The J-Frame Goes Scandium

Guns Magazine, Feb, 2001 by Charles E. Petty

One of the rarest of elements lends its muscle to S&W's classic self-defense revolver.

Rare earth elements are found in a very exclusive portion of the Periodic Table of Elements. To put it simply, you don't find huge mines containing any of these four elements. Scandium (for Scandinavia) was discovered in 1879 as a tiny component of tin and tungsten ores. Rare it is. According to S&W's handgun product manager, Herb Belin, "A gram of scandium costs about 10 times more than a gram of gold. It takes tons and tons of ore to get just a little scandium."

But when it is alloyed with aluminum, the material is lighter than titanium and as much as three times stronger than the aluminum alloys used in firearms today. Not quite as strong as steel, but it is not far off. "The stuff is almost pixie dust," said Belin. "It melts right into the aluminum alloy and dramatically increases the tensile strength. It only takes a little to do it too."

THE S&W AGREEMENT: LOVE THE SINNER, HATE THE SIN

Many gunowners are unhappy with Smith &, Wesson management for their agreement with the Clinton administration. We don't like it either, but the S&W scandium revolvers are just the latest in an illustrious history of firearms design, innovation and technology that goes all the way back to 1852. It is news and we report it as such.

There is a bigger picture here that is missed by all the protesters and boycotters. Smith & Wesson is a national treasure that we can ill afford to lose. Those who proclaim, "Smith & Wesson must die" are playing into the hands of the government. Don't you think Clinton would positively rejoice if a major manufacturer of handguns went out of business?

The editorial policy of GUNS Magazine is to despise the agreement and strongly support the hundreds of dedicated people there who had nothing to do with, and no knowledge of, that situation. And who, by the way, continue to make, good and innovative guns.

S&W's Proud Heritage

Smith & Wesson's history of innovation began in 1852. Today's shooter probably takes a lot of things for granted that might not even be here were it not for the innovative products that have always been S&W trademarks. A glance through an ammunition catalog will reveal many handgun cartridges with S&W in their name, but the two that are most famous are the .357 Magnum and the legendary .44 Magnum.

S&W brought the word magnum into the shooting lexicon in 1935 with the introduction of the original .357 Mag. revolver. Doubtless borrowed from the French who use it to describe those big bottles of wine, Smith & Wesson sought, and obtained, a trademark on the word in the new context.

J. Edgar Hoover got the first one. The new cartridge was .125" longer than the .38 Special, the outgrowth of hand-loading work done by gunwriter Phil Sharpe. Then in 1954, in response to hot .44 Special hand-loads from the legendary Elmer Keith, S&W and Remington teamed to make the .44 Mag. -- which also just happened to be .125" longer than the .44 Special.

Clint Eastwood immortalized the .44 Mag. in Dirty Harry. Never before or since has a single event done so much to promote a gun. For years S&W simply could not make enough Model 29s to meet the demand, and these guns sold for premium prices far above retail.

But S&W had also been making little guns for years, chambered for a variety of .22, .32 and .38 cartridges. On October 24, 1950 they introduced a small, five-shot .38 Special revolver that immediately was dubbed "Chiefs Special." It was the first use of S&W's J-frame design.

A Wonder Of Steel And Aluminum

Originally, the Chiefs Special was made with aluminum alloys in both the frame and cylinder. It was a featherweight 11.25 ozs. The alloy cylinder was short-lived and was replaced in 1954 with a steel cylinder that increased the weight to 13 ozs. People who sent their guns with alloy cylinders in for repair got them back with steel cylinders.

Over the years the J-frame continued -- as it still does today -- to be a big seller, and it evolved into a number of other models. Of special note is the hammerless Centennial J-frame introduced in 1952 to mark the company's first 100 years. Sales of the original Centennial dropped off, and it was discontinued in 1974. The J-frames -- especially the Centennials -- were always thought of as "pocket pistols" and for those, lighter is better.

The age of stainless steel firearms began when S&W introduced their Model 60 J-frame .38 in 1965 and really revolutionized the pocket pistol category. Today, stainless is everywhere in handguns, rifles and shotguns. The Model 60 evolved to become the first .357 Mag. pocket pistol.

But the "compact" craze still sweeps the country. Smaller and lighter are buzzwords. The Centennial came back in 1993 in both the stainless steel, Model 642, and with an aluminum alloy frame known as the Model 442.

Then the J-frames went on a diet. Weight was shed everywhere. First was a small-frame .22 with an aluminum cylinder in 1997, and then in 1999 S&W launched the Airlite Ti series. A titanium cylinder, aluminum frame and shrouded barrel brought the weight down to where it started with the original alloy-cylindered Chiefs Special. The new guns could handle P .38 Special ammunition. "Our design goals have been to safely achieve the maximum power-to-weight ratio," said Belin.