Originally posted by parabellum: Most of these aluminum cylinder revolvers were returned to the factory, where the aluminum cylinders were crushed and the revolvers fitted with a steel cylinder.
S&W also made aluminum cylinder Chiefs Specials, both square and round butt. The rarest of them all was the Centennial- only 37 made IIRC. In 1995, I bought one mint unfired from a pawn shop in Douglasville, GA, for 450.00. I called Roy Jinks to confirm. He about jumped out of his drawers after confirming the serial number. Next day, I got a call from Ray Brazile, a sweetheart of a man, just a really nice guy. I traded my Centennial to him for a Model of 1950 .44 Special 4", also mint, plus a nice little check from him, too. Working a deal like that has a tendency to go to your head, know what I mean?
How's that for a compliment from Roy Jinks? He locates one of the rarest of the rare, and of all the dealers and collectors he knew, he calls Ray Brazile to let him know about it. That tells you what Jinks thought of the man, and I share his opinion.
I also had a square butt Chiefs Special with an aluminum cylinder I bought from Chuck's Firearms in Buckhead, that also went to Ray. That one impressed him greatly because it had that little "bug" screw on the edge of the top screw on the side plate. "You just don't see 'em," he said.
nice find,
I had the pleasure to examine 4 or 5 different models at the Va Gun Collectors show a few years ago, Rick Nahas asked me if I had ever seen any while buying estates, and I said no, he came back 10 minutes later and pulled them out of a breif case,
another regular customer brought me one to appraise for him last year, it was a reweld, and poorly done at that, and then nickeled or chromed,
showed Rick some pics and gave him the serail # for his database
https://www.chesterfieldarmament.com/
Posts: 10421 | Location: Beach VA,not VA Beach | Registered: July 17, 2007
Most of these aluminum cylinder revolvers were returned to the factory, where the aluminum cylinders were crushed and the revolvers fitted with a steel cylinder.
SCSW 3rd says only one replacement cylinder M13 is known. The large majority of M13s were scrapped because the USAF did not want to pay for steel cylinders. $50 as I recall.
Posts: 3287 | Location: Florence, Alabama, USA | Registered: July 05, 2001
Originally posted by parabellum: Aside from the pistol, it is verbatim from Dr. Strangelove. It's a joke. J-o-k-e
The SR-71 Crew Member Survival Kit did not contain condoms, lipstick or women's nylons.
For the love of God, are we clear on this now?
A joke? Shoot... Because a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Las Vegas with all of that stuff.
Back to the pistol- didn't the CIA want a run of these revolvers? I remember reading somewhere that they wanted some really lightweight equipment for their people back in the 60's and 70's. IIRC, this somehow lead to the production of the scandium cylinder Featherweights.
______________________________________________________________________ "When its time to shoot, shoot. Dont talk!"
“What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It’s not good at much else.” —Author Tom Clancy
Posts: 8345 | Location: Attempting to keep the noise down around Midway Airport | Registered: February 14, 2008
There was a SF/spy story in which the lead spook carried an all-aluminum J frame. Some artistic license, he considered it likely to wear out in the 5 rounds in the gun.
Posts: 3287 | Location: Florence, Alabama, USA | Registered: July 05, 2001
one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings.”
I wonder if their wives knew of those provisions.
It sounds more like something you'd find in a WWII plane survival kit.... get shot down behind the line and use the chocolate and nylons to bribe a fraulein into helping you get to the French underground and escape kinda movie thing.
Which is why it worked in Dr Stranglove....
Posts: 23448 | Location: Florida | Registered: November 07, 2008
Originally posted by lechiffre: There was a Colt as well
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MGR_29YbLQs?si=n5hdKJQ4Xtg2Tc1p" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]
In 1950, the USAF requested prototype lightweight 2" bbl. revolvers from S&W and Colt. S&W submitted 605 six shot revolvers and 605 five shot revolvers. Colt submitted 1189 revolvers based on the Cobra lightweight revolver. Ultimately, the USAF awarded the contract to S&W, who provided approximately 40,000 revolvers to the air force.
Information paraphrased from a published 2009 article by my good friend Kevin Williams, and Charles Flick and Eric Archer.
Posts: 419 | Location: PA | Registered: November 21, 2004
Originally posted by Devereaux: In my Air Guard clinic, since I was the commander, we ran Dr. Strangelove every party we held in the clinic. My troops were well versed in the lines.
I hope you guys preserved your precious bodily fluids
Posts: 419 | Location: PA | Registered: November 21, 2004
