Range Report added 9/22: See post 13 below.

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Here's my new postwar M&P snubnose. Serial number S868055, shipped January 1947. All numbers match, including the sharp-shoulder stocks. Not much fired, it appears.











The gun is in pretty good shape; I'd say 96-97% blue remains (there's a little high point loss). It had some action snags when I first tried it out, but all was explained when I opened it for inspection -- the lockwork was bone dry. It looked as though the interior had received a good sonic cleaning (no residue inside the frame) but had simply not been lubricated when it went back together. I took care of that and everything is now fine following hundreds of SA and DA dry-firing cycles. The action feels good.

Good timing, no end shake, minimal side play, no push off. The gun had not been cleaned after it was last shot, but the grime in the barrel and chambers came right out, leaving them clean and shiny.

This is a little outside my normal collecting interests, but nobody was bidding on it and I found myself returning to the auction listing time and again for another look. Finally I decided the wiser part of my brain was trying to tell me something, so I took it. I had in fact been wanting a postwar S-prefix K-frame for some time, but I just didn't expect to find and pick up one with a two-inch barrel. Does anybody know what proportion of M&Ps were two-inch guns as opposed to the more common four, five and six?

I'll do a real point of aim evaluation later on, but the few shots I put through it today before I realized the action needed some work seemed to hit where I wanted them to.

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David Wilson

I really like the profile on those snub M&P's. The half moon sight and that hammer are a classic.
I have one with a round butt and short grips from that timeframe, it gets more attention than any Mod 10 I have. People love those old revolvers and even non-gun folks know "that's a 38!"

What's really "outside my normal collecting interests" when it comes to an old S&W for a fair price ?!?

Good job David, keep stackin' 'em high and deep!

Gail

Nice goin!
I've one a few thousand numbers later and with less condition but same experience: Kept going back until I bought it and shoot to the sights better than some of my longer barreled, fixed sight K frames.
Dick Tracy all the way!

OK, I have to admit, there is something about that small size that is appealing. But is it hard to remove the empties when you are done shooting? It does not seem like that ejector rod has a lot of purchase!
Rabbit

Very nice, I like it a lot!

Tom

When it comes to snubs, I have this gun, a 649 and a 296. In all of them the ejector rod should be renamed the displacer rod, or maybe the nudger. Usually a case that is halfway out can be shaken loose, but there are plenty of times when I have to pick a few cases out by hand. It's no surprise that the empties closest to the frame are the ones that tend to hang up.

Just part of the snub experience.

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David Wilson

A beauty. Thanks for sharing.

Dick Tracy always got it done with the first cylinder full!
Great revolver.

I can't seem to find a true 2" holster. Have bought two S&W but are really 2 1/2" which just isn't right.
Here's mine with a 25 yard target.

Well, I partly answered my own question. SCSW says that among the postwar M&P revolvers, the two-inch models enjoy a 25% value kick. I take that as a reflection of their scarcity, and I am also heartened that it indicates I didn't overpay for this one as much as I feared I had. Since most of the S-prefix K-frames that I see have four or six-inch barrels, I'm guessing that the two-inch guns probably account for only 5-10% of production.

I turned up a T-Grip in the paraphernalia box and added it to the gun. What an improvement! Can't wait to get back to the range and try this little fellow out.

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David Wilson

Very nice David! I have a 1950 C prefix version. Perhaps someone should start a show your M&P snubby thread and see what comes out of the woodwork?

Here is one from about 1946..
Serial range S843xxx

I too have one in the early "C" range that dates to August of 1949, born about 13 months before me.

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James Redfield
LM #497

I got to test this gun out today and am satisfied with its performance and its potential to do better as I work with it. Initial rounds led me to think that it centered well horizontally but hit a little low with a six o'clock hold. So I hung this target and put 18 rounds into it with a center hold. Looks like I might have benefited from aiming a little right, but I imagine the gun and I will get used to one another with time. I may have been thrown a bit by the fact I tested on a target with a larger red center and no black zone.



Seven yards, two-hand hold, single action. I tried a 15-yard target, but the group was far looser -- more than twice as wide as the 7-yard group would lead one to predict. But I kept the rounds on the paper (barely), so I guess that was good.

Hypothesis: gun shoots close to POA, maybe a little high and a little left. I will continue to practice with it and see how things develop.

I also shot some rounds DA on a stylized human profile target. Slow double action shooting put the holes close to where I wanted them; a cylinder of fast DA shooting was looser but still put holes in positions that counted.

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David Wilson

That's a nice transition example, Dave.

I recently acquired this May 1946 model from a fellow forum member.
SWMP2.JPG

Shoots as good at 25 yards as most of my newer snubs, and better than some.
SWMP2 2nd 12.jpg

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Lorin

This is my m&p that shipped on December 19, 1947. Ten days after I was born.



Dennis

I picked up an M&P about 6 months ago S/N S1828** I think it's early 1950's . I don't think it had ever been fired till I fired it. No holster wear no cylinder ring beautiful case hardening on the trigger and hammer. It's an OSP ( Oregon State Police ) gun. The gun looks brand new out of the box never fired BUT the diamond square grips are really beet up. Best I can figure this M&P was never issued. But at some point in time an OSP officer approached the OSP armorer and asked for some replacement grips. And not having replacement grips my former pristine grips were swapped for the beet up one's on my M&P now. At least this is my hypothesis that I have concluded with after months of reverse engineering as to why my pristine M&P has beet up grips. I love this gun.

Very nice there DC and you can shoot too!

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Stay safe people!

I like this one a great deal. Shows some holster wear and the original grips were beat up, but it doesn't look like it had been shot a lot. I cleaned it up and put a presentable set of grips on it. Feels great in my hand and I shoot it fairly well. A classic. Serial is C105XXX.

Gary, do the beat-up stocks have a serial number marked on an inner surface? Should be a five or six digit number pressed in with punches. If numbers there don't match the numerical portion of the serial number of the revolver itself, that's confirming evidence of a stock swap.

Also I think the serial number you mention may have a C prefix rather than S. The S-prefix M&Ps were all in circulation by sometime in 1948, and the numerical portion of the S-prefix serials were all above 800000. If your gun is actually C182xxx, it probably dates to 1952.

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David Wilson

David,

Congratulations! You found a nice one there for sure. I think the lines of the 2" M&P with half-moon front sights are about as cool as it gets. I guess I watched too many B&W movies in the fifties and early sixties..... I have a C prefix snubby from 1950 that shoots like a dream.

Enjoy Yours,

Jerry

I have S964710, shipped January 1948. It's my best shooting snubby - 2-3 inch groups handheld at 50 feet. It shoots quite high with standard 158 grain bullets, but it's right on with my 100 grain wadcutter reloads.

There is something evocative of the post-war era that these guns have that the ramp-sighted guns lack.

No round butts?

Maybe these guns were sighted for 50 yards? I think that all S&W .38's are sighted for 15 yards, with a six o'clock hold, with 158 grain bullets. I read that years ago, in an artcle by Harry Archer, and it has worked out well in my experience.

I suspect that the half nickel front sight may be hard to hold at the right level.

Anyone remember the old, "Sheriff of Cochise" TV show? I think the chief deputy had one of these. The sheriff, played by John Bromfield, if I recall his name, had a six-inch M&P or K-38. I think the M&P. Dang, I was a young kid then, but those guns stand out in my mind.

T-Star

I have S864528 and C151905 2 inch snubbies, the S is a 1946 and C is a 1948 (birthyear) gun. The S has a hump back hammer and is marked "Cleveland Heights Police " down the back strap, looks like a roll mark. Pictures later.