Being it's December 7th, I thought this would be the appropriate day to make this post.

I've always appreciated old craftsmanship and lately I've been reading and researching old war guns. I have a nice M1 Garand and we bought my youngest son a really nice M1 carbine for his birthday a few years back.

I picked up my first WWII handgun this past week. It's a S&W M&P 38, model 1905, 4th change. The person I bought it from had it lettered and it shipped to the United States Maritime Commission in San Francisco on May 25th, 1942. It's an all numbers matching gun - even the serial number on the right grip matches! I'm looking forward to putting a few rounds through her to she what she can do (standard pressure 38spl).

Good looking revolver, and with great documentation from S&W. That serial number means it is one of the last of the first million M&Ps produced. Not long after your gun's parts were stamped and forwarded for assembly, the first true Victory model (with a V prefix to the serial number) would have been produced.

Thanks for sharing.

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David Wilson

An excellent example of the pre-Victory revolvers. Thanks for the post, and for including the factory letter particulars.

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Charlie Flick
SWCA 729 HF 215

# 982875 also went to the U.S.Maritime Comm. 4 days earlier on May 11, 1942. Perhaps that was the week to equip the merchant navy! Ed.

Nice gun! I have been reading more and veiwing more pics. What kind of finish is that? It appears to be different from standard bluing. Is it mil spec or just another process.

After doing some reading, it's called a "military" finish.
It's similar to Parkerized, but it's not the real parkerized finish.

It's interesting that the side plate screws and the ejector rod appear to be blued, but the rest of the gun has the military finish.

There are a few members here that can probably add much more to that brief explanation.

I think they called it Midnight Black. Looks like Parkerizing, but technically varies a little.

T-Star