By the way.....this pistol is parkerized. It looks to be the same "black magic" that S&W used on the Victory models. Would this be original for this pistol ?
It shouldn't be, but the Old Fuff knows better then to say, "No, absolutely never."
Smith & Wesson at that time made frames and serial numbered them, but they didn't necessarily turn them into completed revolvers. Sales were slow during the Great Depression, so we know that some late 600,000 serial numbered guns were completed as late as early World War Two. This was by no means common, but it also wasn't unknown to happen. The only way to know for sure is to pony up $50.00 and send it to S&W. For that reasonable research fee their historian will go and poke around in the original hand-written records until he finds your particular gun, and then send you a letter explaining what he found, which usually includes the shipping date, and what government arsenal, distributor, dealer, or (rarely) individual they sent it to.
The information concerning historical letters of authentication from Smith & Wesson’s historian, Roy G. Jinks can be obtained from the link listed below.
In exchange for a $50.00 research fee (make any check out to Smith & Wesson, not Mr. Jinks) he will search through the company’s original records until he finds your particular revolver. He will then send you an official letter which usually includes:
A short history of the revolver model’s background.
What the barrel length, caliber/cartridge, finish and stocks were, as well as the exact date it was shipped from the factory – and to what distributor, dealer or individual – as whatever the case may be.
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/...catalogId=10001&content=25301§ionId=10504
OK, me again....From everything I've been reading, the Victory mdel is a Model 10 ( is that correct?). And I just compared this pistol with my Navy Victory Model,and they are virtually identical. So, the M&P model NOT a model 10 ?
Oh dear... Did I not explain earlier that the model 10 dates from 1957? How could the Victory models that were made from 1942-45 be model 10's?
By 1957 Smith & Wesson was keeping it's records on some new-fangled machine called a computer. This was something no right-thinking company should do, but they did it anyway. Computers to be frank, are absolutely stupid, and while they hate names they get along O.K. with numbers. So Smith & Wesson dropped all the easy (for people) to understand names and went to numbers. Thus the Military & Police became the model 10. At the time the guns didn't change, just the way they were cataloged and identified.
This was always a great problem for me, because I can't count over ten unless I take off my shoes...
Names on the other hand...
Seriously, all of this only matters if you are trying to buy parts. Over time parts, including screws, sometime changed. So you have to know exactly what model or variant of a model before you order parts. Just to ruin your day I have a news flash! Today's screws may look the same, but the thread pitch is different. Had you actually got a sideplate screw for a current model 10 and forced it into the frame, you could have gotten it cross-threaded and ruined the frame.
Now aren't you glad you're a member on THR???
