Questions about S&W Brazillian Contract M1937 .45 acp revolver

C

cracked91

New member
I just traded my Uberti Cattleman for one(straight across trade).

Made in the U.S.A., not Brazil. Latest patent date is Dec. 29, 1914.
It is in decent shape, small amounts of pitting in some outside areas, but barrel and chambers are in good shape and the action locks up nice and tight.
Serial is 194088. Has the Brazil and 1937 emblem on the right side.

I got this gun semi-spontneously. I paid 300 for the Uberti, and did not like it at all. I was offered this trade from a private party, and liked the look and feel of the gun much more, and had seen that it had some collectors value.

Can anyone give me a rough estimate on the value of this firearm?

Also, is it safe to shoot with modern loads? I was not going to run anything but WWB through it.

My original idea was to use it mostly as woods carry gun. Now Im not so sure.
 
Without knowing the condition it's pretty difficult to guess a price.

imho you made a good deal.

It should be ok with standard pressure rounds.
 
My "Brazilian" 1937 is one of my favorite and most accurate shooters, you will love it. That's a good price for one, not to mention that it is a true S&W. Over the long-haul, you might want to consider reloading for it. Oh, almost forgot. Put the wood grips away for later and put a nice set of Pachmyer(sp?) grips on it, they can be tough to shoot with the original thin, high grips.
 
I got this gun semi-spontneously. I paid 300 for the Uberti, and did not like it at all. I was offered this trade from a private party, and liked the look and feel of the gun much more, and had seen that it had some collectors value.

Can anyone give me a rough estimate on the value of this firearm?

Also, is it safe to shoot with modern loads? I was not going to run anything but WWB through it.

My original idea was to use it mostly as woods carry gun. Now Im not so sure.
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It was a good deal, but they historically bring less than the 1917 S&Ws. IIRC, some were US stock from WWI sold to Brazil and others were newly manufactured for the Brazillian contract.

They typically bring, in my experience $350 to $450. Any more than that, and the person can start looking at a WWI 1917. Modern loads are safe, since the frame was heat treated by that time AND the 45 acp itself is subsonic thereby low pressure, esp for a N frame which was the S&W frame that the 1937 and 1917 guns are on. As a matter of fact, all 45 acp S&W revolvers are N frames. I don't know if I'd carry it for a woods carry gun if theres a lot of finish left. Usually on these, they're pretty worn. Its also cumbersome compared to say a 357 mag, which at least some are smaller. On the other hand, recoil would be gentle due to the 45 acp round. I think you did good and I would have done the same thing.

Oh, almost forgot. Put the wood grips away for later and put a nice set of Pachmyer(sp?) grips on it, they can be tough to shoot with the original thin, high grips.
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+ 1/2 - I would remove the grips too, if original but more because they're worth a little money. IIRC they would be smooth un checkered without a medallion. If you're lucky enough to have ones with a diamond and a medallion they're worth around $100. The diamond medallion grips are for civilian models of the same era.
 
While the 1917s were designed to be shot with .45 ACP ammo, most people really don't consider them to be strong enough for a stead diet of hard ball.

.45 Auto Rim loading data is a step below the .45 ACP ammo in most reloading manuals.

None of the 1917s Brazilian Contract guns were made in Brazil; all were made in the US.

I've got one of the early guns. It's in pretty rough shape on the outside, but the bore is good and it shoots well.
 
None of the 1917s Brazilian Contract guns were made in Brazil; all were made in the US.
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Yes I agree, in my post I was trying to say that IIRC, some were old new stock 1917s and some were newly manufactured by S&W for the contract.
 
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fio, mine is a tack driver with hard cast or jacketed cartridges, but is much less so with swaged or soft cast bullets, I believe because of the light frosting of the barrel.
 
"I was trying to say that IIRC, some were old new stock 1917s and some were newly manufactured by S&W for the contract."

Why didn't you just say that, then. :confused::D:p


OK, I grok you now.
 
The Model 1917 had smooth grips; the Brazilian contract guns had checkered wood grips with silver S&W medallions.

Jim
 
No, Brazilian contract pistols had both grip styles. The earlier batch was surplus and had all the attributes of the US 1917s, the later batch had commercial grips and differently shaped rear sights.
 
Johnny nails it.

The guy who I bought my 1917 from ordered two of them when they came in a few years ago; one of the old style, and one of the new style.

The old one, which I bought from him, had smooth grips.

The new style, had checkered grips.
 
Thanks for the responses. I did get a chance to take it out and shoot it today. Very accurate, and a preferred the sights to those of the Uberti.

For the 299.99+tax I paid for the Uberti, and then the cost of the new bolt spring after it broke before I even got to shoot it, I was happy with the trade.

I did read up on them a bit before I traded. The owner claimed "It was a S&W .45 acp revolver, made in Brazil. A poster on gunbroker, who was asking 1299.99 for his Brazilian Contract, claimed that only 25,000 were made, and that out of those, only 11,000 were made in the U.S. So thanks for settling that question :o

I did take a few pics of it, as you can see the finish is pretty rough, so I probably will carry it as a woods gun on occasion.

As for the grips. . . hopefully someone can tell me for sure from the pictures, but they are pretty hammered too.

Rev1.jpg


Rev2.jpg
 
Great pistol, you will love it. Looks all original. Put the Pachy grips on it. If you have medium to small size hands the transition between double and single action will be quicker and much safer.
 
Looks like you have a nice shooter there. Don't do anything to your gun until you look at the following hyperlink and see the sorts of things others have done with guns like yours. Also PLEASE post a photo of your gun on the hyperlinked thread so that it will bring the thread back up to the front of the line on the REVOLVER FORUM on TFL. This helps keep interest up in these guns and increased interest usually means increased demand and higher values.

Incidentally, you might want to investigate some of the revolver ammo that's now being made that will fit into your gun. It's a caliber called 45 Auto Rim and you don't need moon clips to shoot it in your gun. I use my Brazilian contract gun for HD and load it with Black Hills 255 grain SWC's in 45 Auto Rim. Istill keep a couple of moon clips loaded with 45 ACP ball ammo for back ups because I can load them in my gun faster than I can reload with a speed loader.

PS. Some of these Brazilian Contract guns are believed to have been used in WWII by the 25,000 man Brazilian Expeditionary Force that fought with the US Fifth Army against the germans in the Italian campaign. The Brazilians fought bravely and served with distinction in that campaign; losing about 2,500 men - 1/10 of their force - in Italy.

Now heres that hyperlink: PLEASE post a photo of your gun on it. Thanks DG.

http://74.6.238.254/search/srpcache...7&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=pwgVUrAPtDElfpLZLos4sA--
 
The .45 Auto Rim is a good choice for those guns; it has an extra thick rim to fill the space used by the moon clip when .45 ACP is used. But it is not new; .45 AR has been around since 1920, first introduced by the old Peters Cartridge Co. for use in the Model 1917 revolvers (Colt and S&W) just then coming on the surplus market following WWI.

Jim
 
Moon clips are the best way to go, quick for loading and unloading the revolver. For range use, you definitely want to google "Rim-z" plastic moon clips. No tools needed to load or unload the clips.
 
45 Auto Rim ammo, which is a thick rimmed, revolver-only ammo that is built to fit in revolvers that were originally made to shoot 45 ACP ammo in moon clips, has indeed been around a long time, but until very recently (meaning within the last five years or so) unless you were a hand loader, you got one choice of 45 Auto Rim ammo, and that was plain vanilla. (R-P 230 grain LRN)

Now, off the top of my head, I can think of at least four US manufacturers of 45 Auto Rim ammo; Buffalo Bore, Black Hills, Cor-Bon, Georgia Arms and maybe others with a selection that runs from Cor Bon's 160 grain DPX's to Black Hills 255 grain SWC's (my choice). Midway and Cabelas carries several of these selections on-line. For the handloader, I think Starline manufactures brass for 45 Auto Rim.

You do need to be careful with the old guns like the 1917 Army 45 revolvers and with the S&W Brazilian contract 45's from 1937, not to load them to too high pressures.

You need to also shoot enough of whatever 45 Auto Rim load you use to know where its going to hit your target. Sights on the old 1937 and 1917 model guns are not adjustible, and those sights were set to shoot 230 grain ball ammo. So, significantly lighter or heavier ammo will print lower or higher on the target than 230 grain ball does. It doesn't make much difference for HD at bedroom distances in pitch black conditions, which is what I have mine for, and for that duty, I like the bigger- hitting 255 grain SWC's.

I still like my plain old 230 grain 45 ACP ball ammo in moon clips for speedy reloads in the dark, and for relatively inexpensive anytime target shooting.
 
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Nice gun. WWII refinish, but looks like it hasn't been touched since.

A word of advice on using .45 Auto Rim or .45 ACP with clips in those .455 Webley revolvers with the cut cylinders. Don't!

The factory .45 AR and .45 ACP both generate far more pressure than the old .455 revolvers, even the Mk VI, were designed for, some 21k psi for the .45 rounds, vs. 14k for the .455. Blown cylinders have resulted.

Jim
 
It may be of interest to some of the present owners of these Brazilian contract 45s that a few online posts elsewhere by Brazilian nationals have bemoaned the fact that all of their S&W 45's were sent back to the US.

It seems that some of those 1937 Brazilian contract 45 revolvers were carried by Brazilian officers and Brazilian military police officers who served with the 25,000 man Brazilian Expeditionary Force during WWII. (The BEF served with distinction alongside US Fifth Army in Italy during WWII, where it suffered some 2,500 casualties.)

As it happens, the BEFs service in WWII was the only armed military conflict that Brazil has engaged in outside its own borders since the 1830's. Brazil has really come on strong as an economic power over the last 20 years or so, and with its new widespread prosperity, some collector interest may be developing there for artifacts that played a role in the nation's history.

I'm actually not sure whether its legal or not for an individual in Brazil to even own operational firearms, and even if it is legal, I'm not sure how an individual in the US would go about selling a gun directly to an individual in Brazil, but maybe we owners need to find out.
 
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