The last ".357"

gripper

gripper

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This is certainly not the last .357 magnum Smith & Wesson ever produced, although it is the last of it's kind from the pre war era of Registered and Non Registered Magnums. It is a unique gun as it was built at a time when Smith & Wesson was only producing guns for the military. There are no "B" stampings on the grip frame or ejector rod cutout like most blued guns have. The grips for the most part fit perfectly, yet have a 202177 serial number stamp which doesn't even factor into a pre war magna grip if they did belong to another gun. The most interesting aspect of the gun I think is the serial number on the bottom of the grip frame. It looks as though the person who marked the serial number used number punches from the early 1900's, as the style is identical to the numbers on most of the Triplelocks I have seen. It would be interesting to know who was pulled aside from the daily task of producing Victory models to do this work. There is a lot of research yet to do on this one. I'm sure there is an interesting story to go with what Roy Jinks says is a "special order".

Chad Gripp






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[URL=http://s871.photobucket.com/user/grippers/media/teneillebdayand62489015_zps8727ea21.jpg.html][IMG]http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab275/grippers/teneillebdayand62489015_zps8727ea21.jpg
 
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That's a very cool gun.
Since you did not mention anything about Mr. Wallswait I guess that's some of the research needed.
Thanks for showing the beautiful pictures.
 
Chad
The grips on your RM with that serial number would have been from a Commercial
1917 If you look close at the grip I think the number is 207 not 202 I have a 1917
that is 207XXX and it was shipped at the end of 1940 when they stopped shipping
commercial guns. so when they got the order for the RM they went and found a spare pair of grips from a 1917. Just my idea of how the grips ended up on the RM.
Jim
 
I don't find a surname Wallswait anywhere. But I do find this CT resident (though in the wrong county): Robert Wohlforth of Ridgefield, 1904-1997, who graduated from West Point in 1927. He had an interesting career, including a stint in the Justice Department as an economist studying the financial activity of German corporations. That's what he was doing, for the princely sum of $5000 a year, in 1940 according to the census: Economist, Dep. Justice.

Memorial

Ridgefield, where he lived, is about 50 miles from West Hartford, where the revolver was shipped.

It might be worth asking Roy or somebody in the SWHF if you can get a copy of the inventory entry (which is probably handwritten) and invoice (which is probably typed based on somebody's attempt to read an unfamiliar handwritten name).

Yeah, I know: long shot. But whether Wohlforth got this gun or not, I bet "Wallswait" is an old misreading of the inventory record.

If this guy didn't have your gun, he deserved to have one just like it.

Fine revolver, by the way.

UPDATE: Though a possible candidate, Wohlforth is not the buyer. The true buyer of the gun is Robert Wadsworth of West Hartford CT. See other posts further down the thread for details.
 
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Great gun and interesting commentary. I know they made RMs to any barrel length but that is the first 4.5" I've seen...cool length!
 
Chad:

That gun is way high on the cool meter. That is the only 357 that I have ever seen ship in 1943. The other interesting thing about the gun is that it has the S&W roll mark on both the right side plate and on the left side of the gun. Each of the roll marks are in the "proper" place - however, I have never seen a roll mark on the right and on the left of the same "pre-end-of-the-war 357". Usually the earlier guns (approx pre REG 2040) had the small S&W roll mark on the left side, with post REG 2040 guns having the large roll mark on the right side plate.

We look forward to other information that you discover. Also, it looks like a couple of your very well done photos are not showing up correctly...
 
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RKmesa said:
Chad:

That gun is way high on the cool meter. That is the only 357 that I have ever seen ship in 1943. The other interesting thing about the gun is that it has the S&W roll mark on both the right side plate and on the left side of the gun. Each of the roll marks are in the "proper" place - however, I have never seen a roll mark on the right and on the left of the same gun. Usually the earlier guns (approx pre REG 2040) had the small S&W roll mark on the left side, with post REG 2040 guns having the large roll mark on the right side plate.

We look forward to other information that you discover. Also, it looks like a couple of your very well done photos are not showing up correctly...
Click to expand...
638-3 Airweight have S&W roll marks on both sides I thought it was strange when I got it home, then I googled it. The registered magnum is another story and a mighty fine gun at that. Very unique.
 
I would say that gun just abut pegs the Cool Meter! :cool: What sort of surprises me about the overall picture here is that someone would get an impossible-to-get revolver during that time frame and then (apparently) not use it much. For any gun to have been delivered to the civilian market in 1943 suggests that the recipient would have to show a very overwhelming need for it, and for it to remain virtually pristine 70 years later is pretty amazing. Congratulations on a great find.

Froggie
 
bmg60 said:
Chad
The grips on your RM with that serial number would have been from a Commercial
1917 If you look close at the grip I think the number is 207 not 202 I have a 1917
that is 207XXX and it was shipped at the end of 1940 when they stopped shipping
commercial guns. so when they got the order for the RM they went and found a spare pair of grips from a 1917. Just my idea of how the grips ended up on the RM.
Jim
Click to expand...

Jim, I bet you are 100% correct. The Commercial 1917 never crossed my mind.
 
In WW2 Hartford CT was a busy area, lots of defense work went on.

I always get mixed up with Hartford proper, east and west. Most folks just call it Hartford so the rest is technical ;)...

On a side note Hartford area winds up Red Sox Fans and they dont use Rs when they speak so its Haatfod. Most of that has gone away just like Connecticut lockjaw speak (think Mr Howell)

However in that area was Pratt Whitney, major player in aircraft engines, also P&W tool and measurement, Colts blue dome is near by too. I am sure I am forgetting more big ones.

There were many many support companies in the area also. As well as places like JT Slocumb
. They made measuring tools and engine parts.

Its very possible that Mr Wallswait had connections through a defense contractor. I dont know how to check to see who were C level executives during that time frame.


Thinking about the possibility of a commute from Ridgefield to Hartford with that era roads. It would have been a chore and I would guess it would have taken two hours each way. Today its probably close to an hour or slightly more using interstate highways. However anything is certainly possible.
 
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DCWilson said:
I don't find a surname Wallswait anywhere. But I do find this CT resident (though in the wrong county): Robert Wohlforth of Ridgefield, 1904-1997, who graduated from West Point in 1927. He had an interesting career, including a stint in the Justice Department as an economist studying the financial activity of German corporations. That's what he was doing, for the princely sum of $5000 a year, in 1940 according to the census: Economist, Dep. Justice.

Memorial

Ridgefield, where he lived, is about 50 miles from West Hartford, where the revolver was shipped.

It might be worth asking Roy or somebody in the SWHF if you can get a copy of the inventory entry (which is probably handwritten) and invoice (which is probably typed based on somebody's attempt to read an unfamiliar handwritten name).

Yeah, I know: long shot. But whether Wohlforth got this gun or not, I bet "Wallswait" is an old misreading of the inventory record.

If this guy didn't have your gun, he deserved to have one just like it.

Fine revolver, by the way.
Click to expand...

David, That's outstanding research. I have looked into "Wallswait" many different times and got nothing. In my naturally poor penmanship I just scribbled down "Wallswait" and "Wohlforth". I can see a resemblance and can see how it would be hard to make out if the person in charge of inventory records had hand writing equal or worse than mine.

I'll check with Roy and see what he thinks. If you are correct you would add a great deal of history to this gun. Thank you!

Chad
 
RKmesa said:
Chad:

That gun is way high on the cool meter. That is the only 357 that I have ever seen ship in 1943. The other interesting thing about the gun is that it has the S&W roll mark on both the right side plate and on the left side of the gun. Each of the roll marks are in the "proper" place - however, I have never seen a roll mark on the right and on the left of the same "pre-end-of-the-war 357". Usually the earlier guns (approx pre REG 2040) had the small S&W roll mark on the left side, with post REG 2040 guns having the large roll mark on the right side plate.
Click to expand...

Richard, I'm glad you brought that up. That was actually one of the things I first noticed when I purchased the gun. I completely forgot about including it in my post. Good eye! Thanks.

Chad
 
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DCWilson said:
I don't find a surname Wallswait anywhere. But I do find this CT resident (though in the wrong county): Robert Wohlforth of Ridgefield, 1904-1997, who graduated from West Point in 1927. He had an interesting career, including a stint in the Justice Department as an economist studying the financial activity of German corporations. That's what he was doing, for the princely sum of $5000 a year, in 1940 according to the census: Economist, Dep. Justice.

Memorial

Ridgefield, where he lived, is about 50 miles from West Hartford, where the revolver was shipped.

It might be worth asking Roy or somebody in the SWHF if you can get a copy of the inventory entry (which is probably handwritten) and invoice (which is probably typed based on somebody's attempt to read an unfamiliar handwritten name).

Yeah, I know: long shot. But whether Wohlforth got this gun or not, I bet "Wallswait" is an old misreading of the inventory record.

If this guy didn't have your gun, he deserved to have one just like it.

Fine revolver, by the way.
Click to expand...

David, you may be on to something. Here is an obit that would indicate, if Wohlforth is in fact the name, a definite degree of importance that could have warranted a special order less than a year from D-Day. This is indeed interesting research that the SWHF will need to get involved in. Hopefully Bill will be along shortly.
Chuck

Mildred Gilman Wohlforth
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Birth: Oct. 1, 1896
Death: Jan. 3, 1994

Journalist, author: She "didn't invent the title 'sob sister,' but I'm the first gal reporter who ever used it," she said in the 1980s. The term described Roaring 20s reporters who specialized in heart-rending stories of personal tragedies, and she was one of the originals and one of the highest paid in New York. Her subjects ranged from sordid crimes to White House society, interviewing both murderers and heads of state. She also wrote eight novels, one of them "*** Sisters," as well as many articles for major magazines. The Chicago native wrote her first story when she was 12 and began selling them when she was at the University of Wisconsin. After graduation she became a secretary to New York World columnist Heywood Broun, and frequented parties with the likes of Dorothy Parker, Alexander Wollcott, Robert Benchley, Harpo Marx, Bennett Cerf, Sinclair Lewis, Paul Robeson, and Harold Ross (she wrote one of the first profiles, on Robeson, for Ross's new New Yorker). While working for Hearst's New York Evening Journal, she met Robert Wohlforth (buried alongside her), a reporter for the competing Morning Telegraph. They were married in 1930, and bought a 1730 home on Rockwell Road in Ridgefield. She continued to write throughout her life and among the many celebrities she interviewed were Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Shirley Temple, Amelia Earhart, Gene Kelly, and Jimmy Durante. She was also supposed to interview Hitler in 1933, but the Gestapo, distressed at probing questions she had already asked Hermann Goering, threw her out of Germany. Well into her 90s, she rode her bicycle three miles a day.—Jack Sanders

Burial:
Maple Shade Cemetery
Ridgefield
Fairfield County
Connecticut, USA
 
29-1 said:
This is indeed interesting research that the SWHF will need to get involved in.
Click to expand...

Chuck, I corresponded with Bill Cross awhile back on this gun. I think he was confident records do exist on this gun, but are in with the war time records that the SWHF has not yet digitized.

Chad
 
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