The years known as the Great Depression spanned the 1930’s, and were not kind to many, including the firearms industry. Smith & Wesson in particular suffered mightlly. That company’s products consisted of handguns at a time when the frontier in the West had mostly ended, few military contracts were being placed, and urban states and cities were passing legislation designed to discourage, if not outright prohibit the purchase, possession and carrying of pistols or revolvers.
As orders fell S&W was faced with another problem. It had been their practice to fabricate parts and assemble revolvers using gages rather then blueprints. The result was form of unique parts interchangeability but this method required a workforce with unusually high skills and experience. If a substantial number of these people were terminated it might be difficult if not impossible to replace them. Consequently they decided to continue production of both parts and guns at levels that were not justified by incoming orders.
By the late 1930’s things were so desperate they accepted a contract from the British War Office to design, tool and manufacturer a light 9mm carbine. This was a type of arm that Smith & Wesson had never built and an area in which they had no experience. Since they had no funds for this purpose they requested and obtained an advance payment of one million dollars to get the project going. Tooling began in October 1939 and production started in 1940. It soon became apparent that the carbine would not function satisfactorily with the ammunition specified by the British and the project was terminated. At this point the customer ask for their advance back.
Smith & Wesson had neither the money nor any way to raise such a sum. If the British pressed their claim the company would be forced bankruptcy.
Fortunately Carl Hellstrom, S&W's new Plant Superintendent and future president was able to negotiate a deal to pay off the debt with revolvers (of which they had many) rather then money (of which they had none).
By then the hard-pressed English, who expected Hitler to invade at any moment, were more then willing to accept any kind of guns they could get. But it was clear that to be useful any large quantity of revolvers would need to be able to use “their†service cartridge - which was nothing more that an adaptation of the common .38 S&W, which in one way or another had been around since 1876. However the only Hand Ejector Smith & Wesson made for this round was a little 5-shot Regulation Police model or the even smaller 38/32 Terrier - it was a 5-shot snubby. A military sidearm needed to hold six shots and be much more rugged.
Smith & Wesson quickly proposed something they’d never made - or at least cataloged - before. There was no reason not to make their popular 1905 Hand Ejector/Military & Police - 4th Change chambered to use the .38 S&W cartridge. All the necessary tooling was available and production could start at once by pulling revolvers out of the warehouse and rebuilding them.
Serials numbers are reputed to have begun in the regular Military & Police series at 700,000. However examples are known in the high 685,000 range with delivery dates in the late spring of 1940. Orders were processed through the British Purchasing Commission, at a time when the United States was supposed to be officially neutral. This “arrangement†continued until the Lend-Lease program was established in March 1941. Thereafter the guns would bear U.S. Property markings and be inspected by military inspectors even though they were intended to go to a foreign country.
During the earliest months the “Smith & Wesson No. 2 - 38-200 revolver†was made to commercial standards. They featured a bright-blue finish, checkered Caucasian walnut grips - usually (but not always) with a nickel-plated trademark medallion at the top, and 4, 5 or 6 inch barrels. Unlike their commercial equivalent they came with a lanyard swivel as standard equipment. These revolvers, with the possible exception of barrels and cylinders, were assembled from parts-on-hand. The excessive production during the 1930’s was about to pay off. Various (and numerous) proof and property marks were stamped on the guns after they arrived at their destination, not at the S&W plant.
Production officially started on March 11, 1940. By October 1940 the entire plant was dedicated to making nothing but .38-200 revolvers. When the U.S. Navy tried to slip in an order for 3000 regular .38 Special Military & Police revolvers it was respectfully declined. Production of regular commercial revolvers did not resume until February 27, 1941. By that time the company was in a position to meet both British and domestic requirements.
The first production was shipped to the United Kingdom, Canada, and South Africa.
Regarding those with 6-inch barrels:
A shipment consisting of 20,000 guns was delivered to the British Purchasing Commission on June 20, 1940. An additional 16,600 went to Canada on June 28, 1940. It is unclear if all of these revolvers were delivered on the stated date, or if the date represents the beginning of shipments against the total order.
It appears that the guns that went to Canada were sometimes, if not always, marked with a two-letter stamp starting with the letter “B†on the side of the frame near the stock pin located on the lower front corner of the frame.
Exact details concerning the revolver-in-question can be obtained by requesting a factory letter from S&W’s company historian, Roy Jinks. The cost for this service is a reasonable $30.00. Details will be found on Smith & Wesson’s web site at
www.smith-wesson.com
By early 1941 the design of the S&W No. 2 revolver had been standardized to a 5-inch barrel and a plainer finish (brush-blue and then Parkerizing) with plain, uncheckered stocks. By the end of the war 590,305 guns had purchased through U.S. Government contracts alone. This figure does not include the guns purchased directly by the British.
Bottom line: I think your revolver is one of the relatively few that were made with a 6-inch barrel, and it was most likely shipped to Canada during the spring of 1940.
Popeye .... You are a winner!
