Grail gun: Smith & Wesson model 547, K-Frame 9mm, no moon clips

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NIGHTLORD40K said:
Congratulations! I got to play with one of these last year at the LGS. It was cool, but I dont know if it was $900 cool........Glad you like it, though.

You didnt show us the best part, the funky ejector! Lol.:D
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I"ll post an ejector shot tomorrow. It's locked away in the safe & the wife is already asleep.


I would have snapped that 547 up pronto for $900 if it was in good condition.
 
I am glad you found one of your grail guns BUT... :p

The lack of moonclips makes me sad... :(

MOONCLIPS RULE! and the single best reason to chamber a revolver in a rimless cartridge is most rimless cartridges use thick more robust moonclips than a rimmed cartridge would.
 
jertex said:
The wife wasn't asleep after all so I could open the safe without bothering her: here is a pic of the extractor on the 547. The most complex extractor I've ever seen and probably too expensive to make, which is why I suspect they stopped making this revolver.
View attachment 862996
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What did you pay for it, if you don't mind me asking.
 
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The story I had read somewhere a long time ago was that it was built for the Israelis to arm Palestinian police; they didn't want the moonclips. Supposedly, after they delivered some, they reverse engineered it and cancelled the contract
 
George P said:
The story I had read somewhere a long time ago was that it was built for the Israelis to arm Palestinian police; they didn't want the moonclips. Supposedly, after they delivered some, they reverse engineered it and cancelled the contract
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I was told they were developed at the behest of the French Police. o_O

Ahhh, but now I read the Isreali/Palestinian story too........interesting.
 
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NIGHTLORD40K said:
I was told they were developed at the behest of the French Police. o_O

Ahhh, but now I read the Isreali/Palestinian story too........interesting.
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I've only heard the Palestinian story, but I don't know if the reverse engineering part is true. I do know that some were sold to Israel because there were some reimported models from Israel floating around. A guy on the S&W forum had two or three of them at one time.

The Evangelist Cowboy said:
That would be an excellent backup piece to the officer/citizen carrying a primary in 9mm hell it would be a great primary itself
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I'm planning on carrying it occasionally, just because I like to carry a revolver sometimes. I know that the collectors will probably cringe but I buy them to use/shoot, which is why I bought one with a slight hint of holster wear on the right muzzle edge, which had clearly been shot. It's in excellent condition, but one that I won't hesitate to shoot when the urge strikes me, and right now the urge is almost irresistible. I will be selective on who I let shoot it. I have some friends who like to shoot but aren't as appreciative of fine revolvers and who wouldn't take the care that I would want when shooting a fine revolver. I would, however, let my sons shoot it, etc.
 
jertex said:
I've only heard the Palestinian story, but I don't know if the reverse engineering part is true. I do know that some were sold to Israel because there were some reimported models from Israel floating around. A guy on the S&W forum had two or three of them at one time.


I'm planning on carrying it occasionally, just because I like to carry a revolver sometimes. I know that the collectors will probably cringe but I buy them to use/shoot, which is why I bought one with a slight hint of holster wear on the right muzzle edge, which had clearly been shot. It's in excellent condition, but one that I won't hesitate to shoot when the urge strikes me, and right now the urge is almost irresistible. I will be selective on who I let shoot it. I have some friends who like to shoot but aren't as appreciative of fine revolvers and who wouldn't take the care that I would want when shooting a fine revolver. I would, however, let my sons shoot it, etc.
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Not shooting a revolver is akin to putting pineapples on pizza it just shouldn't be done
 
Very cool! Hikock45 did a video about them a few years back. I've been keeping my eyes open ever since.
 
Nice! The 547 is one of those revolvers I thought I could find cheap, someday, because they were largely unloved, in their time. Well, eventually, the collectors’ market noticed them, and asking prices shot upward.

Today, I like the concept of carrying a revolver and a Glock, and it would be nice to be able to reload the revolver by thumbing rounds from a magazine. I can presently only do this with a Ruger Blackhawk Bisley, with .45 ACP.
 
NIGHTLORD40K said:
I was told they were developed at the behest of the French Police. o_O

Ahhh, but now I read the Isreali/Palestinian story too........interesting.
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I always read these were developed for the French & after all the r & d that S & W put into these the French backed out. Could be they were sold to Israel & Palestine as at the time no one in the US wanted anything to do with them.
 
S&W put a lot of effort into the Model 547, between the unusual ejector and the moving face in the standing breech to deal with 9x19mm rounds that were not exactly 19mm. (I don't know why they gave it the semi-bobbed hammer, though.) NEVER take the extractor apart, unless you are a mechanical genius. I did, about 30 years ago, and I had to take it to a gunsmith who managed to get it back together. Lots of little parts. IIRC, S&W said that the little retractable fingers on the extractor were stronger than the rim of the cartridge case, and so would shear through the rim of a stuck cartridge before they would break or bend.

I thought they were a good idea at the time because they gave you a K-frame with a more powerful cartridge than 38 Special +P, but less powerful and more pleasant to shoot than a 357 Magnum. With so many lightweight pocket 9mm autos on the market now, that idea no longer makes much sense, I guess.
 
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I wouldn’t have purchased it if it had a 4” barrel. 3” barreled revolvers are my favorite guns. I prefer the round butt grips as well.
 
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