The way the Rabbit Hole of my research works is like this: I start writing about something, I find a small item within that research that sends me off on a tangent, while on the tangent I find another small item and the next you know I’m researching Brooklyn mother-of-pearl manufacturers who contracted with S&W (not kidding, that’s one of my projects).
One of the myriads of projects of mine, and an offshoot of my Project Magnum Opus (MAGOPUS), is to try to ascertain exactly how many nickel-plated Registered Magnums there were. The number is believed to be about 173, with 144 documented. Thus far I have found three that are not on the documented list and I suspect I will find quite a number more.
A fellow collector who knew I was doing some research in ‘Pinto’ Magnums referred me to a table contained in the Winter 1989 V24 N3&4 Smith & Wesson Collectors Association (SWCA) Journal.
This extra sized Journal contained the seminal article by the late Dr. Roy Jinks, “The Revolver That Changed The Direction Of Handgunning”, detailing the development of the .357 Magnum cartridge and it’s earliest launching platform, the Registered Magnum. In this article, Dr. Jinks provided the table shown below of the 144 documented Nickel-plated Registered Magnums known.
One of these nickel-plated guns piqued my curiosity: RM2161/51181 appears on the list of nickel-plated guns for which records are known and has a notation next to the entry that states “Special Custom Work – Nickel Hammer Trigger”.
Note that RM2161 appears in the 6-inch column with the notation “C NHT”, indicating custom work and nickel hammer and trigger.
I thought this interesting as technically speaking all Registered Magnums were custom work.
I pulled the record for RM2161 and Dr. Jinks was, if anything, understating when he said, ‘special custom work’!
This sounded interesting so I thought I’d look into it.
While I am by no means an expert on Registered Magnums, nor have I had a chance to review the order forms and work orders for every Registered Magnum (yet!), I can say that this particular Magnum is probably the most heavily –factory– worked gun I’ve seen so far.
To better understand the nature of this particular gun, we really should start by looking at the man who ordered it: Gerard Lewis of Stockholm, NJ.
In the SWCA database he is mistakenly listed as George Lewis and this is completely understandable. The letterhead Mr. Lewis used in his communications was from Lewis’ General Store of Stockholm, NJ and listed the proprietor as Geo. W. Lewis. It’s not unreasonable the G. Lewis could be easily mistaken for the George Lewis on the letterhead. The store seems to have been a family business since 1866.
George Lewis first came to S&W’s attention in February of 1933 when he wrote to &W asking for a catalog with dealer and list pricing.
Notice his comment:
“…I have been selling Colt for the past thirty years but after examining the revolver used on our range I have come to realize there are others…”
The factory response was to forward a catalog and express anticipation of future orders through their jobber. This last part is important as it explains why, later, H. &D. Folsom of New York City will appear as the agency handling certain arms for Lewis’ General Store.
I haven’t gone through the Folsom records to see if any guns went to Lewis’ General Store, but I did find an order that tied in with my nickel gun project AND this particular Rabbit Hole.
I found an invoice and order form from Folsom, ordering Registered Magnum #740/47228 and asking the shipment to be marked for “Mr. Geo. W. Lewis / Lewis’ General Store / Stockholm, N.J.”
Generally speaking, the gun appears unremarkable, nothing particularly noteworthy except that it is nickel-plated, which was the impetus for me looking at it in the first place. However, in the accompanying correspondence from Mr. George Lewis to DBW, we see the seeds for RM2161.
Dec. 23 – 1935
Mr. D.B. Wesson
Springfield Mass
Dear Sir:
My son (Gerard) and I met you at the Teaneck N.J. shoot. He is president of the Diamond Revolver Assoc of this place and a member of the Sussex County Revolver Assoc of Northern N.J.
He has always used Colts, as do every member of both clubs, and I have sold only Colt’s for many years, but Gerard did not forget the gun you showed him and the answers you gave his questions and has now decided to give one a trial, so you may have the following order sent to me and billed thru H+D Folsom Arms Co of N.Y.
One S+W 357 Magnum. 6 inch barrel, Front sight: King luminous white post (Patridge) .100 Finish: Full nickle except sight blades (those blue)
Hoping that you may be able to have this shipped soon. I am
Very truly yours
George Lewis
Mr. ALA Himmelwright is a friend + neighbor of ours.
This is quite a letter. George Lewis is ordering the revolver on behalf of his son, who we can safely presume is a bit a target man, as he is president of one gun club and a member of a second. He mentions having met DBW at “…the Teaneck N.J. shoot…” at which time DBW showed the younger Mr. Lewis his Magnum and answered some questions about it, apparently quite satisfactorily, hence the order. I strongly suspect if I dug through some of DBW’s correspondence folders, I could find some mention or description of his trip to Teaneck.
Notice the post-script about being friends and neighbors with ALA Himmelwright. It turns out there is a fair bit of correspondence between DBW and Himmelwright in the archive, but who is he?
Turns out Abraham Lincoln Artman Himmelwright was a noted shooter and author of books on revolver and pistol marksmanship as well as author of a Donner-esque book about his experiences as part of the Carlin Hunting Party of September-December 1893.
In The Heart Of The Bitterroot Mountains: The Story Of The Carlin Hunting Party, describes the experience of Himmelwright and his companions getting stuck in the Bitterroot wilderness and, depending on how you read the various articles and books, either bravely prevailing over cruel nature and weather or luckily escaping death by the skin of their teeth.
In the above image from Wikipedia (who has great pages on both the Carlin Hunting Party and on Himmelwright), Himmelwright (seated on right) poses with the surviving party members.
That Mr. Lewis would mention his relationship with Mr. Himmelwright may have been to establish the he (and his boy) were also serious shooters. Alternately, he may have just mentioned it because he thought DBW would be familiar with any noted marksman and gun author.
DBW’s responded quite warmly, acknowledging receipt of the order, giving the Registration number (740) and advising when shipment may be made.
DBW’s comment about “…I have had several people who have found the weight and balance of the Magnum to be a great help… (in improving target scores)”.
This illustrates one of the issues that DBW had to frequently address. There is much correspondence between him and potential buyers where people have expressed a concern about the barrel length of DBW’s recommended 8.750” tube and how the gun would balance. DBW’s argument was always that the extra length looked like it would be an issue but actually caused the gun to hang better on target and balance better. He may have also recognized this argument would not sway some people because in most of his correspondence he will follow this statement with a note that for $3.50 the factory would cut, crown and spot blue a long barrel if the customer decided the longest barrel was not to their liking.
The same day an order form was filled out enumerating the features that Mr. Lewis wanted. A letter was sent to Folsom advising them of the order and that it was being billed through them as the jobber.
Gerard Lewis’ Registered Magnum #740/47228 shipped on January 22, 1936.
Approximately six months later, Mr. Lewis had an issue with RM740 and contacted DBW about it.
July 7, 1936
D.B. Wesson
Smith & Wesson Inc.,
Springfield, Mass.
Dear Mr. Wesson,
Received your letter and folder of Myers holsters on Feb. 23. I just returned from myers in El Paso when I received your letter.
I have used the Magnum considerably, registered #740 which you sent me, and have found it the most practical target and game gun that I have ever used. Due to the fact that the long hammer-throw shortings the time of aiming rapid-fire; the smoothness and crispness of the action counter-balances that difficulty.
In the past twelve years of my hand gun experience, I have shot forty-three (43) deer in different states with revolvers and pistols. The guns used have been from the .38 sp. up. The best factory loaded ammunition I have used for this purpose is the .357 Magnum.
A week or so ago, a friend of mine asked me up to his “dude ranch” to pop on an exhibition shoot; such as quick draw, aerial shooting and fast shooting in general. I used the magnum with mid range ammunition and during the course of fast shooting I was very much surprised and also humiliated due to the fact that I just finished explaining to the crowd why it was possible to do certain kinds of fast shooting; because of the smoothness of the action on the Smith & Wesson guns. Here is what happened: while shooting fast double action, the cylinder would jump by the proper chamber and hit somewhere between the next two cartridges and jam the gun. The last I encountered a thing of this kind was when fanning the hammer of a Frontier model Colt.
Hoping to hear from you as soon as possible, I remain,
Sincerely yours,
Gerard C. Lewis
Pres. Diamond Rev. Assn.
In this letter Mr. Lewis manages to do many things. Obviously, he has informed DBW of an issue with his revolver but he also makes many subtle points:
- He mentions bagging a prodigious number of deer with a handgun; something DBW can certainly relate to.
- He is skilled and adept enough to put on shooting exhibitions
- He is President of the Diamond Revolver Association
It is especially worth noting his practice of “fast shooting”; this will come into play later. Also, we note a reference to correspondence regarding Sam Meyers holsters; no copy of this particular correspondence has surfaced yet so one should be mindful that there may be other correspondence between DBW and Mr. Lewis we may never get to be privy to.
The same day that Mr. Lewis penned the letter, DBW responded (mail was much better then!):
If that was not enough, a telegram was sent the same day as well.
Mr. Lewis must have wasted no time in sending the revolver back, as a week later the gun had been inspected by DBW, cylinder replaced, gun adjusted and was ready to be sent out.
By summer of 1936 Mr. Lewis was plugging away with his repaired nickel-plated Magnum.
Now we get to the really interesting part.
In March of 1937, Mr. Lewis placed an order through H. & D. Folsom for another Magnum, which would become RM2161/51181. Mr. Lewis specified an astonishing amount of extra work for this gun and not getting a satisfactory response from Folsom, cancelled the order through them, went to the factory and ordered it through Cy Bassett!
While that seems quite out of the ordinary, a review of the work done shows that everything about this revolver will be out of the ordinary.
On March 2, 1937, H. & D. Folsom sent a letter to S&W:
On March 4, 1937 Mr. Lewis visited the factory and presented his specifications for his new Magnum.
The shipping invoice for RM2161 heralds that this will be a one-of-a-kind Magnum. Rather than have anyone struggle with reading it, the factory was thoughtful enough to make a ‘punch list’ of work to be done on this gun. On the invoice though, note the line about “Special work o.k.’d by V.H.W.”; the higher ups had signed off on this job.
Item number 6, gun capable of Double Action Only, is an especially important feature on this gun as we will see. The set screw in item 2 and the bobbed hammer in item 5 will also come into play. The additional dummy thumb piece as well as the seemingly skeletonized under lug are a bit harder to explain.
Mr. Lewis put this order in in person. As Mr. Bassett explains “…He is cancelling the Folsom order because Folsom could not tell him whether the extra work was possible, or any estimate of the cost…”
An order form was completed and Mr. Lewis’ order, written as he wished, was entered.
In a follow up letter , Mr. Lewis went over some of the specifications again, as well as relating some of his target scores and plans.
Stockholm N.J.
March 6, 1937
Mr. Cy Bassett
19 <illegible> Ave
Springfield Mass.
Dear Sir,
I phoned Folsom today and they advised me that they had sent my order in. I cancelled it and they said they would notify the factory to that effect.
Cut off urs only 3/8 of an inch.; this will be enough so that it will clear my hand and also will not sacrifice much weight. If the spur is cut cut off entirely, leaving straight libe from top of hammer to arc line of tail, it wouldn’t be any better than the one I have now, because it would be too light, so cut only 3/8 of an inch off.
I was admiring the large S&W monogram, but do not wish it on because I don’t think it will go good with the thumb piece on side plate. It wouldn’t match the other gun, so leave the large monogram off. Everything ok as listed.
I don’t think I will get to Tampa this time because a couple of the boys are thinking of not going, and there is no sense of going alone.
I shot a 289 on standard American at 25 yds. today – (95-98-96) with Magnum D.A. – “Could be worse”.
Enclose you will find the tax exemption blank for this order. If not ok, let me know.
Sincerely yours,
Gerald C. Lewis
This was followed by a letter from Folsom to S&W explain that they were aware that Mr. Lewis had been to the factory and left instructions and were looking to confirm the order.
On March 27, 1937 RM2161/51181 shipped to Folsom who then, presumably, shipped it to Lewis’ General Store of Stockholm, NJ for Mr. Lewis.
The cost for all this work? Surprisingly, not as much as one would think, and certainly nowhere near the cost of that other custom work legend, the .22LR RM. Total was $58.87 including postage and insurance.
Notice that the Excise Tax is omitted, as the order was put through as a Town Order for Hardyston, N.J.!
I have absolutely no doubt that S&W lost money on this gun. On a ‘back of an envelope’ note, the hours involved in this gun were listed. This gun took nine hours of machining time alone!
Additional time was spent putting in the trigger guard screw, the false thumb piece and the other work. “C. Call” refers to the installation of the screw in the trigger guard.
So after all this, what did Mr. Lewis wind up with? He got a 6-inch nickel plated DOUBLE ACTION ONLY Target Revolver that had no hammer spur. There were other mods but those are the key ones.
And what did he do with this revolver?
He set a new “Double Action” record!
In 1936, he used RM740 to set a new record. He must have planned to set the another new record the following year because his specs (no hammer spur, double action only) were such that there could be no challenge that he fudged things to set the record. He was, quite literally, building an unimpeachable gun to set a new record.
Why the skeletonized under lug and the extra thumb piece? Who knows? I’m sure he had his reasons and, based on his performance and planning, I’d say they would probably be pretty darn good ones!
The Madison Eagle newspaper from July 15, 1937 gives all the details:
Notice how the article makes very specific mention of the revolver used being a Magnum!
So that’s the incredibly long story about how I go down the Rabbit Hole. I started looking at Dr. Jinks’ article at noon time today and 15 hours later, I’m looking at purchase orders from a record setting shootist.
As always, none of this sees the light of day without the folks at the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation. Did you join yet?
Best,
RM Vivas
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