Can anyone direct me to a good website that has a pic of all the different variants of the model 15? Sights, grip shape, stocks, barrel lengths, shrouds, finishes etc. Would really be good if they also indicated year that particular variant was offered for sale.
S&W revolver question.
- Thread starter wolfee
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well off the top of my head, the model 15 in .38 special was offered in 2in., 4 in. ( the basic main version) some in 6 in. and very few in the mid late 80s in 8 3/8 inch,,,,most of them were blued finish a few in nickel till about 1987, all the ones I ever saw were K framed ( medium frame) square butt grips, and came with 'magna ,square flat bottom
grips,,, the police, military version had a service grip, the bottom sides of the grip panels were rounded,,,made for less wear on the inside of an officers uniform jacket....they all came with an adjustable rear sight............
any more info may be found of the 9 different manufacturing changes in the "S&W Standard Catalog by Supica and Nahas, I did contribute info and photos for their Volume 3 and Volume 4 books...good book to have handy 8) :roll: :wink:
PS if you are going to collect them the valueable one is marked USAF...premium attached to that version, hard to find,... this was the sidearm of the Air Police.
grips,,, the police, military version had a service grip, the bottom sides of the grip panels were rounded,,,made for less wear on the inside of an officers uniform jacket....they all came with an adjustable rear sight............
any more info may be found of the 9 different manufacturing changes in the "S&W Standard Catalog by Supica and Nahas, I did contribute info and photos for their Volume 3 and Volume 4 books...good book to have handy 8) :roll: :wink:
PS if you are going to collect them the valueable one is marked USAF...premium attached to that version, hard to find,... this was the sidearm of the Air Police.
S&W Standard Catalog by Supica and Nahas
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This........
I've never heard of 6" or 8 3/8" ones--Smith had those as M14 Masterpiece. I could swear I recently saw a 5" M15 (or maybe it was an M14) that had been special ordered for some police agency but I don't remember where. Whatever it was, it was a very rare bird.
The stainless version was called Model 67. I never heard of or saw one in any length but 4".
The 15 could be ordered with Target Trigger (and later, presumably, with Combat Trigger), Target Hammer, and/or Target Stocks. Could have also been ordered with any of several sight options such as red ramp and white outline, but I've never seen those on a factory M15. I've never seen any round-bottom Magna stocks on them, either; all I've seen have had the flat bottoms.
The USAF guns all had Target Hammer and Target Trigger, but standard flat-bottom Magna stocks.
The stainless version was called Model 67. I never heard of or saw one in any length but 4".
The 15 could be ordered with Target Trigger (and later, presumably, with Combat Trigger), Target Hammer, and/or Target Stocks. Could have also been ordered with any of several sight options such as red ramp and white outline, but I've never seen those on a factory M15. I've never seen any round-bottom Magna stocks on them, either; all I've seen have had the flat bottoms.
The USAF guns all had Target Hammer and Target Trigger, but standard flat-bottom Magna stocks.
montegomx70
Single-Sixer
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- Feb 29, 2012
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Heliman said:
Found it! It's on page 21 of the May issue of Guns & Ammo. It's basically a 5" M14 K-38 Masterpiece (untapered barrel, wide rib, no underlug; all M15s had a tapered barrel and a narrow rib) except the front sight base is a long ramp like on the M15 and M19 (the M14 had a short front sight ramp base) and the front sight itself is an unramped Patridge very much like the ones on 6" M19s. Caption says it was a special order for Illinois State Police (before they went to the 9mm M39). If you know your S&Ws, it's a very unusual looking gun and I've never seen another one like it.Snake45 said:
Found another one on the net. This one has a ramped front sight like a regular M15:
https://saltlakecollectibles.com/product/smith-wesson-rare-pre-model-14-5-illinois-state-police-k-38/
jgt
Buckeye
Before the 68 GCA, a person could order most anything they wanted from a gun company. I bought a model 15 in 1963. At the time they were called a "combat masterpiece" and came with a 4" barrel. Special orders of enough units could get any configuration you wanted. There were some ordered with 2&1/2" barrels and as stated above other configurations. Across the counter, at your local gun shop, your choice would have likely been a 4" barrel.
