Chapter 2.3 – Hiroshi Goto from Kyoto
The Art of Hiroshi Goto.
Goto fabricates miniatures of a wide assortment of revolvers, auto pistols and full auto pistols in 1:6 scale. Below pictured is one of his Smith & Wesson M60 miniatures. This little toy was liberated for the Hunzinger Collection in 2015 through K-Ohba Mininacturing.
It is made of polished 925 silver and sports smooth rose wood grip panels. This compares nicely to the original's stainless steel version with its walnut grips, see first picture.
The miniature functions in the single action mode only whereas the original is DA/SA (Double Action/Single Action). The swing-out cylinder features free spin. You can load it with the non-firing dummy cartridges provided.
Two Smith & Wesson M60s in Comparison
As the initiates know very well Smith & Wesson (S&W) is a leading American firearms manufacturer with corporate headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts. Its history is going back to 1852 when Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson founded the company.
Impressions of two Smith & Wesson M60s (from top) on the Massachusetts State Flag: Full size pocket revolver cal. .38 special "father" #R164429 German proof of 1977 (courtesy Jürgen "Arthur" Felske Collection) vs. Goto made 1:6 scale "son" miniature from 2015
Size comparison: Full size .38 Special cartridge vs. miniature Smith & Wesson M60 and miniature dummy cartridge
Impressions of Goto's Smith & Wesson M60 miniature
Marks and Markings of Goto made S&W M60
No visible serial number was found. Hence, I assumed that there might be a serial number or other marks, respectively hidden under the grip panels. With a perfect fitting screw driver I attempted to unscrew the screw that keeps these two wooden panels in place. Unfortunately, this did not work and I gave up before this tiny screw was damaged.
All stamps are found on the left side of the revolver.
Barrel: SMITH & WESSON
Frame (between cylinder and grip): S&W logo in circle, plus TRADE MARK stamped outside of the circle. TRADE is in the 12 o'clock, MARK in the 6 o'clock position of the circle
December 22, 2018/WDN
F.I.S.T. is a 1978 thriller starring Sylvester Stallone as Johnny Kovak.
In this movie Kovak is using a Smith & Wesson Model 60. The M60 is a J-Frame based 5-shot revolver. In their early production these small-frame revolvers were chambered in .38 special only.