RM Vivas
US Veteran
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I'm doing my nocturnal internet auction cruising and I spy a couple of M&P's that look interesting.
I can't really say why the first one appealed to me. It just felt right. I had the feeling it might be ex-NYPD. The serial number fell into a gap in my records, so I couldn't check it that way, but it just gave off a vibe. I bid on it, won it and sent off for a letter on it.
Turns out the vibe I got wasn't Blue; it was Green!
Subject gun: S&W M&P #C234550.
Let's see what we have. An associate of mine shot the images and did pretty good work.
Left and right side of the gun shows a pretty standard relatively early C-series M&P SB with 4-inch barrel. Grips are a mismatch, but hey, wahttya gonna do?
Serial on cylinder and frame match.
So I contact the fine fellows at The Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation for a letter and they send me a letter with a copy of the relevant page from the shipping book.
C234550 was shipped 11JUN53 to Marine Corps. Sup. Annex Barstow, Calif.; a Marine Corps. Military & Police!!!!
Like I said, it gave off a vibe but it was a Green vibe not Blue.
The letter is shown here:
These "Officer Victory Models" are mentioned in the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson:
The Fall 2008 issue of the Smith & Wesson Collectors Association Journal (Vol. 42, No, 3) has a brief article on these guns. I have a personal policy of not posting articles from any organizations journal without their express permission, as those journals are for the organizations members.
Interestingly, this particular gun predates the four shipments in the article. As the shipping invoice shows, this was an order that took place whilst the hostilities in Korea were still going on and this shipment of 484 guns predates the other ones. While this gun sports a hole for a lanyard loop (not present) the backstrap lacks the "US PROPERTY" marking and the grips are, of course, incorrect.
Am I worried about the lack of "US PROPERTY" stamp? Nope. I've got a letter that shows this gun is %100 kosher.
So, what to do with the gun?
I had bought it on a whim, thinking it might be ex-NYPD. Now I find out it's a Korean War-era veteran of the Green Machine.
Sadly, it doesn't really fit in with what I collect. I'll play with it for a little bit and then probably drop it on an auction site with all the supporting documents and paperwork and see what it goes for.
I should feel sad that it wasn't ex-NYPD but as I said in the opening, there were two guns. I'll have another post up about the second.
Best,
RM Vivas
I'm doing my nocturnal internet auction cruising and I spy a couple of M&P's that look interesting.
I can't really say why the first one appealed to me. It just felt right. I had the feeling it might be ex-NYPD. The serial number fell into a gap in my records, so I couldn't check it that way, but it just gave off a vibe. I bid on it, won it and sent off for a letter on it.
Turns out the vibe I got wasn't Blue; it was Green!
Subject gun: S&W M&P #C234550.
Let's see what we have. An associate of mine shot the images and did pretty good work.
Left and right side of the gun shows a pretty standard relatively early C-series M&P SB with 4-inch barrel. Grips are a mismatch, but hey, wahttya gonna do?
Serial on cylinder and frame match.
So I contact the fine fellows at The Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation for a letter and they send me a letter with a copy of the relevant page from the shipping book.
C234550 was shipped 11JUN53 to Marine Corps. Sup. Annex Barstow, Calif.; a Marine Corps. Military & Police!!!!
Like I said, it gave off a vibe but it was a Green vibe not Blue.
The letter is shown here:
These "Officer Victory Models" are mentioned in the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson:
The Fall 2008 issue of the Smith & Wesson Collectors Association Journal (Vol. 42, No, 3) has a brief article on these guns. I have a personal policy of not posting articles from any organizations journal without their express permission, as those journals are for the organizations members.
Interestingly, this particular gun predates the four shipments in the article. As the shipping invoice shows, this was an order that took place whilst the hostilities in Korea were still going on and this shipment of 484 guns predates the other ones. While this gun sports a hole for a lanyard loop (not present) the backstrap lacks the "US PROPERTY" marking and the grips are, of course, incorrect.
Am I worried about the lack of "US PROPERTY" stamp? Nope. I've got a letter that shows this gun is %100 kosher.
So, what to do with the gun?
I had bought it on a whim, thinking it might be ex-NYPD. Now I find out it's a Korean War-era veteran of the Green Machine.
Sadly, it doesn't really fit in with what I collect. I'll play with it for a little bit and then probably drop it on an auction site with all the supporting documents and paperwork and see what it goes for.
I should feel sad that it wasn't ex-NYPD but as I said in the opening, there were two guns. I'll have another post up about the second.
Best,
RM Vivas
