This thread's question was " Exactly when did the .38S&W Special begin?" Lee is correct that S&W revolvers first chambered in .38 Special were Model 1899s, and those have various to no caliber markings on the barrels ( .38 Military, .38 S&W Special, etc) and all will chamber .38 Specials. However the question was not what was the first S&W revolver made for the .38 Special, but when did the .38 special begin? That answer probably lies in the S&W archives at the CVHM. The military asked for gun makers to come up with a new firearm, to replace the .45 cal. revolvers in service at the time, and basically in .38long Colt caliber. The Colt Model 1889 Navy revolver was the first military contract in .38 Long Colt caliber, a caliber that first came out in 1875 in the Colt new Line models. That's years before the S&W Model 1899, so S&W's people must have been enviously watching Colt get military contracts before S&W got on the bandwagon, and designed the S&W .38 Special cartridge, which first offered in the Model 1899. The exact birth date of when the .38 Special cartridge completed it's design, testing & trials and was "approved" by S&W engineers ,is hopefully in those CVHM archives and awaits discovery by a future researcher. My bet is approx. 1897-98. What's yours? Ed.