Serious *&* expert needed: All-aluminum non-USAF M&P

M

Marko Kloos

Inactive
I have a lead on an oddball *&* for my collection. It's a Military & Police Model, with a 2" barrel and a round butt. The frame and cylinder are aluminum, yet this model is not a USAF Air Crewman M13 (lacking the USAF stamp on the backstrap, also lacking the square butt configuration of the M13.) It has five screws and a flat cylinder latch.

This revolver is unfired in 100% condition, in the original blue-and-gold box complete with starter target and cleaning brush. As far as I know, production on the aluminum cylinder guns only ran for two years, 1952-1953.

Is there a bona fide *&* expert in the house who knows anything about that particular revolver? The Fjestad doesn't even list it, as this is a pre-"model number" Smith, and the only reference to civvie M&P models is the Airweight with the steel cylinder.

My gunsmith and the store folks (who are all fairly brightish when it comes to firearms) seem to have come to the conclusion that this M&P was a special order, as the serial numbers on butt and crane match, and the oddball round butt is definitely a *&* factory job.

I'm planning on buying it just for the oddity of it, but I'd sure like to know if there's anything to know about it. :)
 
Can't nail it but can add some.

U.S.Model M 13 was purchased only in 53 and early 54....but it was based on the civillian S&W .38 Military & Police Airweight which itself morphed into the Model 12. Model 12 available with 2" bbl and I am pretty sure round butt available. By the time the Model 12 designation hit the aluminum cylinder had been dropped, just as it was dropped mid run in the M-13s.

Since the M-13 is supposedly the most faked S&W, I am going to stretch to guessin that the base for the fakes would be the predecessor to the Model 12. Add the USAF markings and stamp M-13 on the top strap and take it to a gunshow. Just a guess but I think you found one that hadn't been turned into a fake M-13.

Sam, I'd want it just to have too.
 
It's not a fake.

It's a bone fide commercial Smith & Wesson revolver, and it sounds like you've found a damned example.

It's a .38 Military & Police Airweight, made sometime between 1952, when it was introduced at serial number C223999, and 1954, when the cylinder was changed to steel due to the same problems that the Air Force was having with its M13s.

Aluminum cylinder production was probably stopped around serial number C285000 or so, but it's likely that fewer than 10,000 of the all-aluminum guns were produced.

There's some indication that some were made with aluminum frame and cylinder and 4" barrels, but I've never seen one.

Not particularly rare in the 2" round butt, but a screamingly nice find in as new condition with box and target.

What are you having to give for it?
 
I am getting the homeboy discount from a local dealer, who is friends with the folks at our shop. I'll have to part with $400 for it...he was planning on putting it on the table at the next show for $495.
 
Sam....somehow it doesn't surprise me that you posted the first reply. :D

Mike, thanks for the details. I know that it'll be a hangar queen if and when I buy it...it went 50 years without being fired, so I suppose there wouldn't be much of a point to start now. I have plenty of launch platforms for .38 Special, anyway.
 
Lens,

The price is about right, maybe a little low.

Again, even with the limited production of the aluminum cylinder, these aren't all that rare, and they don't command extreme prices.

It is, however, uncommon to find one in the condition that you describe.

Oh, and speaking as someone who has wanted to add one of these to the collection for years?

YOU SUCK! :mad:
 
I'm gonna try a little calrifyin heah. I never considered the subject firearm to be a fake. What I was tryin to say was that I thought the model in question was probably a common basis for makin M-13 fakes. Crook could add a few marks in the proper location and bump the price a few hundred dollars. If the buyer wasn't really up on em he'd never know till showin it to a friend like we have several of here and suddenly find himself red faced.

I don't even touch Lugers, know just enough about em to screw myself thoroughly.

This is a tough crowd to work, I love it.

There's only three that I lust for now. M Frame first run .22 hand ejector, NT 44 1926 .44 spec target, and a 3" round butt Model 29.

Have blown two shots at gettin M frames.

Like McQueen n Indians or Bang n Harleys..........I don't want em all, just most of em.

Sam..............gotta buy a damn Smith book someday.
 
Come on, Sam, admit it.

You thought it was a fake.

In fact, you think Lendsringer's a fake.

You think I'm a fake.

You think your breakfast was fake.

You think the news is fake.

You DEFINITELY think man walking on the moon was a fake.

You pretty much think everything is fake...

Why?

BECAUSE YOU'RE A CRUSTY OLD MAN! :D
 
Len, I hate you. I really, really hate you. You know the rules: whenever something interesting comes in or is locate, Tamara and Jay call us at the same time. Apparently, that wasn't done, now was it?

:(
 
Nice grab, Lendringser!

Talk about the proverbial being at the right place at the right time!

I'm lusting after a couple particular *&* models, too. The first, I think, was called an I-Frame, all I know is the name Terrier, similar to the current J-Frame, solid frame, chambered in .38 S&W (NOT .38 S&W Special). The other one I've heard referred to as a Lemon Squeezer, with a grip safety, and it was a shorty top-break also chambered in .38 S&W. I understand the Lemon Squeezers were a bit of a handful to shoot, and the action's strength relegated it to the .38 S&W or lesser rounds. Mike, seen many still floating around?

AS for oddball *&* revolvers, what the heck is this thing? They call it a "Merox"?

pr396.jpg
 
Wouldn't be an I frame. The I frames are swing out cylinder, frame quite a bit smaller than J frame. They were mostly chambered for .22, .32S&W, .32S&W Long and .38S&W. Lovely little things. A 4¼ incher looks like a scale model of a 6" 19. Loaded weight about 20 percent lighter than a loaded 36, and bout the same amount smaller. Six shots too. Great ankle or sleeve gun.

Sam
 
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