While cleaning out my grandfather's house we found what I believe are a .38 S&W Safety 3rd Model and a .32 S&W DA 4th Model. The SN on the .38 is hard to tell, it looks like the first digit was either double stamped or was miss stamped, it looked like a D but could have been a 2 and 1 stamped over each other. It would be &65XX. The .32 is 187XXX. This is the only picture I have for now, the third gun is just an H&R 622. The picture doesn't do the condition justice, they look unfired or rarely fired and anything that might look like rust is just dried grease. We have the box for the .38.

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Darn nice find. Nice shape and family history.

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

Welcome to the forum.

Finding family heirlooms, free. Finding family heirlooms that are S&W, priceless.

Do you have a photo of the serial number? Perhaps we can figure it out for you.

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James Redfield
LM #497

Great find, and what a nice family heirloom All I've ever found in our grandparents attics are mouse droppings, mason jar lids, and old issues of "Farming" magazine.

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John

I'm in NY so the police have it for a while while some paperwork is done. They were in a wooden box, in the box with them was a small supply of ammo for each of them and the .38 was in the box with a couple cleaning brushes. The .32 was in what looked like a leather pocket holster. I'll post more pictures once I have them.

Agree, nice find and a plus for the relationship with the owner.

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Front sight and squeeze

Would the ammo be something to keep or sell? The .38 is in the box, the. 32 is in an old matchbox.

Some guys have all the luck.

When I've cleaned out relatives apartments and houses all I found were diamond rings a gold coins....no S&Ws.

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NEVER GIVE UP YOUR GUN

I would keep the ammo as they would be period correct for
your guns. Also, the 38 Safety Hammerless appears to be
the 3rd. model. Very nice heirlooms!

I think that it all depends on whether you are keeping or selling the guns. Some folks find real joy in having grandpas old guns while others have no interest whatsoever. If you are keeping them then I would keep the ammo too. Either for shooting or just to keep the package together.

If you are selling the guns then I would either sell the ammo with t he guns or sell it separately if the gun buyer is not interested.

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James Redfield
LM #497

I think that it all depends on whether you are keeping or selling the guns. Some folks find real joy in having grandpas old guns while others have no interest whatsoever. If you are keeping them then I would keep the ammo too. Either for shooting or just to keep the package together.

If you are selling the guns then I would either sell the ammo with the guns or sell it separately if the gun buyer is not interested.

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James Redfield
LM #497

Unfortunately it's not my call as far as selling them goes. If it was up to me, I'd keep them, build or buy a nice display case, and have them be the first 'non shooters' in my collection.

Quick update, all the paperwork is in, now it's just getting one signed and notarized. I've got my fingers crossed that I'll have them in hand this week. I'll post more pictures and a close up of the one serial # when I can.

Ok, have guns in hand it appears in better light that rhe first number is just a swirly 9. With that being said would a 3rd model hammerless .38 in the 965xx range make sense?

Here is a close up of the serial number on the butt of the .38 Safety.

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