S&W Brazilian 45ACP 1937

[Uncle Grinch]

I just put some cash down on a nice 1937 S&W 45ACP revolver. It has a parkerized finish and seems to be tight with a very good bore. From what I can tell, these are N frames and have a 5 1/2 inch barrel. I already have some 45AR brass and plenty of 45ACP brass.
Are these square butt frames?

[Outpost75]

All those I've seen have been 5-1/2" square butt, blue finish, with lanyard loop. Similar to USM1917 except better finished.

[enfieldphile]

Outpost said it right, two things to add though. (most of) the 37's have a flat-top frame, with square notch rear sight groove. The 1917 has a curved-top frame, with "U" notch rear sight groove. Part of the Brazilian contract used some curved-top 1917 frames (left over WWI production). I have both guns, 1917 and the 1937. The 1937 is easier to sight. The 1917 grips are smooth. The 1937 grips have a gold S&W disk and are checkered. Some 1937 square-top frame guns were fitted with left over WWI production smooth grips. My 1937 is a square-top frame gun with smooth grips.

The original finish on BOTH the 1917 and 1937 was blue. The 1917 finish was a low-luster blue. The 1937 was a far better blue.

Many 1917's will be seen with an arsenal-applied grey Parkerizing. This was done if the gun went in for arsenal repair or rebuild. My 1917 was put in storage after WWI as it needed a new barrel. But, since funding was cut after the war ended, it sat untouched and unrepaired until WWII. After Pearl Harbor, they funded repair. My 1917 was given a new barrel. The new barrel is known because there is no serial # stamped on the flat on the bottom of the barrel. Original barrels have the gun serial# stamped on that flat. S&W supplied extra barrels and other spare parts to the arsenals. But, when the extra parts were fitted during a repair, the arsenals did not add serial #'s. The arsenals would do a grey parkerized finish like the one done to my 1917 @ Aniston Arsenel. However, it was never re-issued. It was kept in storage until it was surplused out.

Both guns shoot cast boolits very well! I suggest water-drop WW boolits with a light to midrange charge of powder. I use Lee 6-cavity 200 grain (H&G style SWC) and both the Lee 6-cavity 230 grain RN and TC boolits. All shoot well.


All those I've seen have been 5-1/2" square butt, blue finish, with lanyard loop. Similar to USM1917 except better finished.

[Char-Gar]

There were two runs of these pistols of 25K each for the Brazilian Navy, one before WW2 and one after. The first run was all new production and numbered on the blackstrap. The second run was a mish mash of left over 1917 parts and later parts. These were not numbered on the blackstrap.i have one of each run.

These handguns have cylinder throats that run .455 - 456, so cast bullets should be as close to those numbers are possible. An alloy of medium hardness (8 to 11 bhn. ) will give you better results than hard alloys.

Auto rim cases will give you better results than ACP cases in clips.

The are great old six guns, so have fun, but keep pressures at or lower than factory 45 ACP.

[Uncle Grinch]

This one has the parkerized finsh, checkered grips that look original and the u-channel rear sight (unfortunately). I'll post some pics when I pick it up next week (waiting on funds to come in!)

[Uncle Grinch]

Ok, finally got by the local gunshop and picked up my Brazilian S&W 45ACP DA. Thought I'd post a couple of pictures. All I need now is a holster and some time at the range.

[The Virginian]

That is one nice GUN.

[enfieldphile]

Mike,

Your M37 looks great! :)

Looking forward to your range report & more pics

Use a light to medium load. I use 5 grains of Herco w/ the Lee 200 grain SWC (copy of H&G 68), lee 230 TC and Lee 230 RN. Sized .452 with 50/50 lube.

[Dutchman]

Heck these things are so common everybody has at least one!

Mine loves HG68 sized .452".

http://images59.fotki.com/v419/photos/4/28344/9895637/052x-vi.jpg

Pachmayr "small" Presentation grips.
http://images15.fotki.com/v235/photos/4/28344/9895637/053x-vi.jpg

http://images107.fotki.com/v780/photos/4/28344/9895637/nuswb9-vi.jpg

http://images15.fotki.com/v587/photos/4/28344/9895637/nuswb7-vi.jpg

I try hard not to insult mine by shooting rimless ammo in it but fact is it shoots .45acp without moon clips just fine. They pull out with a fingernail easy.

I've shot Speer swaged 250 gr SWC but the accuracy wasn't real good. Nice punch though with 250 grains of weight. Up close defense cartridge doesn't need bullseye accuracy.

http://images46.fotki.com/v274/photos/4/28344/9895637/nuswb10-vi.jpg

[Uncle Grinch]

I have about 30+ rounds of 45AR and plenty of 45ACP, but may just pick up some more 45AR brass instead of using the moon clips (I don't have enough finger nail to pull out the ACP brass!)

[Uncle Grinch]

Dutchman, I like that holster. Can you give me some info on it?

[Char-Gar]

OK...somebody had to start with the pics didn't they.. Here are my two

[owejia]

You can get plastic clips that don't need a tool to unload the brass from. I use my Brazilian as my main farm gun. I load walnut media and use them to shoot the carpenter bees with. I also load a resized 308 brass and a large shot load to shoot pigeons in my hay barns with. You can make these just a little shorter than the cylinder and get a pretty good bird shot load in them. I use a 410 wad and a overshot wad cut from a plastic ice cream bucket lid. The plastic rimz speed loader work really well when shooting the carpenter bees. The brass really pop in and out fast. No finger nails needed.

[Uncle Grinch]

You can get plastic clips that don't need a tool to unload the brass from. I use my Brazilian as my main farm gun. I load walnut media and use them to shoot the carpenter bees with. I also load a resized 308 brass and a large shot load to shoot pigeons in my hay barns with. You can make these just a little shorter than the cylinder and get a pretty good bird shot load in them. I use a 410 wad and a overshot wad cut from a plastic ice cream bucket lid. The plastic rimz speed loader work really well when shooting the carpenter bees. The brass really pop in and out fast. No finger nails needed.

Now that really sounds like fun and sure beats using my grandkids BB gun! A badminton racket works very good and is not quite as noisy.

[Scharfschuetze]

Mine has a worn finish, but the bore and charge holes are perfect with no noticeable wear or erosion in the bore, forcing cone or crown. The DA pull is smooth as smooth can be and the charge holes all keep their projectile into the same group, so one can't ask for more than that from an old war horse. It puts the 225 grain RCBS RN boolit right to point of aim and will put 12 of 'em into a 2 to 2 1/2" group at 25 yards. I experimented with the heavier 45 Colt boolit, but there wasn't any advantage to it, at least for plinking.

I've recently been using the plastic 6 shot clips in lieu of the 3 shot metal variety, but they sometimes interfere a bit with the DA pull due to friction on the recoil plate. Years ago I bought a bunch of metal 6 shot clips and they are my favorite way to charge the beast.

[Dutchman]

Dutchman, I like that holster. Can you give me some info on it?


http://images57.fotki.com/v1354/photos/4/28344/9895637/001-vi.jpg

[Dutchman]

So I bought a Webley Mk6 from this guy and he mentions he has one of those S&W Brazilian .45 but the cylinder won't open. Well, you know what that is right off. The ejector rod came unscrewed enough to jam the everything in place. He said $175 and I said OK. Took all of 2 minutes to get the cylinder open. But the hammer wouldn't cock.

I feel fairly confident inside a S&W so I took off the sideplate and some Doofus shortened the rebound slide spring too much and put a copper plated BB in as a spacer I presumed. I stuck a new rebound slide spring in it and worked just fine after that. These grips are Pachmayr "large" Presentation. My hands aren't small but I much prefer the "small" Presentation N grips.

http://images9.fotki.com/v1542/photos/4/28344/9895637/SW1937b-vi.jpg

Sometimes late at night we play dress up:). This M1917 is wearing a pair of Jay Scott grips. They're solid not hollow with a mahogany lamination plate but they're really w i d e compared to S&W Magna grips.

http://images9.fotki.com/v1542/photos/4/28344/9895637/SW1917-vi.jpg

[Dutchman]

You decide what you're going to handload for the S&W .45 :)


http://images52.fotki.com/v642/photos/2/28344/1676633/rrr10-vi.jpg

http://images59.fotki.com/v1579/photos/2/28344/1676633/rrr11-vi.jpg

That 200 gr SWC is HG68 @ .452".

[Uncle Grinch]

Note yet Dutchman, I've got several moulds, i.e., Lee 200 gn, 230 gn, all 6 cavity. Hope to make it to the range this weekend.

Thanks, for the holster info. I'm not sure about sewing up a holster. I'd have to carry it to a leather/shoe shop.

[MtGun44]

I'll have to try my own #68s in my 1937, it doesn't like factory hard
cast, but does well with larger 452423s at about .454 diam as long as
I push them fairly hard, like 6 or 6.5 of Unique. ONCE tried working
up towards Elmers 7.5 gr Unique and stopped at 7.0, never to repeat
it.

Bill

[Uncle Grinch]

I do have an RCBS 45-250K for my 45 Colt Ruger that may be interesting to try in the Brazilian. How about 4.5 - 5.3 gn Unique?

[Love Life]

Ranch Products makes steel moonclips, price is right, and they are terrific. I eventually switched to 45 AR. Sold my 45 acp revolver a good while back and kind of miss it.

[The Virginian]

I really like the versatility of the .45 ACP double action revolver, moon clips are the best speedloader barr none and .45 Auto-Rim duplicates standard pressure .45 Colt loads in a smaller cartridge and allows the gun to be used like a traditonal revolver. Get one if you can.