S&W Highway Patrolman Symbol

[Tom Servo]

Someone once told me, but for the life of me, I can't remember. The S&W Highway Patrolman/28 models have this little guy stamped on the barrel:

What exactly is it? I've heard it said it was a native American symbol, but does anyone know the context or reason for its inclusion?

 

[Casimer]

You'll sometimes hear that it's a native American symbol meaning shoots straight, lasts long, or some such. But I've also been told by people who know S&W's that its just a decorative marking. Though they did use it in their old advertising, so it might have some other significance.

 

[James K]

I think it is just decoration, like the dashes and arrows seen at the beginning and end of markings on other guns. Its purpose is to break up the marking so it is read as ".357 CTG" and "Highway Patrolman" instead of ".357 Highway CTG Patrolman"

Jim

 

[clang]

It's just a decoration. S&W put another type of decoration on their .22 revolvers.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Someone once told me that the symbol on the 28, and some of the other symbols used over the years on S&Ws, come from late 19th century advertising that the company did.

They're just graphic elements, but they, through use, became S&W graphic elements.

True or not, I don't know, as I'm not familiar enough with S&W's advertising of that time frame, but I do seem to remember seeing that symbol, or one similar to it, on the cover of a very early 20th century catalog.