S&w m13 aircrewman

[kurtflys]

Hey
A friend has a M13 S&W USAF 38 that he wants to sell. Problem is there are lots of fakes out there and I don't have any pictures of an original M13 Aircrewman to compare it to. Does anyone have a picture of the markings ? How about some collector only sneeky things I can check on?
Thanks

[Art]

Since I understand that less than a hundred of these are actually still in existance you are very wise to be careful. The revolver should have an aluminum cylinder with steel inserts, that would be your best bet as a first check as to authenticity. I personally wouldn't touch the thing unless I had it checked out by a genuine bona fide Smith and Wesson expert not some hack like me.

These Revolvers had safety issues with standard velocity .38 Special ammunition as did the Model 12 civilian versions with aluminum cylinders. The Air Force tried to fix the problem by using special low pressure ammo but apparently this didn't completely solve the problem. So if it were me I'd look on this as a non shooting collectable only, and a very expensive one at that.

As an aside I once confiscated a Model 12, steel cylinder version, that had had the charge holes bored out to accept .357 Magnum ammo . I did several double takes when I unloaded it and those magnum cartridges dumped into my hand!!!

[gwp]

A S&W Letter Of Authenticity is available for $50.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/wcsstore.../other/LOA.pdf

[Johnny P]

I guess it shouldn't be amazing that someone in the military decided that a pistol carried in a 185,000 pound airplane needed an aluminum cylinder 3.5 ounces lighter than a steel cylinder.