Got this one in today, pretty good "shooter" grade old M&P. The serial ranges listed in the SC of S&W are vague for these, this one is about 20,000 before the approx. cutoff for when S&W started heat treating cylinders. Probably puts it about 1917-1919. The grips aren't numbered but fit perfectly, don't know if they are replacements or not. It doesn't have the "Made in USA" stamp, or the S&W logo on the sideplate.

I can't get enough of these M&P's, they have that timeless "old cop gun" look and this was no doubt a police gun at some point given the holster wear.

Looks like someone widened the rear sight notch at some point, but was pretty good and didn't butcher the job too bad. The rebound spring has also been clipped, and the inside of the action shows tool marks like someone had been digging around in there. Overall the action is pretty slick, I will leave the clipped rebound spring in there since it's probably a period "action job" that was done along with the widened rear sight.

The cylinder gap is good, but when the cylinder is opened the cylinder face rubs against the forcing cone, which has peened the left side of the forcing cone and put rub marks on the cylinder face. I guess it was made that way, it's not the first Smith I have seen that does this.

I have some other M&P's but this is my oldest so far. I have a few rounds of 158 gr. standard pressure .38's I plan to put through it tomorrow, hopefully it shoots OK Definitely no +P's for this one.

Great snag, I really like the old round butt M&P models, they seem to fit
in my hand like they were made just for me. The perfect all around .38

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I was looking at it more closely and the "rub marks" on the cylinder may not be from the forcing cone but look to be more like someone scrubbed rust off the cylinder face. There is also "frost" in the bore, on the muzzle and forcing cone. The internals were super clean though, the hammer and trigger still had that straw coloring and there was no rust or BP residue inside the gun.

I had read that ammo makers made blackpowder .38 Special up until the 1930's, along with the smokeless rounds, so it looks like someone was shooting BP through this gun at some point and then wasn't too good about cleaning it. Not a big deal, I got the gun for a little more than $300 and I actually planned on using it to shoot BP .38's,I had previously used a beat up 10-10 for that purpose, the fact that this M&P already has rust damage makes me feel a lot better about doing that! BP cartridges are a lot of fun to shoot but it gets messy, and I wouldn't do it with a gun that's in really nice condition.

Those stocks look correct, nice find on that M&P. I have it's cousin, all matching.

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Thanks for the replies That's a real nice one, looks like time has been much kinder to it than it has to mine.

I'm trying to get out today and put a few rounds of the Goex BP .38's I have through it.....followed by a cleaning with TC BP solvent and then an Eezox-ing of the chambers and bore. Since I plan to use this as mostly a BP .38 shooter, and I might get into loading my own BP rounds, I'll have to make sure I get under the sideplate periodically to look for BP residue. In the 10-10 I have that I used for BP rounds, that residue seemed to blow into every crack and crevice in the gun. I assume that's why the topstrap above the forcing cone is "dished", to give the BP fouling somewhere to go and not bind up the cylinder.

I also have a 6" square butt M&P on the way, looks to be in the same serial range. I need to find an early RB 6.5" now, I think those are some of the best looking revolvers ever made.

Stan
My FFL had this one a couple years back, had the wrong stocks, now replaced. This one has target sights

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Now THAT's a nice looking revolver

I just got back from the "backyard range", I put 50 rounds of Goex 145 gr. LRN blackpowder .38 Special through the M&P, and just cleaned 'er up.



It hit a little low from the POA with the 145's, didn't think it would make that much difference from the 158's. I think it was me pulling to the left,when I really focued in in SA I dropped a few into the head area. The only other BP .38's I can find are from Buffalo Arms and those are 125's, so those would hit very low. It worked great in DA and SA at ranges from 10 yards to 30 or so. Lots of smoke and that nice "baWOOM" that blackpowder makes, it was pretty fun. This revolver just ate those BP rounds up, no gagging, galling or anything. My 10-10 starts to gag after a few cylinders of BP, seems these old teens era M&P's were made to work better with it. There was no residue on the yoke, probably could have gotten away with not taking the cylinder assembly off when I was cleaning, but better to be thorough with the BP. Those rounds are no slouch, they had some pop and some decent recoil. I certainly wouldn't want to get hit with one.



It's been a while since I've seen a DA revolver with BP soot all over it.