Three Third Model Perfected Single Shot Pistols, shipped February 1913

[mrcvs]

I believe I have six of these, and here are three that, coincidentally, all shipped February 1913. I only have a letter for one, the others shall arrive in time. The letter is for the bottom pistol, the top one is exactly 200 serial numbers previous to the bottom pistol, and the middle pistol is 160 after, or 40 prior to, the bottom pistol.

The letter states the bottom pistol shipped to Edward & Walker Co, Portland, Maine, and there is no indication of others in the shipment, and so being an uncommon shipping destination, it's unlikely the other two were in the same shipment.

Will post letters for the other two once they arrive.

As Smith & Wesson did not ship sequentially, it's surprising these three shipped all the same month.

February 1913: The last full month of President Taft's administration. British Prime Minister was H H Asquith. The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income taxes on all sources of income, not just some. And Jimmy Hoffa born this month.

 

[rct269]

Two of (used to be) mine were nineteen numbers apart 4807 and 4826 (a 6" and an 8" respectively). I figured there was a chance they were made on the same day, so I asked The Man. He did extra duty, and they weren't!! They weren't even shipped close together.

4807 was one of 31 units completed on May 9, 1911--------and shipped a mere FOUR and A HALF years later (November 11, 1915). The auction house said it was part of the factory display. The Man said, "There is no indication that this handgun was ever part of the Smith & Wesson Office Display."

4826 "-----------was in the production run of this model completed on June 21, 1911"-------, and as a "single unit special order" was out the door on June 24, 1911.

Then he said, "This certainly establishes that they weren't produced in the same production lot of Perfected Single Shot Pistols." I figured that meant I should know better than to ask dumb questions like that.

Yeah, well "Hope springs eternal!".

Ralph Tremaine

 

[mrcvs]

Ralph,

Where were you able to obtain the exact production dates?

 

[rct269]

The production dates came from "The Man" (Jinks).

Ed Cornett (for one) has production records for what I presume are older guns (Antiques)---as proven by his many posts here sharing such information. It stands to reason Jinks has similar records---for what and when I have no idea, but an educated guess says it's a bunch. If one reads everything readily available about Jinks, and his history with S&W, such educated guesses come easy. The book jacket on his book History of Smith & Wesson, for instance, tells us he first visited S&W in 1957. From 1965, during his many trips to the factory, he spent part of his time answering their mail on questions of a historical nature. In 1969, he spent all of his time as the company's historical consultant. In 1970 he became part of the S&W staff as the firm's historian----and functioned in several other aspects of their operations until just a few years ago. In short, he's been there and done that.(!!!!) He has over 100,000 S&W items in his paper collection. What's in there? Your guess is as good as mine, but---it's a bunch!!

So why are we told such information is not available? Probably because it's not available for everything----whatever everything may entail---perhaps because it isn't organized to the degree necessary for ready access (as are the shipping records and invoices for example). And that being the case, digging it out becomes a herculean task worthy of a letter fee of $1,000----which would cut down on letter requests from all but the lunatic fringe like me---and not even I am going to last long at that rate. You can ask the Boss Lady how long she'd put up with that foolishness. That's why I said he did "extra duty" in my post up above. And the letter in response to my question about whether my two guns were made on the same day was not a "regular" letter----it was a freebie.

I suspect he gets all sorts of requests for information on myriad topics. I also suspect he ignores many, gives non-response responses to many (as he did to me one time, causing me to dig deeper on my own---and came up with what I believe at least makes sense---never mind if I'm right or not)---I'm happy.

Ralph Tremaine

 

[ol777gunnerz]

info

These guns were not shipped in any order, I own a 8 inch 2nd model single shot that shipped a year earlier than the exact one assembled & serial numbered before it.

 

[handejector]

You sure you're right on which is which? Letter says Patridge, but bottom gun says something else.

The letter is for the bottom pistol, the top one is exactly 200 serial numbers previous to the bottom pistol, and the middle pistol is 160 after, or 40 prior to, the bottom pistol.

I'm confused. Who's on first?
If a train left Atlanta at 60 miles an hour and another train left Savannah at 59 miles per hour.......

 

[mrcvs]

You sure you're right on which is which? Letter says Patridge, but bottom gun says something else.



I'm confused. Who's on first?
If a train left Atlanta at 60 miles an hour and another train left Savannah at 59 miles per hour.......

You're right! I never noticed that. Definitely not a Patridge front sight. What is it? A modified Paine of sorts?

The top one is serial number 6359, the middle one is serial number 6519. The bottom one is 6559. The sights on the middle pistol have been modified. The presumably former U-notch is now a square. The front sight has been capped with a Patridge overlay.