The value of a Smith and Wesson Model 51 22 Magnum Revolver would actually depend on a number of factors. Some of these factors would include the age and condition of the Revolver. First off, Smith & Wesson did not start numbering their revolvers until 1957. From then on the Military & Police revolver became the Model 10, the Highway Patrolman the Model 28, the.357 Magnum.
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| Smith & Wesson Model 57 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Revolver |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Smith & Wesson |
| Produced | 1964–1991, 2008–present |
| Variants | See variants |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 48 oz (6″ bbl) |
| Barrel length |
|
| Cartridge | .41 Magnum |
| Action | Double-action |
| Feed system | 6-round cylinder |
| Sights | Red insert front; adjustable rear |
The Smith & Wesson Model 57 is a large frame, double-actionrevolver with a six roundcylinder, chambered for the .41 Magnumcartridge, and designed and manufactured by the Smith & Wessonfirearmscompany. The gun was designed as a weapon for law enforcement agencies. However, due to size and recoil it found more favor with civilian target shooters and hunters.
Development[edit]
In the early 1960s, Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan, and Skeeter Skelton, all noted firearms authorities and authors, lobbiedRemington Arms and Smith & Wesson to introduce a new .41 caliber police cartridge with the objective of filling a perceived ballistic performance gap between the .357 and .44 Magnums, thus creating a chambering which they believed would be the ultimate for law enforcement purposes.[1]In April 1964 Remington responded by introducing the .41 Magnum cartridge, and in concert, Smith & Wesson launched the Model 57 revolver chambered for the new ammunition.[1]Elmer Keith originally proposed the name '.41 Police' for the new cartridge, but Remington instead chose .41 Magnum, hoping to capitalize on the notoriety and popularity of its earlier Magnum offerings.[1]
Features[edit]
First introduced in April 1964, the Model 57 was produced with 4', 6', 6-1/2', and 8-3/8' barrels in both highly polishedblued and nickel–plated finishes. Using the S&W large 'N' frame, the Model 57 was one of the companies’ premier products, offering superb fit and finish, basically the same pistol as the famous S&W Model 29, except in .41 instead of .44 caliber.[2] Like the Model 29, the 57 sported a red insert front sight with a white outlineadjustablerear ironopen sight, as well as a targettrigger, target hammer, and oversized woodentarget grips.[2]
Model 57 variants[edit]
| Model | Year | Modifications |
|---|---|---|
| 57 | 1964 | Introduction |
| 57-1 | 1982 | Eliminate cylinder counterbore and pinned barrel, change in cylinder length to 1.67″ |
| 57-1 | 1986 | Nickel finish discontinued |
| 57-2 | 1988 | New yoke retention system, radius stud, floating hand |
| 57-3 | 1990 | Longer stop notch in cylinder |
| 57-3 | 1992 | 4″ barrel discontinued, blueish hue finish only |
| 57-4 | 1993 | New rear sight leaf, drilled and tapped frame |
| 57-4 | 1993 | Discontinued |
| 57-5 | 2019 | Reintroduced 6″ in carbon steel |
Ammunition[edit]
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Remington originally offered two ammunition loadings in its .41 Magnum cartridge lineup. The first was a full-power 1300-1400 ft/s hunting or heavy-usage load using a jacketed soft point bullet which rivaled the stopping power of the mighty .44 Magnum while boasting less recoil and a flatter bullettrajectory. The second loading was a less powerful 1,150 ft/s 210 grain leadsemiwadcutter intended for law enforcement usage.[1][3]
Market response[edit]
Due to a number of factors the .41 Magnum unfortunately never became the 'next great police loading' that its developers and supporters envisioned.[1] First, the majority of departments and rank and file officers were perfectly content with their traditional .38 Special revolvers, and if more stopping power was needed, cartridges such as the popular .357 Magnum were available.[2] In addition, when senior police officials could be convinced to evaluate the .41 Magnum, many complained that even the lighter .41 Magnum 'Police load' was unpleasant to fire, while the .357 Magnum offered adequate performance without the bruising recoil and muzzle blast associated with the .41.[1][3] Also, the marketing decision by S&W and Remington to dub the cartridge a 'Magnum' ended up working against them in their desire to address the law enforcement market. Police organizations found the connotation of a high-powered 'Magnum' hunting-type weapon to be unpalatable in an era when they were struggling with political correctness and pursued positive public relations to offset any possible public perception of police brutality.[4] Although the .41 Magnum was adopted as a police departmental standard by a few cities such as Amarillo and San Antonio TX, and San Francisco, CA, most chose to pass.[1] In addition, introduced in the shadow of its limelight-grabbing 'big brother' the .44 Magnum Model 29, the Model 57 struggled from its onset to garner much market share. The .41 Magnum's bullet (at 0.410″) is only 0.019″ smaller than the destined-for-greatness .44 Magnum (at 0.429″). The popularity gap widened further when Clint Eastwood used a 'most powerful handgun in the world' Model 29 in the popular film Dirty Harry. In the aftermath of the film's release, many contemporaries of the .44 Magnum, including the .41, somewhat fell out of favor with the general public and American firearms market.[2] Finally, a series of hugely popular and successful lighter and smaller-framed revolvers crafted from stainless steel emerged in the mid 1980s. These police-issue oriented firearms, exemplified by models such as the S&W Model 66, accelerated the Model 57's demise. Overall, the Model 57 and its variants failed to generate the interest (or sales) which had been hoped for.[1]
Variants[edit]
Smith & Wesson offered an all stainless steel version of the Model 57 as the Model 657.[5] The Model 657 was introduced in 1986.[6]
A very rare 5' model 57 was[7] produced in the custom shop. All known examples included the traditional short underlug/ejector shroud.
Smith & Wesson Model 58[edit]
On July 10, 1964, S&W introduced a more basic and inexpensive .41 Magnum intended for procurement by police departments. This budget version of the Model 57 was similar in principle of design to the .38 Special S&W heavy-barrel Model 10, or .357 Magnum Model 28 Highway Patrolman. Weighing in at 41 ounces, the Model 58 featured a 4' barrel, fixed iron open sights, and simpler standard 'magna service' grips.[1][3] Finish options were the same as its upscale Model 57 brethren, blued and nickel, but shortly after the Model 58's introduction S&W decided a less expensive 'matte' bluing treatment would be more appropriate for the basic 'workingman' model. The no-frills Model 58 also lacked an ejection rod shroud, but retained the pinned barrel and counter bored cylinder of the more expensive Model 57. The Model 58 was manufactured from 1964 to 1977 and roughly 20,000 were produced. In 2008, it was released again by S&W, both in bright nickel and bright blue finish.[3]
References[edit]
Smith And Wesson Model 51 Serial Numbers Identification
S&w 648 22 Mag Revolver For Sale
- ^ abcdefghi“Smith & Wesson’s .41 Magnum”Archived 2008-08-20 at the Wayback Machine, Free Patriot Web site. Accessed August 5, 2008.
- ^ abcd“S&W Model 57”, Notpurfect Web site. Accessed August 5, 2008.
- ^ abcdMiller, Payton. “Smith & Wesson Model 58”Archived 2008-06-19 at the Wayback Machine, Guns and Ammo magazine Web site. Accessed August 5, 2008.
- ^'The .41 Mag: if only we could do it over', Guns, April 2005. Accessed August 5, 2008.
- ^Boorman, Dean K. (2002). The History of Smith & Wesson Firearms. Globe Pequot Press. p. 86. ISBN978-1-58574-721-4. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- ^Supica, Jim; Nahas, Richard (2006). Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson. Iola, Wisconsin: Gun Digest Books. p. 268. ISBN978-1-4402-2700-4. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- ^44, Doc. 'Model 57, Rare 5-inch Barrel, A 'Tool Room' Job'. The Smith & Wesson Forum. http://smith-wessonforum.com/.External link in
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Smith And Wesson Model 51 Serial Numbers List
Smith And Wesson Model 18
S&W is known to hold blocks of numbers for some purposes. It means if they want to build a comemmorative, all the guns have sequential numbers. Or sometimes, anyhow. It doesn't mean they were all completed the same day or week, just that someone went to the effort to assure they had similar numbers.
From what I can glean from the books on the subject, S&W logs in guns when they move from production/inspection to the 'vault', the place where they're shipped from. The letters we beg from Roy indicate another date, the date they're shipped from the vault. It may be important that those may be the same day, or a date years later.
Some guns were hot sellers. S&W is a business. They, like all other business entities have cash flow problems and concerns. If they have a completed gun, and a willing customer, they ship it. They also completed some batch blocks of guns. Its just cheaper and easier to build the same configuration guns at the same time. Even if there isn't a ready and willing customer.
We also know S&W made some ugly ducklings. Many of us don't feel that way today... But there was a time frame where you almost couldn't give away a Heavy Duty or Outdoorsman. Or K32s. So they languished. Probably in the vault.
All an adjacent serial number means is that the guns were probably in production at the same time, maybe even side by side for a few steps in the production process, maybe separated on different racks, too. We just don't know and Roy hasn't indicated if records exist of various guns in various stages. Its probably safe to say many gun frames were sequentially numbered at about the same time. Its an internal control issue.
But we also find guns from time to time where the factory has no records of them existing. Its not unusual for one of us to blow our meager allowances on letters. Only to get one back that says 'Open on Company books.' We have no idea what that phrase really means, but probably any of a number of things, including stolen (lunchbox guns), destroyed during production, pulled out for some reason and never shipped or sold, given to an employee for whatever reason, etc. I've got a beautiful early Centennial that came back that way. It just happens.
We seem to read way to much into serial numbers. A lot of are willing to pay a premium, some time a multiple of fair market, just to obtain a desireable number. I've done it before and I'll do it again. The family (my family) owns 2 637s. Younger son covets the one with a 'CCW' prefix. Two reasons, he doesn't clean his guns, and the CCW is new/pristine, and its just a cool number. Sebago Son owns a K22. He mercilessly lofts it over my head because he located it in a chicken coop, and because it has K117 on the underside. All I've managed to score are K155 and K166. And I was mad at Blake (one of our posters) because he let K141 escape to an unwashed heathen owner. The guy who owned K137 wouldn't sell it to me, nor would the owner of K188.
So maybe I should rephrase the first sentence of that last paragraph. I read way too much into serial numbers! :)