1957 is the year

by Charles, Sunday, January 24, 2016, 15:53 (3165 days ago) @ Hoot

Up until 1957 Smith and Wesson had no mechanical drawings of their handguns, but had a master disassembled model in a vault. If somebody needed a spec, they went to the vault and took a measurement. That changed in 1957 when drawings were produced and that was the time when they changed from model names to model numbers.

The first revolver up was the Military and Police, which became the Model 10. Other models followed as the drawing were produced and the numbers assigned.

I don't know if it was connected or not to this change, but 1957 was also the year they changed the steel/heat treatment to allow the use of higher pressure ammo and/or reduce wear with standard pressure loads.

The rule of thumb is if a revolver was made in 1957 and after, it is OK with +P ammo. The old M & P long action DA Smiths are wonderful pistols but will wear pretty quick with +P ammo. Parts for these are getting quite hard to find, so I treat mine with kid gloves, loading 3/Bullseye over 150 - 160 grain bullets.