I am asking this to help out a friend. He is looking at a M&P Model of 1905 4th change 395xxx (I don't remember the whole number) I told him my guess is that it was made about 1919-1920
The little old lady said that it was her grandfathers and he never shot it. The cylinder ring is very faint and the bore looks perfect, it has not Smith Pearl grips, no S&W logo
It is in 98%, however, and it is a big however, the right side shows that it has been sitting on paper or something for years there is RUST. all around the muzzle for the first 1/8 inch of the barrel is rusted, the right side of the barrel is probably 30% rust one cylinder where it rested has about a 1/4 inch circle (spot) of rust finger nail size, and on the frame are 4 or 5 rust spots each at least 1/8 inch in diameter.
It is my opinion that reduced the value by about half
THE QUESTION IS it has a square butt, the Standard Catalog says the square butt is a 2x price increase, is that true and does it depend on the gun being rust free.
How rare are the early square butts and what does it do to value?
My feeling is that a gun that would be 98% without rust drops to 45% more or less with rust, but that is a guess.
if the rust were cleaned off I would call it a 70% gun