Posted: 8/23/2008 2:24:19 PM EDT
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Picked it up in the first part of August. Blue, hard rubber grips, 8" barrel. Very good + condition. Anyone have a Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson handy to do a look up? I know S&W started making them in 1878 and this is a pre-1899 "antique". |
Looks like yours was shipped to Japan through distributor Ahrens, totalling over 8,700 guns!  A variety of Jap markings are found on these guns, two types of anchors on the bottom of the frame in front of the trigger guard, for example. Pictures of the gun would give a bit more detail..............  Hope this helps! |
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Unfortunately my wife took the camera to Florida. There are no markings other than the barrel patent dates / address and the serial number on the butt (that I can see, even with a Surefire). A mystery. I wonder how it came back from Japan? In a GI's duffel bag? Or if that serial number wasn't actually part of the shipment through some fluke... |
Could've been a mass mil-surp sale back in the day when Japan upgraded to semi's? There's a slew of info on these guns in the reference book that I didn't want to type out until I see what you have.
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| S&W did all sorts of stuff back 'in the day'...serial numbers out of sequence, guns built on leftover frames years later, etc. The only way to know for sure is to send for a factory letter from Roy Jinks and that may only tell you when yours left the factory and where it was shipped to. |