I like the Centennial design so much, I started picking up old, beat-up versions of the real thing. All of the below are in .38 Short & Weak (.38 S&W). They averaged about $50 each, but only two of them are in a condition I would consider safe to fire — and even then their cylinder stops are pretty worn. Hopefully when I get time (ha!)Â it won’t be too much of a problem to swap out the cylinder stops from the other two guns. Yet another project for retirement, I suppose.
Â
Note the nineteenth-century grip safety on the leftmost pair.Â
The neat thing about these guns is that they’re so SMALL — significantly smaller than a J-frame. S&W called them “I-frames,” and they’re truly pocket pistols. Even the long-barreled versions could ride relatively unnoticed all day in an inside jacket pocket. I wish S&W would bring one of these models back into production, maybe firing a .380 with moon clips? I know, the market just ain’t there.
For those who are interested, here’s the gunsmith who wrote the book on these guns: David Chicoine. He’s very friendly and responsive to email. Seems to know what he’s doing.
i’m a bastard for doing this, but… this is a totally unrelated post in an attempt to solicit gun advice from you. i scoured the site in an attempt to find contact info for you, but alas, my search was fruitless. i’m doing this because i came back with a hit on a search engine while looking for decent quality sks mags. this is the url that i got
http://www.softgreenglow.com/mt/archives/2005/05/sunday_gun_acce.html
it don’t work, but i really wanted to know what you had to say on the subject. was wonderin if you might be able to help me out, since i read your blog often and trust your singular opinion more than all the douchebag cheap mag peddlers at the gun show put together. thanks for your time….
Welcome Matt, and let it never be said that we don’t aim to please here at RNS!
2005 was before my time here, but I dutifully looked through all of the May 2005 posts in the archives to find what you’re looking for. I believethis is it –the AnalogKid’s post on the subject:
http://www.softgreenglow.com/wp/?p=583
I myself have zero experience with SKSs, having been a resident of California at the time the ban went into effect. Back in ’96, a buddy in law school conspiratorially mentioned that he had a couple of ’em buried someplace. That’s the extent of my knowledge.
(Incidentally, it looks as though that megalomaniac Professor Booty screwed with the archives during the switcheroo from Moveable Type to WordPress — he’s listed as author for almost all of the archives! I’m sure Phil will take him to task when he returns — it’s not as though the Professor doesn’t have plenty of nubiles available to go undo his dirty work.)
I worked up a load for a Enfield in .38S&W(they called it .380) that seems to duplicate the original military load. It uses a Lyman 190grain roundnose bullet, unsized, lubed with Liquid Alox. I need to run the load through a chrono, I’m guessing about 650-700fps. It’s not a .357, but it would definately leave a mark.
Gunsmith Chicoine takes pains to say over and over that the antique top-break Smiths should not be fired except with black-powder loads. I emailed him about the reduced-velocity smokeless “Cowboy Action” loads that are available, and he nixed even those.
The topstrap on the upper right-hand revolver in the photo is bent from a too-hot load for the old steel. So I’m not about to work up anything hot for these old babies.
thanks for lookin that up for me… you rock
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