I recently purchased a .38 Safety Hammerless, which I believe is the third model. The exterior is in pristine condition. The serial number on the butt is in the 72,000 series and is followed by a star. The seller thought the star indicated a return to S&W for reconditioning. (The original owner resided near the S&W factory.) Can anyone verify this?

The star indicates the revolver in question was returned to
the S&W factory for some kind of work.

No way to tell what work was performed on it from the star alone, just that something was done at the factory. Are there any other stampings on the grip frame?

No, only the star.

It surely was not for trigger work. I found the trigger pull to be far heavier that any other DA revolver I have ever shot. Or, is/was this normal for these models?

You need to remove the left stock to find the return date, which is almost always stamped with three or four numbers signifying the month and year of return. If any diamond stamps can be found, it would signify that part was replaced. Your revolver left the factory around 1893 and that is early for return stampings, so there may or may not be a date or diamond associated with the return.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

Nothing on the left stock, but "40 83" was stamped on the right stock.

Gary means a service department stamp on the metal grip frame on the left front side. Would be a date in the form MM.YY.

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Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

There is a "K". Below that "7-12" and below that "1.46".

Can you post a picture? The 7-12 could be July 1912 and 1.46 is probably January 1946. I wonder about the earlier date. Someone that knows when S&W began stamping the service dates might comment? That 1912 date may be before they began that practice.

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Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

I'm afraid my camera is older than dirt.

That would mean two trips back to the factory. Not too many found with two dates stamped. I have seen dates as early as the late-1890s where the date stamping was found, so your revolver has a valid 1912 return date.

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Gary
SWCA 2515