An interesting find that I just made over the weekend. A .38 Special Military & Police Model 1905 3rd Change. Serial number is 232409 and all the numbers match.

The M&P Model 1905's are quite common especially in .38 Special. This one has a nickeled finish which is a little less common. It has a four inch barrel on a round-butt K-frame and is a five screw gun. The best surprise about this gun are the grips. It still has its original factory pearl grips with gold medallions. Scarce just to find them on a gun. Almost impossible to find factory pearl medallions by themselves.

The markings on the gun are:

Left side of barrel:
38 S.&W. SPECIAL CTG

Right side of barrel:
SMITH&WESSON SPRINGFIELD MASS. U.S.A.
PAT'D MARCH27,94.MAY.21,95.AUG.4,96 DEC
22,96.OCT.8.01.DEC.17.01.FEB.6.06.SEP.14.09

Large S&W trademark is found on the right side of the frame. No other marking are on the gun aside from the serial numbers.

The condition of the gun is pretty good. It is a used gun and the nickel shows handling use. Just a few nasty scratches right in front of the thumb release. No rust or pitting on the frame. The pearl grips survive in real good condition with just a chip missing out of each one. Not noticible unless you are looking for them. The chambers need just a light scrubbing to remove a little surface rust. The bore has some light pitting in a few places but the rifling is strong. It has a good shootable bore. Cylinder lock-up is perfect with no play. No signs of holster wear. Just the usual neglect from not being cleaned. Probably old corrosive powder.

There were 94,803 made between serial numbers 146900-241703 from about 1909-1915. My gun would have been a late production so date wise I would guess about 1914.

This gun just needs a good cleaning. There's a lot of old gun grease to clean out of it. This one will make a nice shooter. Paid $580.00 for it!

jsmith

That's a good looking shiny shooter! An venerable .38 with class and style. I like it.

As Don Marquis once said, "There's a dance in the old dame yet." That one looks like she may have several dances left in her.

We need a range report when you get a chance. Congratulations.

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David Wilson

VERY NICE, I really like those grips.

Those grips are what caught my attention. S&W's that have their original pearl grips don't turn up very often at gun shows. And when they do, somebody like myself snatches up fairly quickly. Pearl grips on a nickeled gun make it stand out much better than on a blued gun.

As I mentioned in my first post, each grip has a small chip out of them. The left grip has just a small chip missing out of the edge right near the medallion where the frontstrap is. The right grip is missing a chip on the bottom of the inside of the grip in the middle. The chip extends inside to where the predrilled hole is for the frame pin to hold the grips in place. It tends to make that side wiggle a little bit. The gun was probably dropped at one time in its life. I will fix those chips later on.

It will be some time before I take this gun to the range. Needs a lot of cleaning. The dealer who had it told me it was off an estate. It appears not to have been shot in a long time. There's a lot of lead build-up on the outside of the cylinder chambers.

Round butt pearl grips are the ones usually found. Is there anyone out there who has any guns with square butt pearl grips, especially factory medallion ones. To date I have never seen a gun yet that has any. But I know they had to have been made.

jsmith

A factory pimp gun, whoda thunk it? Seriously, that's a nice one! This is whats so cool about this forum and it's member's, you get a chance to see the good stuff! Thanks for shareing.

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Stay safe people!

Jsmith,

I've got these on my M10. They aren't original to the gun (gun was made in 1983). But I believe them to be genuine S&W as they are real mother of pearl with the medallions. I bought the grips at a flea market 5 or 6 years ago for $20. I bought the gun specifically to put these grips on. Now I want the same gun only a Pre M10 from the 40s or 50s. I think they would look more at home on an older gun.

One more question for the collectors out there, how much would the above grips be worth? (no they're not for sale just curious