Let me put this debate to rest. The best 357 ever is the S&W Model 27 owned by General Patton
Hello dougk
General George S. Patton's gun was the First Manufactured gun made in .357 Magnum and was Known as simply "The .357 Magnum". S&W designer and family member Douglas Wesson came out with them after being Prompted by Philip Sharp the famed California hand loader who expanded on the .38 Special round taken to new Heights. It involved making the existing .38 Special cases and 1/8" Longer in Length and the Original rounds had large magnum Pistol primers when Winchester Arms agreed to produce them after Wesson sent them an experimental 38-44 Target sighted revolver to fire them in. This experimental 38-44 revolver had a special heat treated frame and cylinder to with stand the Higher Pressures and velocity of the .357 Magnum round. Once Winchester Arms agreed to produce the ammo in .357 Magnum form, Doug Wesson hand selected his Best Gun smiths to build the Famous Registered Magnums as they were called. The phrase Magnum came from Wesson as well as he said Wine is it's best in "Magnum" form, so that name stuck for this cartridge and hand built custom handgun. These Registered Magnums were the highest quality revolver to ever come out of S&W Then or since.
To obtain one, they had to be ordered and the Purchaser of them had the choice in barrel length's from 3-1/2"-8-3/4" length in Quarter Inch increments. You also could have ordered any combination of front & Rear sights on your gun being the S&W Offerings or Many that were custom sight made by The King Gun sight Corp. of California. They Offered these guns in Blued or Nickel finish and you had your choice of stocks from Walnut, Mother of Pearl, Ivory, or Walter Roper Custom large shooting grips. Roper built his custom shooting Grips for many Camp Perry competition shooters back then. Once you Placed your order for one of these custom hand built guns, S&W would send you a customer Registration card to be filled out and sent back to the factory. This card asked what ammo you wanted the gun sighted in with whether it be .38 Special or .357 Magnum Cartridges and at what range or hold you wanted to be used whether it be the Old standard Six-O-Clock hold or Point of aim at your desired distance. S&W then would send back a Frameable Registration certificate with the customers name, Address and desired distance and hold that the weapon was sighted in at.
Wesson took a Gamble offering this custom handgun with a country just recovering from a Major depression and with this gun being the highest priced gun they ever offered at $61.00 a Piece, but before long the order's started pouring in at an alarming rate and in 1938 S&W dropped The Registration process but still offered the same gun until all Gun production ceased in 1940 for The World War II effort. The First Year for these guns to be offered was 1935 and they only produced and shipped 615 of them total for that year. General George Patton's gun shown above was a first Year Registered Magnum, with other's from that year going to some very special people as Philip Sharp the Cartridge developer, J. Edgar Hoover the Famed head FBI agent, and one was sent to the Head of Winchester Arms for developing the round. Patton fondly called his registered Magnum "His Killing Machine" and it left the factory sighted in at Dead On, at Point Blank Range with .357 Magnum ammo..
Shown below is my 1935 First Year Registered Magnum. it is Wearing a set of Walter Roper Custom shooting stocks from that time span. It is towards the end of the First Year production, and shipped to The Bowen Brother's Hardware Company of Augusta, Georgia on December 13, 1935 sighted in at 25 Yard's at the Six O-Clock hold accompanied with One Box of .357 Magnum ammunition and directed toward the store owner Charles Bowen. It was sold to a US Army Captain by the name of Rodgers who I assume worked out of The Augusta, Georgia Arsenal during his service tour. It the Traveled back to California with his after his tour, where it resided until 2009 when I bought it to return to it's rebel roots in the deep south, and added into my collection. I do have the Original factory letter on this gun telling where it shipped, when it left and show's it was directed to be Charles Bowen being the owner of Bowen Brother's hardware company of Augusta, Georgia in 1935.
I decided to do some more research on the weapon and looked into researching the family of Bowen and was lucky to find the Last Bowen to still be alive and well and his Name was Charles Bowen III still Living in Augusta, Georgia. I found his phone number on the Internet and decided to call him. We had a very detailed phone conversation of better than an Hour as he told me his family roots and how his family members had been involved in firearms heavy since before the Civil War. I asked MR. Bowen to Put his words down on paper if he would for me of which he Obliged and sent the Typed letter copy letter shown below to me. I have added his letter to my Registered Magnum file to add to The Guns Provence and I hope you enjoy seeing it. I know some that will read this may or may not know about the Famous Registered magnums or what they meant to a Gun Hungry America, but to me there is no better .357 Magnum on Earth than the Original S&W offered .357 Magnum Handguns. In case you are wondering, I do shoot and enjoy this gun as Col. Douglas Wesson intended us to as well., and after 76 Years it is still as smooth and refined....as Tennessee Whiskey... Regards, Hammerdown
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