Unusual S&W?

A

AR-10

New member
Saw a gun today that, being the newbie that I am, seemed rather unique.

It was a Smith and Wesson .455 caliber six shot revolver. It had a six inch barrel. I am guessing by the half moon shape of the front sight and the small checkered wooden grips that it was made in the '40s, but I could be wrong.

On the cylinder face, at each point of the ejector star, between the chambers were stamped markings. "Those are Canadian markings" the owner told me. "This is a Canadian gun." I didn't have the light or magnification to see the marks clearly, so I don't know what they were.

"Want to know how I got it?" he says. Sure,I say. I swear this is what he told me, and I have no reason to not believe him.

"It was brought back after a hunting trip, in the back seat of a car, under a bear. It was smuggled in."

TOO funny!!! :D

It looked to be in pretty good condition. Actually, when he got it out to show me, it was loaded. He reloads for it and said he still shoots it occasionally.

Nice guy with a cool gun. Then he let me shoot his German .357 Derringer.:) All this while I was working for him. :) :)
 
Probaby a .44 hand eject third model.Manufactured 1926 to 1950.The .455 serial number range is 5001 to 74,755.
they allso made some in the first model hand eject with serial number range 1 to5,375.MAde between 1908 and 1915.
The barrel lengths on both models 4,5, 6.5 with a 7.5 in the first model.
Prices in my 10 yr old blue book at 100%-First model 885.00 and the third model 550.00
 
Didn't S&W make a couple of runs of Hand Ejectors for the Mounties in .455? On top of that, didn't they produce quite a few thousand .455 Hand Ejectors for the British Army in the 1915-1917 period?

If the pistol has the Borad Arrow markings I'd wager it was WWI or maybe ever WWII military issue.

Doc Hudson
 
Hi, guys,

I think Doc Hudson is correct and that the marks are probably British markings, not Canadian, though the gun may have come in here from Canada.

Jim
 
What are Borad Arrow markings?

The markings I saw looked like a little insignia in a somewhat circular shape (I think). If I had been wearing the dreaded reading glasses and been in a well lit area I could have examined them a little better.

The gun had a lanyard swivel on the bottom of the square butt grip. The grip looked and felt small for the frame the gun was built on.

If I would have known I would be posting about it, I would have checked the markings a little more closely.
 
Actually, they very well may be Canadian markings.

S&W made 14,500 for the Canadian government between 1915 and 1917. All were .455 Hand Ejector Mark IIs.

During the same time, S&W made approximately 5,000 .455 HE Mark Is (these were made to the same specifications as the famed Triple Lock), and an additional 59,000 Mark IIs for the British Army.

Of the Canadian guns, a number made their way into the hands of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I've examined several with Canadian military markings as well as RCMP marks.

The Mk IIs can be most easily distinguished from the Mk Is in that they don't have a fully shrouded ejector rod; just the stud under the barrel which locks the front of the rod.
 
re: "What are Borad Arrow markings? "

The Broadarrow mark is a stylized arrow head (made with three short strokes with the point upward and the barbs slightly curves) which denoted ownership by the Crown.

The Broadarrow has be a sign of English/Brirish government property since shortly after the conquest by William the Bastard. Like the US marks widely scattered upon US Government property.

During the 19th and early 20th Century, the time frame in which US prisoners were dressed in strips, British prison inmates were dressed in drab clothing with a multitude of Broadarrow marking them as government property.

Doc Hudson
 
I'm not entirely certain, but I THINK that up until after World War II most Commonwealth nations also used broad arrow acceptance marks on their kit.

I had a WW I Canadian-made water bottle that was broad arrow marked.
 
The Canadian version of the Broad Arrow is the letter C with an arrow head inside, pointing up. It is a property mark, not a proof mark. The Canadians bought a lot of .455 revolvers, both S&W and Colt, but I thought of British proofs because of there being one mark for each chamber, something (AKAIK) the Canadians did not do.

Jim
 
The broad arrow isn't a proof mark, either, in a literal sense, or at least from what I understand.

It was used to denote both possession by the Crown and also military acceptance.
 
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