Recently acquired a near mint .32 Hand Ejector, serial number 486XXX, configured like the Regulation Police Model, with the extended grip where the wood handle extends well below the metal back and front straps. But it is not designated "Regulation Police" like one I had years ago. Is this an anomaly, or was it just somewhat arbitrary that S&W would designate some like this "Regulation Police" and others not?

Can anyone aside from Roy Jinks give me an idea when it was made? Colts are easy to date by serial number, but there's seems no standard reference for Smiths.

I see the S&W Regulation Police in a 1946 Gun Digest. Does anyone know when they stopped making this model?

Thanks for any info anyone has on this.

I believe that only the Regulation Police revolvers in .38 S&W caliber were marked Regulation Police on the barrels, and the .32 Long caliber guns were not.

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Tom
1560

Welcome to the forums from the Wiregrass! I don't have a precise enough reference to give you a close year. The SN range for the 32 HE's and RP's runs from 1911 to 1942 at SN's 263001 to 536684 (the RP was not manufactured until 1917). S&W did not stamp Regulation Police on their .32's...only on the .38's. There are a number of experts on the forum that maintain databases and may be able to get your gun closer to its shipping date. The problem is that even if we know the date of the next lower SN, your gun may have shipped before it or even years after it. So, your best bet is to have Roy or one of his assistants nail it down for you.

You might want to check where the SN is stamped on your gun. If it is a RP, it should be on the front gripstrap so it can be seen with the grips on the gun. It is possible to fit the extended grips on a standard HE. After WWII S&W continued to make this gun but after going to the improved I frame the rebated frame was discontinued and the grip frame was made in a square butt. It continued on as the Model 31 until 1991.

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Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

Welcome to the forum RollingBlock.

Congrats on such a great condition .38 RP.

Members above are correct.

The .32 cal Reg Police I frame did not have that barrel roll mark, only the .38/32 (.38 S&W built on the .32 I frame).

Serial numbers in my data base near 486XXX with verified shipping dates indicate it shipped at the very end of 1928.

Roy can only provide the shipping date, the production dates are not available to him. But in that time period yours was most likely built not long before it shipped.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

486xxx would have likely shipped in the late 1930s.

That's possible of course if it wasn't sold until after the depression hit on "Black Thursday", Oct. 24, 1929, the stock market crash.

But based on these I believe it 'escaped' the factory before that:

483925 shipped in July 1928
486XXX .32 shipped in May 17, 1928
491XXX .32 with barrel knob shipped 3/29

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Welcome to the forum.

484,048
484,054 5/29/1928
488,066 3/10/1930
488,180 6/29/1928
488,183 7/2/1928
488,263 8/8/1928
488,331 9/11/1928
488,354 7/28/1928
488,364 5/13/1929
492,092 11/28/1928
492,187 12/X/1928
492,294 4/29/1929
492,318
492,334 9/11/1928
492,381
492,436 4/22/1929
492,489 1/21/1929

This is a copy of a section of my .22/.32 database. The .22/.32's and the .32's shared the same serial number blocks with one gun taking a few and then the other gun taking a few.

Although extrapolating serial numbers is never an exact science, one can usually get a good idea unless your particular gun is one of the frequent S&W anomalies that pop up from time to time.

As you can see 486,XXX and 487,XXX were not used by the .22/.32 HFT's and were therefore assigned to the .32's.

I would take from this information that your gun shipped somewhere in the 1928 to 1930 period barring the above mentioned anomaly situation.



Do your stocks have one or two screws and what is the barrel length?

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James Redfield
LM #497