In 1934, Douglas Wesson of Smith & Wesson teamed up with ballistics experts Phil Sharpe and Elmer Keith to develop a new cartridge to compete with Colt's .38 Super Automatic. The result was the .357 Magnum, a cartridge based on S&W's .38 Special with an average muzzle velocity of 1,090 feet per second. The .357 Magnum cartridge was first introduced on the S&W .357 Magnum Revolver, making it the most powerful handgun at the time. Initially, each production S&W .357 Magnum was built to the specifications of the buyer, then registered by number to the owner by Douglas Wesson himself. The .357 is generally credited for starting the "Magnum Era," a period of time when larger calibers dominated the firearms market. As a high velocity cartridge, the .357 quickly became a favorite caliber for law enforcement, including the FBI, looking for a sidearm to deliver more stopping power. Offered here is the historic pre-production S&W .357 Magnum used in U.S. government testing and evaluation both by the military and FBI and was owned by legendary FBI firearms expert Agent T. Frank Baughman, the inventor of the Baughman Quick Draw sight. As told by S&W historian Roy Jinks in the accompanying factory letter, "This revolver is a very important handgun in the history of the .357 series. It was one of the very first .357 series. It was one of the very first .357 Magnums produced for test and evaluation. Because this handgun was to be used for evaluations it was not assigned any registration number. It was one of a pair of prototypes assembled in March of 1935. Its companion revolver was serial number 45809." These two revolvers were delivered to the U.S. Armory at Springfield, Massachusetts on May 3, 1935 by Douglas Wesson. Jinks continued, "The revolvers were on a loan account and charged to the Armory on a temporary basis. The military conducted their test and returned the revolver to Doug Wesson on August 23, 1935 to be used for further testing by the factory or by other agencies." The two revolvers were separated with this revolver (no. 45808) shipped to S&W's Washington, D.C. office to be used by sales representative Harold Kirtz for promotional purposes. The factory ledger dates shipping to September 17, 1935 and lists the revolver with a 5 inch barrel (currently 4 inches), blue finish and no registration number. The handgun was charged to the Washington, D.C. account. The revolver was provided to the FBI for testing and evaluation, and as Jinks noted in the letter, "It was never returned [to the factory] by the FBI." The included S&W invoice confirms the revolver was delivered to Kirtz in Washington, D.C. and the lack of a registration number. The revolver ended up in the hands of the FBI's leading firearms expert, Special Agent Thomas Franklin Baughman (1897-1971). Baughman invented the Baughman Quick Draw ramp front sight and is the type of sight fitted on this revolver. The Baughman Quick Draw sight is basically a long, rearward sloping ramp. As there are no sharp edges or corners to catch the leather of a holster, the "slick" design allowed for a gun fitted with this sight to be drawn faster and smoother. This sight was specifically designed for the S&W .357 Magnum. S&W went on to use Baughman's sight on hundreds of thousands of its K- and N-frame revolvers. Baughman requested S&W to fit this revolver with his sight as well as to shorten the barrel to 4 inches in 1937. This is confirmed by the included handwritten note from Baughman to D.B. Wesson requesting these changes to the gun. Years later the revolver once again returned to the S&W factory. The grip frame has the S&W factory return date of November 1970 and the S&W factory "R-Bi" refinish mark, and the rear cylinder face has the S&W factory diamond refinish mark. Baughman was the lead contact for all FBI and individual agent orders of the S&W .357 Magnum. His name will be found on almost all S&W factory documents related to this model linked to the FBI. For example, his name is found on the included S&W invoice for Reg. No. 1345, an FBI procured .357 Magnum fitted with a Baughman Quick Draw sight. On the invoice is a hand drawn sketch of Baughman's now famous sight. Baughman began his 30 year career with the FBI in 1919 when the agency was named the Bureau of Investigation. His Department of Justice employment application is included. He was assigned to the General Intelligence Division and worked closely with J. Edgar Hoover. Baughman had known Hoover since law school and the two men were close friends. Hoover was Baughman's best man at his wedding to his second wife, and when Hoover became director of the Bureau in 1924, Hoover appointed Baughman a supervisor and rated him third in command at the Bureau. For a short time he was the assistant to Assistant Director Clyde Tolson. In the early 1930s, Baughman was appointed as a firearms instructor and played a pivotal role in the organization of the firearms training for the Bureau in 1933 following the infamous Kansas City massacre, a shootout at Kansas City's Union Station that left four law enforcement officers dead and the catalyst for law enforcement reform. Baughman remained an instructor until his retirement in 1949. His role has an administrator and adviser to Hoover, especially in the testing and evaluation of weapons considered for the FBI's arsenal, is often overlooked in the history books. This .357 Magnum sheds light onto that lost history. Baughman was instrumental in the development of the .357 Magnum for use with the FBI and his quick draw sight designed specifically for this model of weapon remains in use today. In the factory letter Roy Jinks perfectly summarized this revolver's historical importance to the .357 Magnum legacy: "This is certainly a revolver that helped to make the .357 Magnum a popular handgun with law enforcement agencies." The revolver wears a set of Roper grips and matching serial numbers are found on the cylinder and ejector shroud. The revolver is listed by serial number in Supica and Nahas' "Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson" on page 133. Comes with a later production Huey leather bound case featuring an S&W leather label on the interior of the lid and an inscription shield engraved "T.F./BAUGHMAN/F.B.I." on the exterior of the lid. Several included letters of sale provide a well-documented series of ownership since it first left the Baughman family in 1973. A couple years after Baughman's death, his wife Bonnie sold the revolver in 1973 to Orange County Deputy Sheriff E.L. Carroll. Over the next several years the gun changed hands several times. George Cherewil owned the gun for a short time and sold it in 1976 to Ted Bland. In 1996 the gun was purchased by Gary Garbrecht from Bill Douglas who had acquired it in 1990 from Phil Isabel. Isabel had owned the gun since around 1980, purchasing it from a gun shop in Orlando. The revolver went on to be owned by Ray Cheely before making its way into the hands of our consignor, Dave Ballantyne. At the NRA Annual Meetings in 2011, this pre-production S&W .357 Magnum revolver was awarded the coveted "10 Best" Silver Medal Arms Award, "one of a maximum of ten certificates awarded each year to arms of outstanding historical value, or beauty, or rarity, selected from displays of the NRA's Affiliated Gun Collector Organizations." The silver medal was No. 498, and the medal is included along with its original case as well as the Silver Certificate of Recognition. Provenance: FBI Agent T. Frank Baughman; Bonnie Baughman; Orange County Deputy Sheriff E.L. Carroll, The George Cherewil Collection; The Ted Bland Collection; The Phil Isabel Collection; The Bill Douglas Collection; The Gary Garbrecht Collection; The Ray Cheely Collection; The Dave Ballantyne Collection; 2011 NRA Silver Medal Award Winner

Very fine overall retaining 99% plus of the S&W factory reapplied blue finish with a faint cylinder drag line, some scattered light pitting under the finish on the cylinder, a few minor handling marks, and crisp grip checkering. Case is excellent. Mechanically excellent. This unique and very historically significant S&W handgun played a pivotal role in popularizing the .357 Magnum with law enforcement. It is a testament to those like previous owner FBI Special Agent T. Frank Baughman who, through their handwork and perseverance, made the .357 Magnum a success.