One thing you should learn about guns, and this entails all aspects of guns, is that you should be a perpetual student. I love learning new ways to shoot guns, new ways to handle guns, and the history of guns. This is why I recently went down the rabbit hole of S&W revolvers because I had no idea what the various ‘screw’ types meant when it came to owning S&W revolvers. One of the best parts of my job is getting to share what I learn with you, fine folks.
The Mythical Screw Types
Spend any time in S&W forums, subreddits, or similar social media platforms dedicated to S&W revolvers. You’ll run across collectors often showing off their historic S&W revolvers and often touting the number of screws the gun has. The number of screws has become a way to age and date firearms amongst collectors.
As S&W evolved and as their revolvers evolved they found new ways to manufacture guns. This often called for small but noticeable changes in how the firearm was assembled. Over the years, S&W slowly reduced the screws needed to produce a functional firearm. The general rule of thumb is that the more screws the gun has, the older it is.
There are exceptions, which is going to happen with a company as big and as old as S&W. It’s worth mentioning that the varied screws and screw types only came into play around 1905 and continued until about 1961.
The changes to the revolver screws vary depending on the frame and date. I and J Frame guns have different dates associated with screw types than K and N Frame guns.
What’s a 6 Screw Gun
Early I-frames, which were S&W’s first-hand ejectors, are six screw guns. You don’t hear about six screw guns because no one, besides me, collects I-frame revolvers. The I-frame guns have four screws in the side plate, one for the trigger guard and a sixth for the mainspring, which acts as a tension screw.
5 Screw
After 1952 S&W switched to coil mainsprings in the I-frames, and this eliminated the sixth screw for I-frames, making them five-screw guns. When people talk about five-screw guns, they are rarely talking about I-frames.
N and K-frames are the more popular 5-screw guns. These guns feature four screws in the side plate and one for the trigger. The K-frames were produced until late 1955 with five screws, and the N-frames were produced until late 1956 with five screws.
4 Screw
Some K-frames are known as pre-5-screw four screws just because S&W likes to confuse me specifically. These are the 1899 hand ejectors, which would eventually become the Model 10.
In 1953 S&W produced the new model I and J-frames, which eliminated the trigger guard screw. These became four-screw guns.
The K and N-frames would remove the upper side plate screw to become four screw guns.
3 Screw
In 1955 the I and J-frames eliminated the upper side plate screw and became three screw guns.
In 1961, the trigger guard screws on the K and N-frames were removed, which reduced them to three screw guns.
Now You Know
I’ve typed the word screw entirely too much. However, the various screw types are important parts of S&W’s heritage and help date a revolver. Of course, there are exceptions, and exceptions will always exist. From my research, I’ve covered the main changes, and now you know way too much about S&W’s screws.
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