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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 10-30-2011, 06:58 AM
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.38 M&P Model 1905 4th change Square Butt Question .38 M&P Model 1905 4th change Square Butt Question .38 M&P Model 1905 4th change Square Butt Question .38 M&P Model 1905 4th change Square Butt Question .38 M&P Model 1905 4th change Square Butt Question  
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Default .38 M&P Model 1905 4th change Square Butt Question

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
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Old 10-30-2011, 07:13 AM
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That was a printing mistake. The round butt gun is the rarer of the 2 frames. Larry
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Old 10-30-2011, 09:50 AM
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I have 400078, which shipped in 1922. Chances are good that one did too.

In high condition, that gun might bring close to $500. With the rust (or with the damaged finish left after the rust is cleaned off), it is about a $250-300 shooter. If the rust is all on the surface, maybe it can be cleaned off with no damage to anything but the blue. If it has gone deeper and pitted the steel, the gun could still be functional but would suffer value loss. If the pitting is not deep, maybe the gun could be refinished -- but then that would cut its collector value in half too.

And yes, that is a mistake is SCSW. 1902s are round butt, 1905s are mostly square butt. It is the round butt 1905s that are uncommon.
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Old 10-30-2011, 02:39 PM
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The rust has pitted the metal, I told my buddy to offer the lady $200, and that it would be a good shooter but not have collector value

THat is good to know about the RB/SB
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