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Other accompanying documents shed light on the history of this revolver. There is letter from McGivern to D.B.
Wesson requesting “a five inch barrel Magnum revolver [for] shooting tournaments coming in June and July in Great Falls, Billings, and Missoula.” D.B. Wesson’s May 23, 1938 dated response to McGivern explained a 5 inch Magnum revolver was available, it would be equipped with a McGivern front sight and deep U notch rear sight and he would “also send along a Baughman Quick Draw
front sight and square notch rear in case the F.B.I. boys would rather see you work with their standard equipment.”The quick draw sight is not included and presumably the referenced square notch sight is on the gun. The S&W order form and invoice
confirm the configuration as listed in the factory letter as well as delivery to Ed McGivern. Additional correspondence between Floyd
and Karwan related to Floyd’s search for more information about the revolver as well as a buyer for the revolver is also included.
There are several articles written by and about Ed McGivern. Also included are several original loose pages from Dan Wesson’s
personal scrapbook. Glued to these pages are period articles and photographs mostly related to Dan Wesson’s media campaign
to drum up public support for the Registered Magnum. In 1935, when the Smith & Wesson factory introduced the .357 Magnum
revolver. Wesson went to great lengths to prove the power of this new revolver and cartridge. His promotional exploits were
covered nationwide. A photograph of special interest shows Ed McGivern standing with members of a police department
participating in marksmanship training.
The revolver has an unnumbered right grip panel and matching serial numbers on the butt, cylinder, and ejector shroud. The revolver along with other Ed McGivern owned ephemera was displayed at the 2015 NRA Annual Meetings held in Nashville, Tennessee. The NRA Certificate of Recognition
for this display is included. These .357 Magnum revolvers were introduced in 1935, were custom manufactured, and were discontinued in 1939 as they were deemed to costly to manufacture. The .357 Magnum was the most powerful handgun cartridge at the time, and this “state of the art” handgun quickly gained popularity with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, looking for a sidearm to deliver more stopping power and popularized big game handgun hunting. Simply put, these Registered Magnums forged
the legacy of the .357 Magnum cartridge.
CONDITION: Very fine as factory reworked/rebarreled. The
revolver retains 95% of the blue finish showing some
loss at the muzzle and some high edge wear. The
hammer and trigger retain 75% of the vivid original
case colors. The grips are excellent with some minor
handling marks (mostly on the bottoms) and overall
crisp checkering. Mechanically excellent. Do not
miss your chance to own a well-documented and
desirable Smith & Wesson Registered .357 Magnum
Revolver shipped to renowned handgunner Ed
McGivern!
Provenance: Ed McGivern; The Thomas Floyd Collection; Lee Jarrett and David Carroll; The Dave Ballantyne Collection; 2015 NRA Annual Meetings.
Estimate: 18,000 - 27,500
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