Which Smith?
I bought my wife a Smith & Wesson 5-shot "airweight" (for her b-day)which has a 3" barrel and a simulated stag grip. The Dealer told me the gun is original, and was a std. sidearm for the US Air Force, but was discontinued with a 3" barrel in the early 70's. Does anyone know this Smith's mod. number? This round-wheel weighs approx. 15 oz.--and I love it! Ahhh, I mean my wife loves it! Any info. is appreciated!
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They used to issue the Mod 12 to the USAF back in the Vietnam era. It had a aluminum frame and the early ones had aluminum cylinders[:0] If you open the cylinder crane it should have the model# and series stamped on the frame behind the crane. Hopefully Mark will chime in with some more info.
Love them Beavers
SUPPORT THE I.N.S. , THE COUNTRY THEY SAVE COULD BE YOUR OWN0 -
I think it might be a mod. 37 look inside the frame when the cyl. is open. (the part covered by the crane) it should be stamped 37. If not someone will be along to correct me and help you out. Good Luck
Queeks
upon further looking I see that Airweight 37's only have a 1 7/8 inch bbl. the mod. 36 Ladysmith has a 3 in. but I don't think it is marked airweight. The mod.12 M&P Airweight only has a 2 or 4 in. It is a K-frame. And I belive it is a 6 shot. The 642 has a 3 in. but it has a shrouded hammer. Still should be on inside of frame
You'v gota kill it to grill it0 -
Smith and Wesson Book says Model 13...The Serial Number will be the deciding Factor of wither or Not it was an Air Crewmans issue...or a civilian Model....
Captain Kirk, Tech Staff0 -
Thanks Capt, I think you got it. Man, my memory's slippin'.[:D]
Love them Beavers
SUPPORT THE I.N.S. , THE COUNTRY THEY SAVE COULD BE YOUR OWN0 -
If it was made before about 1958 or so, it will not have a model number on it. It will only be marked "Airweight" on the barrel.
The dealer is wrong. The Air Force never officially issued a J-frame Smith. The issued revolvers were K-frame, 6-shooters. The ones the Air Force used were marked "Aircrewman," and most of the ones with aluminum cylinders were destroyed.
This is not to say that this gun was never on a plane or helicopter. Over the years, quite a number of personally-owned sidearms were carried by troops who felt the need, and didn't mind shading the regulations just a little.
What you have is a pretty normal Chief Special Airweight. Nice gun, but not a military collectible. They are/were popular with cops and others wanting a very light concealment piece.
Your wife loves it. That's great. Stoke it with service loads and let her shoot 50 rounds. She might not like it quite so much after that. Recoil can be pretty sharp. I would stick with pretty light loads and light bullets. Shoot +P ammo only sparingly. The 3" barrel makes it a bit more manageable than a 2" and sacrifices little in concealability.
At our PD, we shoot +P ammo for qualification, even for off-duty and hideout guns. The guys with the alloy frame guns usually have brusing in the web of the shooting hand after 50 rounds. Also, with factory grips or those of that design, the gun tends to squirm down into the hand with recoil, and the grip has to be readjusted after 3 rounds or so. I like Pachmayr and Sile grips on the J-frame.
SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net0 -
Capt,99% of the time the mod 13 is a .357 mag.I have one in .38 spl. but they are far and few.
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ATF0 -
I own an M37 Airweight and love the little pistol. Checking the U.S. Military weapons listings (118 pistol variations in U.S. service) I can find two versions of the M37 Airweight which were catagorized and assigned NSN numbers: the first was 1005-00-133-2312 with the 2" (51mm) barrel and the second was 1005-00-133-9280 with the 3" (76mm). There is no mention about which branch of the military issued either of these two pistols. Unless your pistol is marked U.S. PROPERTY somewhere visable on the frame or barrel, I'd doubt the sellers story about its origin.
Mark T. Christian0 -
[:)]Wow--you guys are collectively a wealth of information! Everyone who had guessed that it was a Mod. 37 is correct! It did have a stamp on the frame; however--it does have a 3' barrel, and nowhere do I find the mod. 37 airweight with a 3"....it also has the stag grips, hmmm, maybe the dealer meant it had grips like those that were considered popular for many Air Force sidearms... . In any case--thanks to all for the great response! 0
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