My Latest Pawn Shop Rescue...DOB Please

policerevolvercollector · #1 04-14-2017, 10:34 PM

I picked this .32 HE 3rd Model today :

Serial number is 516xxx.

Best,
Charles

Targets Guy · #2 04-14-2017, 11:57 PM

Prob 1906. Maybe 1907.

ParadiseRoad · #3 04-15-2017, 01:03 AM

...has the one line address from 1922...and the large ejector rod knob from 1927...so I'm guessing 1927 or later...those rubber grips look earlier though...

KEN L · #4 04-15-2017, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Targets Guy

Prob 1906. Maybe 1907.

Not for a 6 digit gun. More likely sometime in the early 40's.

mrcvs · #5 04-15-2017, 06:00 AM

I believe the "Made in U.S.A" stamping came out in 1922, so yours would have to be 1922 or after.

two-bit cowboy · #6 04-15-2017, 07:59 AM

Another great find, Charles.

I have a blue one very similar, sn 5155XX, that I estimate might have a '39 ship date. The black rubber grips number to the gun.

Enjoy,

Bob

Muley Gil · #7 04-15-2017, 09:56 AM

I have the same .32, only in better shape.

# 512621 shipped in April 1938.

Back when I was really po', I'd a bought that one and carried it in an ankle holster as a BUG.

lamarw · #8 04-15-2017, 11:21 AM

Charles, You are like a fine tooth comb in the Georgia Pawn and Gun Shops. I enjoy seeing what you are coming up, or combing up, with next.

policerevolvercollector · #9 04-15-2017, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lamarw

Charles, You are like a fine tooth comb in the Georgia Pawn and Gun Shops. I enjoy seeing what you are coming up, or combing up, with next.

I went to Athens Ga. yesterday. There are two big gun stores about a mile apart. I found an interesting gun at each place. But, I wound up walking out due to inattentive clerks, unwillingness to negotiate, etc.etc. I then went across town to a pawn shop & found several interesting revolvers all of which were WAY overpriced except for this little .32. The sticker was $169.99 plus tax. We got to $150 OTD and she came home w/ me.

I like the fact it is a late '30s or early '40s gun. Sort of the last of a dying breed. Just kinda neat! This may even get lettered.....

Best,
Charles

DWalt · #10 04-15-2017, 08:00 PM

Closest on my list to yours is SN 513xxx shipping in 11/1941.

Muley Gil · #11 04-15-2017, 10:08 PM

Here's mine:

policerevolvercollector · #12 04-15-2017, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWalt

Closest on my list to yours is SN 513xxx shipping in 11/1941.

Thank you!!!

deadin · #13 04-15-2017, 11:03 PM

513841 shipped 10/1929

deadin · #14 04-15-2017, 11:52 PM

Interesting! I see similar serial numbers being listed as the late 1930's early 1940's while mine came from Roy as being shipped in 1929.
That's quite a spread.....
I originally picked this one up hoping for a birthdate gun (09/1941) but Roy answered my query as 10/1929. I wonder if either he or I misread the date??? Maybe I will have to letter it.....

bwdilli · #15 04-16-2017, 01:51 AM

Here's mine with the correct box. Picked it up for my birthday in December. Love the pre War guns. Serial 540480

Grouped up with my other early .32s. Neat little group.

DWalt · #16 04-16-2017, 11:12 AM

I imagine lots of these .32s which may have been manufactured in the late 1920s sat unsold in factory inventory for extended periods, obviously some until the late 1930s or even later. Gun sales fell off the cliff during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

hardcase60 · #17 04-16-2017, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by policerevolvercollector

I went to Athens Ga. yesterday. There are two big gun stores about a mile apart. I found an interesting gun at each place. But, I wound up walking out due to inattentive clerks, unwillingness to negotiate, etc.etc. I then went across town to a pawn shop & found several interesting revolvers all of which were WAY overpriced except for this little .32. The sticker was $169.99 plus tax. We got to $150 OTD and she came home w/ me.

I like the fact it is a late '30s or early '40s gun. Sort of the last of a dying breed. Just kinda neat! This may even get lettered.....

Best,
Charles

Once again congrats on another great find!! You never cease to amaze and astound me.

Kindest regards, hardcase60

deadin · #18 05-01-2017, 12:13 AM

Correction on posts #13 & 14.
I re-investigated the shipping date on my 32 HE Third Model and it came back as 12/1941 (not 10/29 as I originally posted.) It makes more sense now.
It's almost a birthday gun. At least the year is right...

Being 12/41 I wonder if I should letter it to see if it might be a 12/7/1941 gun? Probably not. (Being a Sunday I doubt that S&W was shipping on the weekend......)

H Richard · #19 05-01-2017, 10:10 AM

deadin, that makes you 9 months younger than me. The only 1941 gun I have ever found (that I could afford), was a Pre-Victory return from Australia, that had been reamed for 38 Specials. Wasn't a bad gun, but rough enough it went down the road. Maybe some day I'll find an early 41 that's not a Victory.

policerevolvercollector · #20 05-01-2017, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadin

Correction on posts #13 & 14.
I re-investigated the shipping date on my 32 HE Third Model and it came back as 12/1941 (not 10/29 as I originally posted.) It makes more sense now.
It's almost a birthday gun. At least the year is right...

Being 12/41 I wonder if I should letter it to see if it might be a 12/7/1941 gun? Probably not. (Being a Sunday I doubt that S&W was shipping on the weekend......)

Did you letter it? Where did it ship?

deadin · #21 05-01-2017, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Did you letter it? Where did it ship?

I haven't bothered. There's nothing special or unusual about the gun to make it worthwhile lettering it.
Somehow $65.00 to find out if it went to somewhere other than a distributor or hardware store just doesn't seem worth the gamble. (And I doubt that a letter would add its cost to the value of the gun.)

JSR III · #22 05-01-2017, 04:14 PM

FWIW, I own a .38 M&P serial number 802544 that shipped 7/1941 and is not military according to Roy.