American Handgunner July/August 1977

purchased new by the writer. The gun hastarget hammer and trigger and has seenmuch service in law enforcement. , on the~ ~~target range, and on the hunting trail. Inexcess of 25,000 rounds have been putthrough it with no indication of wear orloss of accuracy beyond some loss of blueon the corners.In the summer of 1963 a 6" version wasmade available. This gave a longer sightradius to those who wished a bit morelong range accuracy and did not object toa little more length. After many requestsover the years for a short barrel versionbetter suited for concealment, the companymade a limited quantity of 3" barrelversions in April of 1966. One of these isserial K622501 and was shipped on April29, 1966. It is now in the collection of RoyG. Jinks, noted S&W authority and factoryhistorian. Length was further reducedto 2'12" and this became the official shortversion. It was introduced in August of1966. Starting serials would thus fall inthe K623000 range.Most readers have noticed that no referencehas been made to this point of modelnumbers. When the Combat Magnum wasintroduced, the company did not usemodel numbers in retail advertising orcatalogs; only within the factory for productionand engineering control. It wasnot until March of 1958 that model numberswere included in advertising andÈEVOLUTION OF THE COMBAT MAGNUMMilitary & Police ........................ 1 899.357 Magnum .......................... .I935K-38 Masterpiece .......................I946 The standard Combat Magnum withCombat Masterpiece ................... .I 950blue finish (top) led to natural demandCombat Magnum ....................... .I955for a similar gun made of stain-Combat Magnum Stainless ............... 1971 less; thus the new Model 66.catalogs. It was at this time the CombatMagnum gained the added designation,Model 19. All guns in current productionwere assigned model numbers. No numberbelow 10 was used. This was done toavoid confusion with the numbers used ontheir pre-1900 products. During thatperiod the numbers 1, 1'12, 2, and 3 hadbeen used for both factory and retailmodel designations.rIn 1973 the company produced its firstcommemorative model, and it was a Model19 in blue finish with 4" barrel knownas the Texas Ranger- Commemorative.This revolver came in several combinations,all cased. It was available casedalone, cased with special Bowie knife, andfully engraved and cased with Bowieknife. The Bowie knife (also produced bySmith & Wesson) was also available casedalone. This was the 150th year of theTexas Rangers, 1823-1973.The revolver had several unique andspecial features. Sights were standardModel 19 type with the added red insertfront and white outline rear option as standard.Special smooth Goncalo Alves targetgrips with Texas Star Medallion wereused. Barrel markings were gold filledwith standard marks on the left side and"Texas Rangers" on the right side. On theside plate was the Texas Ranger Commemorativecommission Seal, roll engravedand gold filled. The hammer wastarget type,. The trigger guard was cutawayon the left side for quick draw and asmooth face combat width target triggerwas used. The back strap was non serratedto provide area for engraving. Specialserial numbers were used starting withTR1 and ending with TR10000.During production of the Combat Mag-num Model 19 three engineering changeswere made which required new parts notused in prior production orparts not interchangeablewith prior production.These changes were identified by a dashnumber behind the model numberstamped in the yoke cut of the frame. Thedates and meaning of each change is listedbelow.Model 19-Nov. 1955ÑOrigina design.Model 19-1-1960-Change extractorrod thread from right hand to left hand.Model 19-2-Dec. 1961-Redesigncylinder stop eliminating stop plunger andscrew. This eliminated the exterior screwjust forward of the trigger guard.Model 19-3-Dec. 1967-Relocaterear sight leaf mounting screw from 9/~s"back of the front edge of the frame to(Continued on page 66)AMERICAN HANDGUNNERJULY/AUGUST