I have been on the Gunboard web site for years. Found this web site thank-you.I picked up early Model 10 in 38 spl today I need to know the build date. Some facts are round grip,the last date on the barrel is sep 14 09, serial number is 140XX will try to post pics to night. Please help.

Welcome to the forum.

To be precise, what you describe is not a Model l10, because that designation was introduced only in 1957. Any similar earlier revolver is a .38 Military & Police, which through the decades came in several model designations.

Yours is probably a .38 M&P Model of 1905, third change, based on the last patent date. It was almost certainly manufactured between 1910 and 1914, but to be precise nobody knows the manufacture date of a single S&W revolver; the factory recorded only the dates on which they were shipped, and they were not always shipped in serial number order. A revolver obviously can't be shipped until it has been manufactured, but sometimes a manufactured gun could languish in inventory for months or even years before being included in a particular order.

Most 1905s are square butt guns, but a small percentage were issued with round butts.

The serial number would be a six-digit number on the butt of the gun and also on the flat underside of the barrel and the rear face of the cylinder. If you found 140xx on the frame when you swing the cylinder out, that's just a process control number the factory used until they got the serial number on all the relevant parts.

I'm looking forward to the photos. We like photos.

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David Wilson

Thank-you The serial that I am looking at is on the butt and under cylinder pin on the barrel.

My bad the serial number is 2140XX that number is under the bottom of the barrel. I am going to try to post a pic.

Attached Images

Model 10.jpg (40.6 KB, 102 views)

That is a very early Military & Police Model. I am guessing around 1912 +/-.

If you wanted a gun to shoot I would prefer something newer.

Thanks for the info. The gun was at pawn shop and some had painted the gun with a spray can of black gloss paint. The action was frozen up from a 100 years of dirt. The man wanted 150 for the gun. I told him that it was safe to fire. And the bore looked like a sewer pipe. And it was painted gloss black by someone. I told him that I would give him 60.00. He sold me the gun for that. I took the gun all the way down and cleaned the action parts and removed the paint and cleaned the bore finely got the bore clean. I was surprised that it is in this good shape.

On top of everything else good about this acquisition, you rescued a little bit of history. Chalk up one more in the "survivor" column....

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SWCA #590
"Colligo ergo sum"

Congratulations on the rescue. It's amazing how much ill-considered abuse some of these old warriors can accept and still come back to life.

As I guessed above, this is a Model of 1905, Third change. I have guns this age and older in which I shoot 148 gr wadcutter match ammo -- lower pressure, lower stress on old steel. It is probably safe to shoot today's standard .38 special loads, but you should avoid +P ammo. If you reload, you can easily put together a low- cost, low-pressure load that you could probably shoot all day long.

Nice gun. Great price.

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David Wilson

I wouldn't be afraid to shoot it at all, and good for you for bringing that fine revolver back to life...