Hi - I inherited this S&W Regulation Police 38 and would appreciate more info on it (year, model etc.) I called S&W customer service but I don't believe I got the right info. There's no emblem on the grip but it is stamped onto the left side of the frame above and behind the trigger. The left side of the barrel has Smith & Wesson stamped on it. The top of the barrel has Smith & Wesson Springfield Mass USA, Patented Feb 6 08 Sept 14 09 Dec 28 14 stamped on it. The right side of the barrel has REGULATION POLICE 38 S&W CTG stamped on it. The grip is wood, rounded and has PAT June 5 1917 stamped on it. What I believe is the serial number is 25627, stamped on the tang and also under the barrel (there is also a B at the far left of the area where the s/n is under the barrel). I hope I was descriptive enough. I'm a newbie and don't know much about revolvers; I'm hoping this ends up being in good enough shape to shoot. Thanks!

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Welcome to the forum. The model is actually called the .38 Regulation Police, with no further refinement to the factory identification. If you had the box, that's what it would say on the end. This gun was introduced in early 1917 and made without interruption until 1940, when the factory switched over to wartime contracts that did not include this model. After WWII the .38 RP was reintroduced. After a couple of years of production that resembled what had been made before the war, the gun got a redesign in 1953.

The .38 RP is one of the few models S&W made that actually had the gun's name stamped on it somewhere. The companion revolver, the .32 Regulation Police, did not have the name stamped on the barrel.

The .38 RP had its own serial number sequence. With that serial number, your gun was probably shipped about 1925-26.

The .38 RP was the company's first small-frame .38 caliber revolver with a swing-out cylinder. Earlier small .38s had been built on the top-break design that the fixed-frame, swing-out cylinder design eventually replaced.

The .38 RP is not a charismatic gun among collectors, but a lot of us here like them a lot. Yours is a nice one. Congratulations. It is safe to shoot with modern .38 S&W ammunition, though that is an odd chambering these days. Most modern .38s chamber the .38 Special, which is different enough that either round cannot be chambered in a revolver meant for the other without modifications that many consider unwise.

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David Wilson

Very nice condition Regulation Police. One look at those grips tells me it is the Middle 20's. But I look at the s/n of mine and I would think early 1925. Mine is s/n 27862 and was shipped Dec. 1925.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Thanks so much guys! I'm gonna give it a good cleaning then take it to my LGS to have them make sure there aren't any mechanical issues and then fire away.

I found this site while looking up information on a pistol for a computer challenged friend. He has the identical pistol, handed down in his family. Basically a metal finish only, no visible bluing at all. It has the same line of patent dates and the serial numbers on the frame are 14932. Any information on age and value would be appreciated.

Welcome to the forum. That serial number indicates the gun probably shipped in 1920. Photos usually help with valuation, but based on your description of the finish it sounds as though this gun would be regarded as a basic shooter-grade gun rather than something a collector would seek out. On that basis it should probably be valued in the $250-300 range; geography can have an effect on value.

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David Wilson

thanks for the information. I will pass it on and try to get a picture of it to post, overall, it looks fair, nothing exceptional. Looks like something that's laid in a drawer somewhere for years and years. Not rusted, but definitely not excellant.

Repeat916,

It sounds like your friend inherited a well worn veteran version of what the OP inherited. In some cases, they made it to the sock drawer early and kept their finish, other times they served as carry pieces for a period of time and got honest wear. Your friend's example will probably be all the more interesting to him and his family if that wear occurred in the service of some ancestor. Regardless, if it is not damaged or worn to a dangerously loose condition, it will still be a fine companion for casual shooting or even for home defense. If it were mine, I would have someone knowledgeable about them (in my case, me ) check it over and then gather all the info I could about its history. Meanwhile I would shoot it and enjoy getting to know it, knowing that I would do no damage to its future desirability or collectibility and hoping it would have significance in my family. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Froggie

To reopen this thread, I just got a RP yesterday in 38 S&W, all matching (including a worn but otherwise nice set of grips) and nickel plated. The nickel is a little mangy looking as I have come to expect, and there is a bulge in the barrel right at the lug, so it is yet another project gun! Anyway, the SN is 334XX, so I'm tentatively putting it at around 1932-34, but that is a guess based on pretty limited information. Does anyone have one lettered anywhere in or near the 33K range to help me pin it down any better? TIA!

Froggie

Froggie, we need pics!

Serial numbers are a little choppy for the .38 RP series in the late 1920s and early 1930s. This gun could be as early as 1926 or 1927, though it could also be one of those inventory queens that didn't make it out of the factory until later in the '30s. Does it have the two-diameter "mushroom" ejector rod knob or the single-diameter "barrel" knob?

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David Wilson

David,

I've mislaid my camera... that's also why I haven't sent the pix of the rebarreled HFT I promised. This RP looks pretty pedestrian. It does have the two-diameter ("mushroom") knob on the e-rod, and the top arch of the grips in convex, not concave as seen on the earlier ones... they do number to the gun. Am I correct in assuming the 33K SN = heat treated cylinder?

Froggie

Late '20s, then, for that gun. And yes, you are dealing with hardened steel at that time.

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David Wilson

Froggie,

Haven't you taken the hachsaw to that yet? I've been holding one of mine and covering up the barrel from the end of the ejector forward. It looks cool. In one way it looks like a muzzle loader with flared end of the ramrod under the barrel. In another way it looks like a mean little snubby that means business!

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Jim
S&WCA #819

I'm pretty new to this forum so please be kind. A friend's father passed away recently and the widow hates guns. She knew that I collect so she just gave me a .38 S&W Regulation Police. It seems to be exactly what is described by the OP. Mine has a serial number less than 99. I'm assuming it was one of the first ones off the line.

Comments?

D

Yes, at its introduction the .38 RP got its own serial number sequence while the .32 RP (same gun, different caliber) continued in the .32 Hand Ejector serial number sequence that had been running since 1903. A two digit serial number would point to early manufacture and possibly an early ship date. I have a .38 RP with a low three-digit number that shipped in May 1917. Yours may have shipped within a month or two of that. S&W had no policy that forced shipment in serial number order. They just took them out of storage as needed, recorded whatever serial number was on what they grabbed, and off they went. If the stocks are original, they will have gold S&W medallions (bronze, actually).

Please post pics.

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David Wilson

I took some pics tonight but I can't find the cable to connect my camera to the computer. I should be able to post them tomorrow.
Thanks for the info!
D

Jeez, I envy all of you walking into an I-frame RP! I have several J-frame versions, i.e. Mods. 33-1, and their 2" version, the 32-1. Also one I-frame Terrier, a 2" version of your gun. My wife and daughters love these with factory-level loads, and I often carry them with heavier handloads (not to start THAT argument!)

They're more accurate than many think, easy on recoil & report--and thus great for rapid burst firing--and IMO hit harder with standard 145-46g LRN bullets than any .32 auto or .32SWL revolver and most .380's, much less .22's and .25's. I also believe that any equivalent of the old 200g Super Police load at low 600's would be better than any .380, but again opinions will vary. Handloading them is simple, and you can use normal .358 diameter component lead bullets with decent accuracy. Sometimes you can get "boutique" 200g ammo, such as from Old Western Scrounger.

Cheapest plinking ammo is made by Magtech, if you can find it. Remington & Winchester, plus Cowboy loads for break-top guns, tend to run $30-something a box.

These classic guns probably have a lot of life in them yet, so happy shooting!