Terminology of S&W Firearms

[k22fan]

[...] Since the original Chief Special was a J frame .38 special revolver and the Ladysmith was an M frame .22 revolver, reusing the names for a semi automatic and a J frame model 36, 60 and 65 respectively just seems in bad taste to me. Just my opinion.

"in bad taste" is much more polite than any wording I would have thought of.

 

[one eye joe]

THE TERM ".45 LONG COLT" GRATES AGAINST ME LIKE NAILS ON A BLACKBOARD. THE PROPER NOMENCLATURE IS ".45 COLT". I HAVE NEVER SEEN A CARTRIDGE HEADSTAMPED, BOX OF AMMO LABELLED, OR A FIREARM BARREL INSCRIBED ".45 LONG COLT". A SHORTER .45 CALIBER CARTRIDGE DID EXIST PIOR TO WW I, BUT I HAVE NO IDEA AS TO ITS NOMENCLATURE OR HEADSTAMP…...

 

[tlay]

Maybe it was called short pony!

 

[Oyeboteb]

The whole S&W discussion of whether to call them stocks, checking and yoke OR grips, checkering and crane comes from early S&W literature. Since the founders, Horace and Daniel, chose to use the terms stocks, checking and yoke, then to be true to the men that formed the company I use their terms.

While it is true that many folks in the gun world including the current ownership and the company historian have decided not to fight current trends and use mainstream terms, it does not change the fact that the founders of the company chose those words.

I do not know their reasoning. It is possible that they purposely used these words to be different from their largest competitor, COLT. I know that they did not like using the word COLT on their firearms when the gun fired a cartridge containing the word COLT.

So call it what you wish, but the men that formed the company did it for a reason and I will honor their decision as a collector and shooter of their guns. It's a free country (except for taxes) so do what you wish.

Hear Hear!

I agree completely.

Plus, it is nice to keep the old 'proper' terms alive and vivid and in use, just as it is to value the Revolvers these terms apply to.

 

[DWalt]

"A SHORTER .45 CALIBER CARTRIDGE DID EXIST PIOR TO WW I, BUT I HAVE NO IDEA AS TO ITS NOMENCLATURE OR HEADSTAMP"

It is usually called the .45 S&W or the .45 Schofield. It was originally adopted for use in the S&W Schofield model revolvers in use for a short time by the U. S. Army, as the S&W cylinder length was shorter than that for the Colt SAA, also in use by the Army at the time. To avoid ammunition incompatibility problems, the Army adopted the shorter cartridge for general issue, as it could be used interchangeably in both revolvers. Some might call it the .45 Short Colt, but the ammunition and gun makers never did, nor did the U. S. military. The Army called it just the ".45 Revolver, Ball", and later, the "Model 1882 Ball Cartridge for Cal. .45 Revolver." And indeed there has never been a ".45 Long Colt" cartridge, but that terminology has somehow crept into general usage. I think it can be found on some newer cartridge boxes from some makers. Most cartridge collectors cringe at the term, as it instantly brands the user as being not very knowledgeable, to put it politely.

 

[gmborkovic]

Hell DWalt, I will recite teenage ignorance. When I was 14 , my buddy and I bought a S&W Schofield from a neighbor lady with 8 boxes of FA copper ammo. Went down to the creek and shot all 8 boxes but one round, still have it. Sold it at the Old Baltimore Show to buy a 1941 Ford. It ran good and smoked like heck. Gun gone, Ford gone but saved one round of ammo. Mike 2796

 

[DWalt]

If the ammo was copper-cased, it was pre-1890. A tinned brass case was adopted then, followed in 1900 with an un-tinned brass case. I actually have done things in my callow youth which were worse than your story. I should write a book titled "Guns I have sold but shouldn't, and guns I should have sold, but didn't." But I suspect many others could write the same book.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

I was looking through the Model 10 section of the SCSW over the weekend, and noticed that the SCSW uses the term "tapered" barrel. Where does that leave us in the discussion?

I'm not sure, but I'll pencil it in as something in to which to look.

 

[Warren Sear]

This is my platform,
this is my gun.

 

[gmborkovic]

FA box marked 1888. Come on DWalt, share a story. Mike 2796

 

[tftech1]

Meta-terminology

Don, perhaps I wasn't clear. I never meant to infer that these were S&W factory terms. Other than Chief Special that was a factory term and then recycled as a semi automatic. Terms like Ladysmith and Lemon Squeezer were public terms that were, at least in the case of the term Ladysmith recycled by the factory as Lady Smith.

I do believe that most collectors today identify with the term Ladysmith more so than the correct terminology of Model 22 Hand Ejector or Model M.

Since the original Chief Special was a J frame .38 special revolver and the Ladysmith was an M frame .22 revolver, reusing the names for a semi automatic and a J frame model 36, 60 and 65 respectively just seems in bad taste to me. Just my opinion.

Now we proceed to meta-terminology in this quote. The author of this quote should say "imply," not "infer." We draw inferences from implications.

 

[DWalt]

FA box marked 1888. Come on DWalt, share a story. Mike 2796

How about selling a Volcanic pistol for $200 to get beer money when I was in college?

 

[Cooter Brown]

No wonder they're going under. The didn't even know they were not using the proper terminology for their own stuff!