Smith & Wesson Registered Magnum

Very Rare & Fine Smith & Wesson Registered Magnum Revolver with 7 1/2” Barrel & Box serial #54378 (Reg. No. 3162), 357 Magnum, 7 1/2” barrel with a bright excellent bore. This is a wonderful revolver in a very rare barrel length, only 79 of which were produced. The metal surfaces retain about 97-98% original bright blue showing some very mild sharp edge wear, a very thin turn line and some sparsely scattered light handling marks. There are some sparsely scattered old oxidation speckles as well mostly along a few of the cylinder flat edges and around the gripstraps and a couple of the screw heads show some light slot wear but it is mostly unobtrusive. The finely checkered hammer with grooved sides and the grooved trigger show lovely vibrant case-hardened colors with just a few mild speckles along the trigger and all markings remain crisp and clear. The checkered walnut Magna grips with silver S&W medallions remain in near excellent condition, the right panel showing a couple of tiny drying cracks along the edges along with a few other minor handling marks. The right panel is properly stamp-numbered matching the frame and the medallions are patent-marked on their interiors. All of the remaining numbered parts are matching and the revolver is sighted with adjustable square notch rear sight and Call gold bead front. The action seems to function well mechanically with solid timing and lock-up. The included original blue picture box remains in about very fine condition showing a little flaking and scuffing along the edges and corners, the gold illustration and markings remaining quite nice. The bottom shows a bit more wear with some moderate scuffing and flaking of both the interior and exterior. One end flap shows two very old stickers affixed, one a flaking remnant and the other with a rather peculiar message that appears to have nothing to do with this box or revolver “S&W Incorrect / Buff-Bill American / Chambered for / 44 Russian”. This sticker has obviously been on the box for a long time and we leave it up to the next owner to decide upon its careful removal or not. The sticker on the base shows a slightly faded but legible number that is indeed matching the revolver and factory records will indicate shipment in November of 1937 to Sutcliffe Hardware in Louisville, KY. The lids red interior remains in very fine condition and the box contains an original Smith & Wesson pamphlet and order form for the 357 revolver that is folded in three and shows some small tears and old oil staining, otherwise rating about very fine. For the advanced Smith & Wesson collector this is a wonderful find and an extremely sought-after barrel length to round out that Registered Magnum collection.