks and not all Australian contract guns ( shipped through S&Ws agents in Melbourne) wound up going to the Police. Get a copy of Max Slee's "Service Arms of the South Australian Police" for info. on these guns found nowhere else. Having said all that, the refinishing detracts from collector value to some degree, but if it's a factory "restoration " I would estimate a reduction of only about one third in value vs. original condition values. The stocks are numbered under the wood, by the factory and Roy Jinks says these are not serial numbers, so we can probably just refer to those numbers a assembly numbers, however they were kept track of by production logs. The leather holsters for the guns & stocks were made by the Australians, not S&W, in at least two different styles. One ship carrying a shipment of Australian contract guns sank off the coast of Australia and the guns were presumed lost, however guns on the shipping manifest, listed by serial number, have subsequently shown up in Aussie collections, so apparently there was some salvage by enterprising Aussies living on the east coast. Ed.

 

[codenamedave]

Sweet!

Almost as interesting as the guns is the fact that S&W was willing to work on such oldies as late as the fifties.

+1 for more pics when you can.

 

[rct269]

"They are beautiful and make me smile big to hold them."

That being the case, the value is somewhere north of priceless--------and whatever you paid is a screaming bargain!!

I know this because I have some that make me smile big too.

Ralph Tremaine

 

[model3sw]

Many years ago a few of us thought of the idea to keep a list of known Australian Revolvers and stocks recovered, then the person who would have been my main partner on the task, passed.

Still a good idea, though.

 

[model3sw]

There are several "Australian" contracts and value can depend on which one and where the Australian Police assigned the guns. Not all Australian Police NM#3s were cut for shoulder stocks and not all Australian contract guns ( shipped through S&Ws agents in Melbourne) wound up going to the Police. Get a copy of Max Slee's "Service Arms of the South Australian Police" for info. on these guns found nowhere else. Having said all that, the refinishing detracts from collector value to some degree, but if it's a factory "restoration " I would estimate a reduction of only about one third in value vs. original condition values. The stocks are numbered under the wood, by the factory and Roy Jinks says these are not serial numbers, so we can probably just refer to those numbers a assembly numbers, however they were kept track of by production logs. The leather holsters for the guns & stocks were made by the Australians, not S&W, in at least two different styles. One ship carrying a shipment of Australian contract guns sank off the coast of Australia and the guns were presumed lost, however guns on the shipping manifest, listed by serial number, have subsequently shown up in Aussie collections, so apparently there was some salvage by enterprising Aussies living on the east coast. Ed.

Ed, Have you or has anyone else in the S&WCA kept a list of the known Australian NM3s and stock numbers, leather etc.

I have 2 of the first shipment and 1 from the second ( a few numbers away from yours) 2 holsters (both in lesser condition) and 3 stock holsters that are nice.

Let's see if we can revive the Australian NM3 owners to rally for a "Count" of how many are still around.

Gary Garbrecht and I were going to do that, then he passed. We were trying to make a database to reunite numbered stocks to the same numbered guns, etc.

Jaimie in Australia has one of the sweetest set up I've ever known to exist with loading tools, cases, LEOs badge ID and letters.

 

[opoefc]

Sal, I haven't and I don't know of anyone who has kept a data base of numbers, etc. There is a list that was published years ago of the serial numbers of the Aussie NM#3 revolvers imported from the surplus sale of these guns by Australia to a US Dealer, circa 1950s-60s, but it did not list the numbers on the shoulder stocks. I doubt there was any attempt to "match" guns with stocks by S&W, or the Aussies, as you have to remove the metal from the wood to see the number on the shoulder stocks and the task would have no relation to anything regarding gun functionality, etc. I don't believe Jinks has a "shipping" record of shoulder stocks, by serial number, so a factory letter for a shoulder stock is not available as I see no reason why the factory would have had any interest in recording shoulder stock shipments by serial number, although they could be bought separately as an accessory. As we know, S&W offered and sold, shoulder stocks for many models besides the Australian contract guns, and there were some engineering changes in production over times, mostly relating to the attaching mechanisms. Incidentally, the factory did not call these stocks "Shoulder" stocks, they called them "Extension" stocks in the production logs. Ed.

 

[mmaher94087]

opoefc, I believe Sal was referring to the visible serial number stamped on the tang of the metal on the underside of the Aussie Contract shoulder/extension stocks rather than the number on the wood.

I collected numbers for years and due to a hard drive failure and a corrupted back-up file; I had to start over in 2006. Presently, I have around 20 numbers and seven of them were supplied by Sal.

 

[opoefc]

Mike, Could be. The visible numbers were stamped by the Aussies, not S&W, as I recall, and originally matched the revolver's number. Those stocks would have still had the S&W number under the wood, as that's how the stocking dep't employees at S&W got paid for their work - piece rate payments, as reflected in the daily production logs for the stocking dep't. which lists the production by "serial" number of each extension stock made. Sal & I have been in recent PM exchanges on this subject. Ed.

 

[model3sw]

Just bumping up for renewed interest in Australian Contract New Model 3s and stocks.