Searching for information in the archives is not really as easy as one might think.
There is a great limitation placed upon the archive by the fact that the people who entered in all the data were not ‘gun people’ and thus were not as accurate as they might have been in discerning between a serial number versus Registration number versus and invoice number, etc.
Another problem was that they were a bit limited in the categories they could lump the records into. The records generally went into one of four categories: Orders, Correspondence, Repairs and Miscellaneous. If you had a one-page document detailing a repaired gun or a one-page document ordering a gun it was pretty easy to decide which category to file the document under.
However, when a document was perhaps fifteen pages long and contained four separate pieces of correspondence, three orders and a couple repair orders, the question of which category to file it under becomes more…subjective.
As a result, one has to start thinking a little creatively about how to find information. I start with the (questionable) premise that the information I want -is- in the archives, it’s just a matter of figuring out how it was labelled so that I know how to look.
The Missing Magnums that I wrote about recently are an excellent example of this. I’ve found over one hundred Registered Magnum orders that could not otherwise be located by searching by serial number or Registration number.
I noticed that many, but by absolutely no means all, of these were categorized under Miscellaneous with no entries in the serial number or caliber search fields.
I pulled up all files from 1935 to 1941 that were categorized as Miscellaneous and came up with about two thousand individual files, covering perhaps ten thousand individua; pages.
I started going through them looking for ‘orphaned’ Magnum order and found quite a number, including a large number of Mexican bound Magnums. I genuinely believe that maybe ten to fifteen percent, possibly more, of all Registered Magnum production went to Mexico.
Amid the orphaned Magnum orders though was a wealth of other documents. Most were unremarkable, but a few stood out so far that I put them aside for future research.
What were some of these?
Keep in mind I’ve only just started going through these but….
British Purchasing Commission Shipping Invoices – These are interesting. Most addressed to some variation of the British Purchasing Commission (British Air Commission, British Ministry of Shipping, etc.). Each document is about twenty pages long and contains cover letters to various British agencies and commissions dealing with the shipment of order of Smith & Wesson revolvers that were part of an 85,000-gun contract for “…S. & W. Revolvers, 5” Barrel, Blued, Square Butt with Lanyard Swivel, Caliber .38-200 chambered for .380 Mark I I.CF.I. Cartridge…”. Each document lists the serial numbers for ,1000 revolvers, packed in cases of 100 each and details the shipping arrangements for them including where they are leaving from in the U.S. The record I have before me right now notes that the shipment is sent via Cunard White Star Limited SS Silvercedar departing from pier 54 North River (Hudson River) New York May 13th 1941 at 0800.
What makes this document so cool is that it lists every gun in the shipment by serial number.
Exhibition Guns – I’m finding more packing lists for guns that were sent to various trade shows and exhibitions. It’s gotten to the point where I am making a separate folder just for these documents. At some point I’ll have to make a small spreadsheet that lists all the guns, plain and fancy, that were used for exhibition. Quite a number of 0-prefix guns. One very interesting item on these lists was a notation that one of the Magnums used for display was described as DBW’s hunting gun! Unfortunately, the serial number was not listed but I am very sure that by cross-referencing that list with some of the other lists, I can find the s/n.
German Shipment – A very interesting 54-page document detailing, pretty much from start to finish, a large (200 gun with a possible 100 more) shipment of Regulation Police revolvers to Germany in spring/summer of 1939. What makes this file so interesting is not only the large shipment of just one kind of gun (almost certainly a government order for police or some such agency) but that it comes right on the eve of the unofficial start of World War Two (01SEP39). Also of note are some cables that use code. At least two cables going from Hamburg to Springfield utilize a coded message system comprised of multiple 5-letter blocks (example: BAFAH LIULP ABDOC AWMME ANUKT AWEBY). I recall reading somewhere that the German Enigma machines were invented not for military purposes but for sensitive business communication; I wonder if that’s what is happening with these cables.
Pistols For Palestine – Two separate files totaling almost 100 pages were observed detailing the very hard-fought search for 300 M&P’s by a Haifa dealer in mid-1940. So desperate for revolvers was this fellow that even after receiving a cable from S&W that there were no guns to be had, he journeyed to Springfield (through several stops in various countries) to plead his case, sending cables and telegrams along the way, pleading his case and advising that he was coming. It must have worked because he was able to eventually secure the guns, but his trip and effort did have an Odyssey-ian quality.
There is a great deal of other interesting information that I have yet to fully explore. As I said, my primary goal right now is just finding documentation for the Missing Magnums.
Shout out to the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation! Have you joined?
Best,
RM Vivas
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