Smith and Wesson Model 624

S&W M624

A stainless steel version of the S&W Model 24, all 624s are .44 Special. In 1985 Lew Horton, having noted the popularity of the Jovino snub gun conversions of various N-frame guns, contracted with S&W to produce these 3" barreled guns (mine actually measures 2-3/4"). 5000 of these were supposedly made, however, one seldom sees these come on the market. Also, these guns have the N-frame dimension round butt, not the slightly smaller K-frame round butt of the Jovinos. This is important when looking for aftermarket stocks. S&W did make a few of these AFTER the Lew Horton order.

This makes my 5th .44 Special revolver but it is the only double action gun in which I would feel comfortable using the Skeeter load. I think the smaller L-frame 696 should be preserved with a slightly lighter load and it is certainly more pleasant to shoot that way.

I didn't get the box or papers with this gun but it should still hold its value well. I don't yet know whether or not I like the finger groove grips but they are original.

All of the Lew Horton guns had the serial prefix of "AHW" and this gun is an "ALV" which, interestingly enough, isn't listed for date in the 3d edition of the standard catalog. However one can easily see that this gun has no lock or MIM parts and uses the hammer mounted firing pin.

S&W 624 in Galco Holster

There was an issue with incorrect heat treatment of some cylinders for the 624s and there was a recall. After a number of cylinders were replaced, S&W ran out of cylinders and would offer to replace the guns with 629s (if I wanted a 629 I'd have bought a 629 would be my response). The prefix for the guns in this range is "ACH", I think. I'd like to get confirmation. Guns which were repaired were not marked but guns which were correct had their boxes marked with a 3/4" red circle with a "C" in the center of the circle.

I did get to shoot it some a couple of days ago and it did pretty well with the Winchester Silvertip load (which was very mild in recoil) and the "Skeeter Skelton" load of 7.5 gr. Unique under the 250 gr. Keith bullet.  That last was clearly not a pussy cat but the recoil is very manageable and will be even more so with practice.

M624 with new shoes, Skeeter load and Silvertips

After a bit I came upon some different stocks for a round-butt N-frame and thought I'd try them out.  I like these so put them on and put the factory stocks in a safe place to preserve them.

A bit of an addendum... The following information was provided by a very thoughtful reader:

According to Skelton's ST article (10/85), here are the recall SN ranges for the Model 624 recall:
ADXXXX
AEXXXX
AFXXXX
AGXXXX
AHXXXX
ALVXXX (the “V” is not a typo)
N910000 thru N953000