My First 1905 Hand Ejector M&P, Serial Number Date?

5

5thIndiana

Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2013
Messages
9
Reaction score
9
Greetings everyone,

I recently picked this one up for a very decent price, and I would like to find out a little more about it. It's a Model 1905 M&P 4th change Hand Ejector in .38 Special. It has been renickeled and had the grips replaced, but I bought it as a shooter more than anything. The action is still as crisp as ever and the bore is nice too! My questions are:

1. What is the approximate year of manufacture? The serial number is 386xxx.

2. Are these safe to shoot with modern ammo? If so, can they handle factory FMJ rounds?

3. Where can I find a set of original replacement grips?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • 010.jpg
    010.jpg
    101.2 KB · Views: 174
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
Welcome to the forum.:)

If I'm seeing this right, probably made around 1918-1920. If so, then it should have a heat treated cylinder and be able to take modern ammo alright, but try to avoid jacketed ammo if you can. The early gun barrels were designed for lead bullets, and while they will shoot jacketed, they will wear much faster.

Others here will know more than I do about it.
 
Welcome to the Forum!

This one is from the very early 1920s. Heat treatment on the cylinders started in the fall of 1919 at about serial number 316xxx. I suspect this gun will not have Made in U.S.A. on the right side of the frame. That puts it before 1923, which is also consistent with the serial number.

As you noted, this gun has been refinished, and the job was not done well. Those grips look to have been hand made, more or less in the service style. Interesting but not attractive IMO.

If you want correct stocks for it, they can be found, perhaps here on the Forum, or at eBay or Gun Broker. I'll post of photo of the style you need.

I'm hoping you paid less than $300 for this revolver. Even as a shooter, you could do better for that kind of money. In any case, have fun with it. You sure aren't going to hurt it by shooting it!

You are looking for stocks like these - used from 1920-29:
jp-ak-albums-miscellaneous-revolvers-picture9211-38-he-1926-service-right.jpg
 
Other 1905s with nearby serial numbers were shipping in late 1921 and early 1922, so that's probably the range for your gun as well. Avoid +P or even the zippier self-defense ammo that can still be called standard, but you can shoot wadcutter target loads or lead RN loads as much as you'd like. That's probably good advice about avoiding jacketed ammo.

The proper stocks would be non-medallion round butt K-frame service stocks with convex tops; there are non-medallion stocks with concave (dished) tops that are from about 15 years earlier, so don't buy them by mistake. Non-medallion stocks were used through the 1920s. Round butt K-frame guns of this era were less common than the the square butt configuration, so it may take a while to find a pair that would fit that frame. Advertise in the classifieds on this forum, and keep an eye on Ebay and Gunbroker. Rare or not, stocks of most types will eventually turn up there.

If it's going to be a shooter and you aren't completely committed to authenticity, you could probably put some more recent magnas on it less expensively.

EDITED TO ADD: Jack posted a picture of what you mostly want while I was typing. The only difference is that you would want the round butt type.

Here's a photo of a Model of 1902 with the earlier kind of non-medallion round butt stocks that I mentioned. Notice the different treatment where the semicircular top fits into the frame and sideplate cuts. You want stocks with this profile but the top treatment you see in Jack's picture.

IMG_1799.jpg
 
I just looked at your photo again and noticed your revolver has a round butt. So the stocks I showed you will not be quite right. But imagine the same stocks with the round butt and no medallion in the stock circle.
However, yours may have come with black hard rubber stocks which I believe were still being shipped on round butt guns in the 1920s. I've posted below a photo of what they look like (although the gun in the pictures is actually of a smaller frame size; it just happens to be the only appropriate photo I have handy).
jp-ak-albums-miscellaneous-revolvers-picture10753-32-he-right-side.jpg
 
David posted while I was working on my second reply. If you take what he told you together with my illustrations you should be in good shape.
The walnut stocks he described are the round butt version of those in my first photo.
It looks like we also agree on the likely sources . . . :)

As he pointed out, the quickest and cheapest route would be simply to pick up some post-1968 K frame Magna stocks on eBay. They will fit fine and you will probably find them to be better to hold than the old service style stocks we've been talking about here.

Regards,
Jack
 
Thanks for the warm welcomes and replies! Don't worry, I have very little in this revolver, just over $75. I had figured that it was made sometime between 1920 and 1923, so I guess I was in the right ball park. As for the stocks, I know it had hard rubber grips before these wooden ones. The person I got it from had damaged the originals and made these. :mad:

Thanks again everyone!
 
I wouldn't be too concerned about finding period-correct grips, as your revolver is a shooter, and not really collectible. So all you really need are some good grips for shooting purposes. Get on eBay, and look for K-frame round butt grips. In fact there are grips available which give a round-butt frame a square-butt profile, which provides a better grasp. A pair of smooth grips of the combat style would be a good choice. By the way, you will see numerous grips from Thailand listed. My experience is that these are of excellent quality, fit well, and are inexpensive. There are also rubber grips from Pachmayr and Hogue available on eBay.

This is a picture of a pair of Thai grips on my ca. 1921 S&W M&P (square butt), having a SN very close to yours:
 
Last edited:
FWIW, those grips on the gun, while not factory, are very nearly the correct grips.
This is a 1921 gun, so the grips should be convex non-medallion, which is what they
are. They are smooth, instead of being checkered - that is their only difference.

If I were you, I'd try shooting with those grips - they may be just what you want,
particularly if you shoot gallery-load wadcutters.

As smooth round-butt grips, those look very nice. If you are really looking for
factory grips, I'd be interested in trading a pair of hard black rubber grips for them.

Mike Priwer
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

G
38 +P in earlier hand earlier hand ejectors
Replies
4
Views
133
Eddie Southgate
Eddie Southgate
kennethg
approx. date fo an early M&P
Replies
4
Views
427
T112-4
T112-4
M
Nickel plated 1905 M&P
Replies
4
Views
660
DWalt
DWalt
C
Dating serial numbers 1905 4th change.
Replies
16
Views
2K
LtBob
L
J
38 S&W Special CTG
Replies
3
Views
630
sceva
sceva

Latest posts

Back
Top