S&W Heritage Series

**Pizza Bob** · June 8th, 2019, 08:51 AM

I don't have a particular theme for my collection. I buy what I like - which is mostly S&W's. Recently I went off on a small tangent and picked up three Heritage Series Smiths.

Just after the turn of the 21st century the S&W Performance Center manufactured a series of revolvers in partnership with some of their distributors and other vendors. These were not replicas or reproductions, but rather a homage to those revolvers of the first half of the 20th century. All but one model were done in classic revolver calibers – those being .38 S&W Special, .44 S&W Special and .45 Colt. The one non-classic, but iconic, caliber was .44 Remington Magnum. Also as a tribute to the Model of 1917, .45 ACP models were included. The Heritage Series were done in limited numbers, with issues running from as low as 102 guns to a maximum of 327.

The largest purveyor of these was the distributor Lew Horton. There was also a run of Model 25’s for the distributor Sports South. Contributing vendors were Doug Turnbull Restorations, who did the real color case hardening of the frames on some models, and Altamont, the supplier of the stocks, most of which were, what are called, Legacy Panels – finely checkered minimal stocks with outstanding grain.

The majority of these guns were delivered in gold cardboard boxes with blue metal reinforced corners. These were similar to the boxes used during the early 20th century and bore the likenesses of Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson on the lid. Some of the early production guns were delivered in Performance Center aluminum cases rather than the gold boxes.

There were three finishes used on the Heritage Series guns. Not all finishes were available on all models. The finishes used were, of course, a deep lustrous blue and a shiny bright nickel. Those along with the previously mentioned Turnbull color case hardened frame that was used in conjunction with a blued cylinder and barrel.

One model was a tribute to Ed McGivern. The Model 15-9 (available in all three finishes) has a plate affixed to the gun’s side plate, commemorating his setting of a speed record, which has yet to be broken. That record is for five shots on a playing card at fifteen feet, in two-fifths of a second. He backed it up with another five shot run of nine-twentieths of a second. This was set in 1934 when McGivern was 57 years old.

(Left to Right)
Blued Model 25-10 / .45 Colt / #10 of 150
Nickel Model 15-9 / .38 S&W Special (McGivern Speed Record Commemorative) / #81 of 139
Case Hardened Model 24-5 / .44 S&W Special / #25 of 327

Adios,

Pizza Bob

**Brick** · June 8th, 2019, 04:43 PM

Beautiful pieces and excellent photography!

**bripro** · June 9th, 2019, 05:47 AM

They make a great addition to your collection.
Do they have unique serial numbers since they’re done in limited runs?

**Noah_Zark** · June 9th, 2019, 05:53 AM

Wonderful post and background on the Heritage Series, PB, with impressive photography!!

Noah

**abner13** · June 9th, 2019, 07:54 AM

Never understood the Heritage label as some of the guns in this series were never made before. S&W never offered case-hardened frames back in the old days.

**borekfk** · June 9th, 2019, 09:35 AM

Beautiful

**Pizza Bob** · June 9th, 2019, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by bripro

Do they have unique serial numbers since they’re done in limited runs?

Bri:

Having been manufactured post-80's these have the Smith three alpha, four numeric formatted serial numbers. I believe the alpha prefix is unique to the series and in some cases has specific meaning, i.e the prefix on the case-hardened 24-5 is CSH which could be interpreted to mean Case Hardened. The 25-10 has the prefix HEG - maybe Hand Ejector Gun? the 15-9 is BCD - your guess is as good as mine on that one. The numeric characters represent where in the production run they fell.

I have others that follow the same kind of format - I have a Model 627-4 PC which is chambered in .38 Super and the serial prefix is SUP.

Thanks everyone for your interest and comments.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

**bripro** · June 9th, 2019, 01:05 PM

^^Very interesting. Are you planning to shoot them? They're gorgeous.

**Pizza Bob** · June 9th, 2019, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by bripro

^^Very interesting. Are you planning to shoot them? They're gorgeous.

Doubtful, but you can never tell. I have plenty of other guns to shoot. I think the purchase of a gun without the intention of shooting it is what defines a collector as opposed to an accumulator, and I crossed that line earlier this year. They have all been shot (not by me), but are in very nice condition - the nickel on the 15-9 is the best I've ever seen.

Adios,

Pizza Bob