A few years ago I purchased this gun in Fort Worth, and know in a general manner what I have, but would like some more specific information if possible. It is a Smith and Wesson Hand Ejector, Serial Number 27XXX. The serial number is on the bottom of the butt of the grip. The barrel is marked "38 S & W Special" and underneath that is "U.S. SERVICE OTG'S"

The top of the barrel (as best I can read it) is marked:

SMITH & WESSON SPRINGFIELD MASS U.S.A.
PAT'D APRIL ? MARCH ? 04 MAY 21 ? JULY 16 93
AUG 4 96 DEC 22 96 OCT 4 98 ? ? DEC 17 01

Thank you for any information you can provide me with about this piece.

This could be an interesting gun. By its serial number, its an original Model of 1902.
It should have a straight-taper barrel, with no shoulder on the barrel where it meets
the frame. It is the first K-frame model with an extractor lug under the barrel. This
is probably a 1903 gun.

A couple of pictures would be very nice. What is the barrel length, from the front
face of the cylinder to the end of the barrel ? Most importantly, what is the sight
configuration : adjustable, or fixed ?

Mike Priwer

Hopefully these will help. The gun is not in the best cosmetic condition, but it locks up tight and the action is smooth. I saw it in a pawn shop in Fort Worth for $100 about four years ago, and thought it needed a good home.

Attached Images

	HE1.jpg (68.6 KB, 73 views)
	HE2.jpg (56.2 KB, 67 views)

When I was stationed at NAS Dallas I would cruise the Cash America and First Cash shops when ever I could and I found a lot of great guns there. The barrel markings were probably U.S. Service CTG's Rather than OTG (most likely a typo). As Mike said, it could be interesting. $100! Yes.

Yes, you are correct, it is "CTG'S".

I had been in the pawn shop a couple of days before (like you, I would make the rounds looking for something interesting) and had seen a Model 10 with a 6" barrel in very nice condition for $150.00, which wasn't a bad deal for four or five years ago. For reasons I don't remember (probably because I already owned one) I didn't buy it; then went home and thought "you idiot", went back, and of course it was gone. But I saw this in the case, and it went home with me.

Thanks for the photos. It is a 4" 1902. All told, there were about 12,000 of these
made, in all barrel lengths and sight configurations. These thumbnail pictures are not
the greatest for detail - from what I can see, most of the finish is gone. On the
other hand, these are scarce guns, only because the production was so small.

I would say that you got a good price on it, because the seller was not aware of
its relative scarcity. Its probably worth $200 to $250 to a collector who appreciates
what it is.

Mike Priwer

Thanks for the confirmation. When I bought the gun, I did some non-expert research on my own, and came up with the date of around 1903. I don't remember how I came up with that number, but I'm now putting together a list of my guns, with information on each, and wanted a better opinion than mine. Yes, the bluing is gone, but I didn't buy it for any monetary value. To me, it was a piece of history, and fit into my family tree of Smith revolvers.

As I mentioned earlier, this gun is important in the context of the development of
the K-frames. It's the (original) Model of 1902, having straight taper barrel with
no shoulder at the frame face. Somewhere around serial 33000, perhaps late 1903,
the first engineering change to this model occurred. The frame face was thickened, as
was the OD of the barrel at the frame face. This resulted in a shoulder on the barrel,
right where it meets the frame. For the 4-inch barrels, this did not leave enough
room on the top of the barrel for the patent-date roll markings, so they were
moved to the right side of the barrel.

Here are two of mine, about serial number 45000. You can see the shoulder on the
barrel, and the patent date roll markings on the side of the barrel.



Regards, Mike Priwer

I appreciate the information. I always enjoy learning something new about Smith revolvers. Right now I'm a newbie on this forum, but intend on be a regular here because of the knowledge possessed by the members. Currently I have five Smith's in my collection: the Hand Ejector Model mentioned here; a K-22 made in 1955; a M & P made about 1945; a Model 28-2, and a Model 19-5. I'm keeping an eye out for a K-38, had one years ago, and for some unremembered reason sold it.