*Rare R.W. Loveless Custom Smith & Wesson Model 41 "Field Gun" with Extra Barrel

.22 LR. 5.375" barrel length. SN: TAF2329. Hard chrome metal finish overall with yellow anodized aluminum backstrap mounting checkered walnut grips with thumb and finger rests. Simple blowback operated single action autoloading custom pistol built by Robert W. Loveless. Left barrel is acid etched R.W. LOVELESS/maker/Riverside, Calif. Slide has been shortened with new cocking serrations overlapping original Smith & Wesson markings. Item features a vented barrel rib and mounts white outline Smith & Wesson revolver adjustable rear notch and pinned red plastic insert front ramp sights. Pistol has been extensively modified by Loveless with changes including: cut down slide and barrel to expose the internal hammer, a new hammer with extended and custom checkered spur, recontoured frame with finger rest, recontoured aluminum backstrap, custom checkering to backstrap and forward gripstrap, and a recontoured muzzle. Item comes with a second hard chromed barrel, also marked by Loveless and featuring a triple ported black anodized compensator, force matched serial number, and the same Smith & Wesson revolver sights as the currently mounted barrel.

Born January 2nd, 1929, Robert W. Loveless began his knifemaking career on a whim in December, 1953. When he discovered that Randall Made knives then had a nine month waiting period, Loveless decided to forge his own using a suspension spring from an automobile, and the oil galley stove of the ship on which he sailed as a member of the Merchant Marine. In the years that followed, Loveless began selling his knives through Abercrombie and Fitch. And while these were initially based upon the pattern of contemporary Randalls, Loveless soon began to demonstrate the relentless innovation that characterized the remainder of his career, from switching to acid etched markings to preserve the steel of knives he built, to fully tapered tang construction.

And though Loveless spent the overwhelming majority of his career developing and producing knives, he managed to produce a handful, likely fewer than 80, heavily modified Smith & Wesson Model 41 pistols, such as this lot. By cutting down the barrel and slide, he was able to convert them from hammerless to exposed hammer. A rare and fascinating example of a custom rimfire autoloader. {MODERN}

From the Collection of Jeffrey W. Sanner

This lot is located in Cincinnati.