doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stolen gun (OT) Smith &Wesson

I was asked to help a friend try to locate a missing Smith &Wesson .357 It was owned by Major Lloyd S. Spooner and I was lead to believe used in the Olympics. Major Spooner won 4 gold metals, 1 silver, and 2 bronze in the 1920 Olympics. Serial number 49614.
What should I do to try to locate any information on the gun? Any advise would be appreciated as his grandson (great) is in Iraq and his Unkle had the gun stolen (?) from his house.
jas

I don't remember them using a .357 magnum in Olympic competition. I don't think the .357 was developed until the 1930s. (?) You might want to keep an eye on the online auctions, and the uncle might want to keep an eye on the local gun shows in his area. Have him report it to the police. When they stole it, did they take anything else? If not, it was probably someone who knew him. But you can pretty much figure that baby's gone.

Numero UNO now "lost" was delivered to some fellow named J. Edgar Hoover on april 17, 1935.

Gee, I hope it's not one of them from the 1935-1939 batch they made that are now worth thousands if in top condition.

The mentioned serial number is among prewar N frame Smiths, and would, in fact, be a "Registered .357 Magnum" model that is so sought after by collectors. Jinks doesn't seem to mention the serial number of the Hoover gun in his book. Various models of N frame guns are in a continuous run of numbers, so the original Registered .357 Magnums are mixed in with others of the same frame size. Hoover's gun is not number one, but the number is probably known by Smith and Wesson students. A fellow in my gun club bought the second .44 Magnum made, General Julian Hatcher's prototype, in a parking lot transaction and found out what he had bought by reading Jinks.

eightbore:
Did Elmer Keith perhaps get the first one? Registered 357s are pretty scarce so I'd recommmend that the membership here check the serial number on any that come up at gun shows.
Jim

Jim, no, Elmer didn't get the first .44 Magnum. The first one went to Remington, either for ammo testing or VIP presentation. I don't know if anyone knows which. I'm sure Elmer got an early gun gratis, but his "test gun" as I recall, was a .44 Special that was bored out and beefed up somewhat, or maybe just bored out and Elmer took his chances on the beefed up part.

Thanks eightbore for the info. I knew Elmer Keith was very involved in the 44 Magnum development and suspected he was given an early example.
Jim

Thanks for the above information. The gun was registrared on October 23, 1936 Registration number 1519 Barrel length 6 1/2" My wife looked up Major Spooner and discovered he ran a base during the second world war and was a Cornel.
We have a local gun show this week-end and I will look around. I will be at a "build a new range" booth. The certificate was signed by Harold Wesson. I, when I was in the Sea Bee's, rock climbed with Dan Wesson.

I have one of the Reg Pre 27 Smith & Wesson Revolvers. Mime was made according to Roy Jinks in 1938. I had forgotten all about it till you fellows starting this thread. Mine has a 7 inch barrel. The Reg # is 46XX. They were all hand fit. Nice pistols.

Regards
M.L.