Unusual S&W magazine
Appears to be a 20 round model 59. Is this S&W oem or other?
I remember reading about some manufactured for a foreign police dept. but can't locate it.
I remember reading about some manufactured for a foreign police dept. but can't locate it.
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Here are the images [img][/img]
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fatfrog,
Those URLs are full of extraneous information. Imageshack does not make it easy to post a diredct link to your pictures. That is highly frustarting! Here you go:0 -
I went through Supica & Nahas's S & W book, looking for photos or info. All I could find was a notation that as early as the 1980's S & W had a optional 20 round mag available for the 2nd generation hi-cap 9mm's. 0 -
That sure looks like a genuine S&W baseplate. 0 -
I have several original Smith & Wesson 20-round magazines, for both the full-size pistols and the compact pistols. The magazines I have have a punched-out lip to serve as a stop to prevent the magazines from going too far into the gun. They do NOT have the slab of steel affixed to the front of the magazine as shown on the pictured magazine. I have never seen a genuine Smith & Wesson magazine with such a stop. The finish does not match the high polish on my genuine Smith magazines.
I suspect the magazines are something
aftermarket like cheap USA magazines with a Smith floorplate.0 -
the folded base is early S&W model 59 magazines and other high caps. you dont see a lot of them out there. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by JudgeColt
I have several original Smith & Wesson 20-round magazines, for both the full-size pistols and the compact pistols. The magazines I have have a punched-out lip to serve as a stop to prevent the magazines from going too far into the gun. They do NOT have the slab of steel affixed to the front of the magazine as shown on the pictured magazine. I have never seen a genuine Smith & Wesson magazine with such a stop. The finish does not match the high polish on my genuine Smith magazines.
I suspect the magazines are something
aftermarket like cheap USA magazines with a Smith floorplate.
Ditto. My M59 20 rd magazines do NOT have the block of metal on the lower front. The lettering does match his pictures though. On the side, mine has 4 holes evenly spaced along with the latch cutout even with the top hole.0 -
The finish on the pictured magazines, and the stop stuck on the front of the magazine body, are NOT what is found on the genuine Smith & Wesson 20-round magazines I have. My Smith & Wesson magazines have the stop formed out of a lip punched in the magazine body from the inside so it sticks out to contact the front bottom of the magazine well when the magazine is inserted in the gun. The finish on my genuine Smith & Wesson magazines is very smooth with a higher polish, not at all like that on the pictured magazines. My magazines have numbers along the witness holes, which the pictured magazines do not have.
In my first response, I speculated that someone installed a Smith & Wesson floorplates on aftermarket magazines. Since then, I have looked at all of my aftermarket magazines, and none of them have a similar floorplate attachment. In addition, none of them, except the Mec-Gar ones that use punch-outs on each side (Mec-Gar makes Smith & Wesson magazines), have any stop at all. I am left to conclude that the pictured magazines may well be Smith & Wesson magazines of a style that I have not seen. Why they are so crudely finished, I do not know, but can further speculate.
The odd spacing of the witness holes on the right magazine make me wonder if someone welded two Smith & Wesson 5900 series magazines together during the ban. Grinding off the welds would account for the crude finish. If that was done, the builder obviously felt the stop was needed, but could not duplicate the Smith & Wesson method so just welded on a chunk of steel. Maybe removing the floorplate and looking inside would lend a clue as to whether that is the answer.
Or the suggestion about them being made for a foreign police department could be the answer, but why would Smith & Wesson change the design when it already was making the other style? It would cost more to weld on the stop than to continue punching in the stops using a die already in existence.
Let us know how the inside of the magazine bodies show any evidence of welding.
Perhaps a letter to Roy Jinks, the Smith & Wesson historian, with the pictures and my comments about the differences with known Smith & Wesson 20-round magazines, would reveal something.
Puzzling, but interesting. Let us know if anything is revealed.0 -
quote:Originally posted by JudgeColt
In addition, none of them, except the Mec-Gar ones that use punch-outs on each side (Mec-Gar makes Smith & Wesson magazines), have any stop at all.The M59 hit the market around 1970 and to the best of my recollection that baseplate and it's attachment design dates from at least the very end of that decade.
Agreed that this one doesn't look like normal Mec-Gar quality, but I'm not sure exactly when they began producing their magazines. This one could possibly be from before that time.
It does sound like a question for Jinks.0
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