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S&W Hand Ejectors: 1896 to 1961 All 5-Screw & Vintage 4-Screw SWING-OUT Cylinder REVOLVERS, and the 35 Autos and 32 Autos


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Old 08-19-2011, 10:23 PM
Nframe_is_no1 Nframe_is_no1 is offline
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Default A Little Jewel - New to me very early .38 Regulation Police

I found a real jewel today! It is an I-frame .38 Regulation Police chambered in .38 S&W. What really surprised me is the serial number is 15xx! SCSW says that the .38 Regulation Police was introduced in 1917 at serial number 1. I'm guessing this one is probably first year of production due to its very low serial number. The serial number matched in all the usual places: cylinder face, yoke, underside of the barrel and front strap. It looked as if it spent most of its life in a drawer as the finish is in good shape for something 94 years old with only a couple of scratches. It looked as if the old girl hadn't been fired in many years as the bore was dusty. The grips are round butt to square butt conversions and the front strap is cut away near the butt for the stocks. The serial number was also written on the right grip panel in faint pencil. I couldn't resist it for $199 OTD. I thought it was a good deal and besides, it looked very lonely behind a group of autoloaders. This revolver now takes the title of the oldest S&W hand ejector I own. I am proud to be able to hold something this old. I know some folks down the .38 S&W as anemic, but this little jem is a keeper! Here it is:


Last edited by Nframe_is_no1; 08-20-2011 at 01:42 AM.
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Old 08-19-2011, 10:50 PM
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You are both extremely fortunate to have found each other, congratulations!
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Old 08-19-2011, 11:13 PM
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First rate score. Congratulations! .38 RPs are an interesting model, and I don't think they get the interest or respect they deserve. Can't beat the price you paid.

Those stocks are properly called Regulation Police stocks. The company patented them, but the patent wasn't granted until June 5, 1917. Later RPs had that date on the butt of the left stock panel, but the first RPs did not have the stamp because they were shipped before the patent was granted! This form of stock was also available on the company's .22 caliber I-frame target revolvers as an option.

Remember that in 1917, when the RP was introduced, S&W did not have a full year of commercial production. By the end of summer the company was pretty much geared up only for the manufacture of US Army 1917s. So the company managed to grind out both .32 and .38 RPs for about six months, then had to cool their jets for a year and a half. Commercial production resumed at normal levels in 1919.

I'll bet your gun is not only first year production, but maybe even from the first two months. The .38 RP was the company's first small-frame .38 in the hand ejector configuration, and the story is that it was introduced in response to interest from a major police department. I don't know but half suspect that the company had orders for a few thousand of these before they began production.

I have a few .38 RPs; one of them has the three digit serial number 194 -- very early. It shipped in April of 1917. I think odds are good yours went out in May or June.

The .38 S&W cartridge is NOT an anemic round. It is less powerful than the .38 Special, but that doesn't make it useless in its own terms. Fire a few of them in an I frame and watch the muzzle flip as the knuckle of your middle finger gets hammered. You'll realize that the round has some power to it.

Again, nice score.
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Old 08-20-2011, 12:22 AM
Nframe_is_no1 Nframe_is_no1 is offline
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David,
Thanks for the very interesting information! Oddly enough, my gun does have the "patented June 5, 1917" stamp you speak of in the left stock panel. Perhaps it shipped out in June of 1917 right after the patent was granted?
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Old 08-20-2011, 01:30 AM
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That's very interesting. Is the gun's serial number written in pencil on the inside of the right panel? [Sorry; didn't catch on the first read of your original post that the stocks were numbered to the gun.]

Those have to be pre-1920 stocks because of the dished brass medallions. But I had it in mind that the patent date probably didn't start showing up on stocks until 1919 because of the wartime commercial production hiatus. If your stocks number to the gun as well as having the patent date, then the dated stocks were available earlier than I had thought, and the undated medallion stocks are probably even less common than I had thought they were.

And, of course, it looks like your gun could not have shipped before, say, mid-June of 1917. Or it might have been caught in one of those peculiar shipment situations in which guns with higher numbers were shipped before guns with lower numbers.
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Old 08-20-2011, 01:42 AM
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Yes, the number is written in pencil on the inside of the right grip panel. I misspoke in my original post when I said it was in the left panel. I have since fixed my original post.
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Old 08-20-2011, 07:34 AM
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hi
I have serial number 566 in nickel and the stocks on mine do not have the 1917 date.
Jim Fisher
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Old 08-20-2011, 11:15 AM
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I have S/N 2786X, which dates to Dec. 1925. "If" the production was consistent, that would average only about 290 guns a month from 1917 through 1925. I would assume they were made in large batch's and held in the vault and shipped as ordered. They are surprisingly fine little shooters, and the 38 S&W round may not be as potent as the 38 Special, but it will do the job.
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Old 08-20-2011, 04:18 PM
Nframe_is_no1 Nframe_is_no1 is offline
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H Richard,
Thanks for the additional info! You are right about the .38 S&W. I have reloaded it for other revolvers, and it will indeed do the job, despite how much it gets maligned as weak.
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Old 05-30-2014, 12:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by H Richard View Post
I have S/N 2786X, which dates to Dec. 1925. "If" the production was consistent, that would average only about 290 guns a month from 1917 through 1925. I would assume they were made in large batch's and held in the vault and shipped as ordered. They are surprisingly fine little shooters, and the 38 S&W round may not be as potent as the 38 Special, but it will do the job.
Thanks for the pic & SN. Old thread no doubt, yet I've acquired one w/same style stocks SN 3279X. I understand SN were all over the map w/o letter, but that's OK.

As a reference I copied this from another thread:

Examples include 31XXX shipped in 1926, 34XXX, shipped in 1930, and 35XXX shipped in 1926.


I'm looking forward to shooting the I-frame.
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Old 05-30-2014, 12:39 PM
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Very cool. I am uncertain which of my Hand Ejectors is the oldest but I do have a Model 32 J-frame in .38 S&W. It's not that anemic with Buffalo Bore's new ammunition.

***GRJ***

PS:

NOT TRUE! I KNOW my .38-44 is the oldest - it's from 1931 or 32. That's it in my avatar.
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Old 05-30-2014, 02:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ISCS Yoda View Post
It's not that anemic with Buffalo Bore's new ammunition.
In post #45 I note the low weight/high velocity of BB offering.

.38/200 Logic


Where's the heavy metal?
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