The Smith and Wesson 1917 “Stembridge”
Yes, there are two different revolvers in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The previously mentioned "Bapty" fired the blanks. The other, most notably seen when Indiana Jones cavalierly tosses it into his suitcase in his home, is a revolver that the production team rented from Stembridge Gun Rentals of Glendale, CA. The "Stembridge" was also used in the beginning of the movie during the Chachapoyan temple scene in Peru, filmed in Hawaii, when Indiana Jones relinquishes his gun to Belloq. This revolver is noteworthy for it's reattached banded barrel sight and a corner missing from the left grip bottom front, exposing part of the butt frame.
Thanks to meticulous research by Lee Keppler, Indy45, Indiana Bond and others, the history of the "Stembridge" is well documented. Keppler was able to rent the Raiders "Stembridge" in 1985, long before it was sold at public auction in 2007. He took detailed photos of it at the time, and the new owner was kind enough to provide additional photos and information after the sale.
The "Stembridge" is a Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector 2nd Model with a blued finish, lanyard ring and the normal 1917 5.5-inch barrel cut down to 4 inches. The first half-inch of the barrel is a band sweated over a turned down barrel. The band is not the reamed out section of the front of the cut off barrel as there is no taper to the band. The front sight is re-shaped and silver soldered to a flattened area on the band.
The "Stembridge" is a Commercial Model, as evidenced by the small circle S&W "Trade Mark" logo on the left side of the frame under the cylinder release and was chambered for .45 ACP. The grips were checkered walnut with no medallions and rounded at the top. Although the grips sometimes appear black on film, the grips were actually very dark brown as they were "well oiled." Incidentally, the ejector rod locking lug pin was actually missing on the "Stembridge."
The serial number was 172449. The barrel's left side states "S.&W. D.A.45." The barrel's right side states "SMITH & WESSON." The top of the barrel has two lines of fine print, but since the barrel was cut and the front blade re-attached with a band, the remaining visible lettering is "WESSON SPRINGFIELD MASS. U.S.A. DEC. 17 1901 FEB 6 1906 SEP.14 1909".
The Smith & Wesson 1917 has an interesting history. S&W designed their big N Frame revolver in .44 caliber in 1908. The British Government placed a large order for about 75,000 chambered in .455 Mk II (Webley) in 1914. One of these, a Hand Ejector Model 2, turned out to be the "Bapty" shooter. At the start of World War I, Colt could not produce sufficient numbers of their 1911 .45 ACP automatic to meet U.S. Government requirements, so the U.S. asked S&W to supply large frame revolvers in .45 ACP. Since .45 ACP is rimless, the revolver's chambers were designed with an inner lip so that the cartridge would rest or "headspace" at the proper depth. But once fired, the brass was difficult to extract, as the hand-ejector had nothing to grab. S&W is credited with designing a half-moon clip that in effect provided a 'rim' for the cartridges and made loading and unloading easier.
The U.S. Government contracted with S&W for the .45 ACP U.S. Service Model of 1917, with production totaling about 163,000. The 1917s have 5.5-inch barrels, and nearly all are blued finish, although some World War II armory re-furbishes have a parkerized finish. About 25,000 1917s were also produced for the Brazilian Government in 1938. S&W continued production of the 1917 in a U.S. Commercial version after February 1, 1919 until 1946. The "Stembridge" was one of the Commercial 1917s, rare in terms of production numbers, with only about 20,000 made.