Ran across this little gun and just couldn't leave it alone. Seems to be from the Shaker Heights Police Department. Seemed like a neat little thing. Was thinking about lettering it, but it's probably not worth it. Anyone got anything like this?

I like it! I would letter it, at least you would know ship date and the hardware store that it was shipped to, you might get lucky and find more info!

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If you don't already know, Shaker Heights is one of the more upscale Cleveland suburbs. I lived there briefly long ago. If you provide its SN, you can probably learn a little more about it. I'd guess it's from the 1930s. It has a quite unusual "humpback" hammer.

I'm super jealous, and I can't wait for the letter. I bet you are going to love shooting it too.

Serial looks to be 679XXX.

Looked up Shaker Heights but just looks to be an old Shaker religious settlement. Don't really know anything about that area.

What's so special about the hammer? Kinda liked it because of the round butt.

It started out as a Shaker settlement but that was long ago. Sort of to Cleveland as Hollywood is to LA. At least it used to be - an enclave of wealthy Jewish financial types, Lawyers, Doctors, corporate executives, etc. It may be a bit different now, it was > 50 years ago when I lived there.

Your SN puts it as around 1940. The Humpback hammer was always a S&W special order item, mainly from the 1930s. The idea is that some preferred it for single action shooting. It definitely adds some value.

Very nice!!!

I like it. I just received the letter on my Model 10 no dash, and the back strap inscription was factory prepared along with a rack number on the revolver. It is a very similar font to yours and in the same location. I suspect your was also factory marked.

You can see the copy of my letter in a post over on the 1961 to 1980 Forum. Here is a link: S&W Ltr., Model 10 (no dash) Police Snubbie

Unfortunately I can't get your photo of the backstrap stamping up to a decent size for comparison, but your factory stamping, from what I can see, is a lot more even than this one; the Shaker Heights stamping was obviously applied one letter at a time not quite straight; note the K and especially the G and O dropping out of line; I'm not sure the factory would have sent it out like that.

But I would certainly agree that this gun is worth lettering to find out. Include a picture of the stamping, and Roy/Don will usually include a comment as to its origin.

You are most likely correct Absalom. I will bow to your knowledge and better eyesight. My cataract surgery of a few years back left me with better distant vision for driving and a reduction of close in vision clarity.

Anyone ever seen a K frame with fixed sights with the humpback hammer? I'm only really seeing them on the K22 and seeing references to them on the K38 (target 38 M&P).

You guys are convincing me to send for a letter to see just in case.

I was really intrigued by the RB on the K frame, especially with the 4" barrel. I've seen the RB used on limited runs of the 2" barrels which is rare. It's my understanding that the RB was essentially phased out in the 1920s and just about all you see is the SB.

You guys are convincing me that this might have been a special order. Might be interesting to see if the police department of a swanky suburb of Cleveland had some money and spent it outfitting the officers with nice pistols.

I haven't received it yet. Should be here Monday. I knew something was speaking to me with this revolver. Might be worth it to dig a bit more. Be interesting to see where this rabbit hole goes. Thanks for the help. Please add more if you got it.

I don't know how prevalent humpback hammers were on ordinary M&Ps, but probably very few had them. As you state, they are more often seen on higher-end target revolvers and some of the early .357 Magnums from the 1930s were ordered with them. I'd expect that not many like yours had them, but of course if someone at the SHPD decided that the SH cops needed them, then they certainly could have been ordered that way. And you are correct. Run-if-the-mill M&Ps after WWI had mainly square grips, except for the few hundred inter-war M&P snubbies. I had also noticed that the backstrap property stamping was likely hand-stamped, and not done at the factory. S&W would have performed a much more professional-looking job. I'd assume that, even though it was during the Great Depression, the SHPD probably had adequate funding to get whatever equipment, etc., it wanted.

Good purchase! I like a round butt 4" M&P! And always a plus to me with a dept. name stamped on it. Pictured below is my 4" square butt with a humpback hammer that was shipped to the Morgantown P.D. Mines not stamped though. I doubt there were a lot of departments that ordered their guns with the HB hammer. Definitely letter it.

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Get off my lawn!

I like it!

An old honest used blue gun. Can't beat 'em, and better than any modern era pristine gun which are all too common.

Guns were made for shootin', not lookin'.

Very cool. I`ve had a lot of prewar M&P`s over the years, but I`ve yet to land one with a humpback hammer.

Received it in the mail today. Wife was wondering why I was checking for the postman every 10 minutes. Didn't want to miss him and have them leave a note saying that they attempted delivery because they won't get out of the truck.

Needless to say, I'm smiling from ear to ear. Had to drag out my 2" 38 M&P to compare. Very similar guns besides the barrel length and hammer differences.

The serials all match: crane, extractor, barrel, cylinder, and frame. There is not a serial on the stocks at all. Wear on the stocks matches the overall look of the gun. If they didn't come with the gun, I'm going to be very surprised. Mechanically, the gun is great. Got some wear on the finish but I expected that being a police gun.

Trying to post a few pics I took of the gun but photobucket seems to be having issues.

Jinks letter request has been sent. Hoping to get good news in a few weeks. It was also suggested to me to try the Historical Foundation afterwards, as it should fall in the timeframe that they have records for.

Promised pictures. I didn't clean it up in these, just pulled it out of the box and snapped a few.

Wow ! I know this is a few days old but I had to post something about this gun . Wow!

Thanks! You should see what I have heading my way next.

22/32 Kit Gun.


I'll keep this thread updated when I get the letter back. Hoping the letter will be worth it.

Update as promised.



It's all correct, except for the stocks. It shipped with black hard rubber and is now sporting wood. The wood stocks aren't numbered to any gun. Thinking possible aftermarket upgrade but pre WWII. They look like they've been on the gun for a long while.

It also seems that the Cleveland area had quite the bit of history going on around that time. Cleveland was the 5th largest US city and had it's own issues with increasing traffic, gangs, and police corruption. Cleveland hired Eliot Ness as Safety Director to come in and help with these issues. He served from 1935 till 1942. Shaker Height, being a suburb of Cleveland had issues of it's own.

What next? I think I'll see if the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation has any documents concerning this gun or Shaker Heights.

Awesome! Thanks for posting!

(That 22/32 is a WINNER, too!!)

"It also seems that the Cleveland area had quite the bit of history going on around that time. Cleveland was the 5th largest US city and had it's own issues with increasing traffic, gangs, and police corruption. Cleveland hired Eliot Ness as Safety Director to come in and help with these issues. He served from 1935 till 1942. Shaker Height, being a suburb of Cleveland had issues of it's own."

I am in the midst of reading a book titled "Superboys" about Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, two Jewish teenagers living in Cleveland during the 1930s who became the creators of "Superman." There was a surprising statement made that in 1932, Cleveland was the third largest city in America, after New York and Chicago (I didn't look it up to check). And I suppose that might well have been true, as the great growth rates of cities in the west, south, and southwest occurred principally during and after WWII. Then as well as today, Cleveland was home to much organized crime activity (many principals of which probably lived in Shaker Heights), and also considerable levels of disorganized crime (Siegel's father was shot and killed in a holdup of his used clothing store, and it didn't even rate a mention in the Cleveland newspaper).

So the backstrap stamping WAS indeed factory after all. Interesting. Maybe they were not that worried about perfection at the time due to their increasing focus on military orders .

Wonder if being an order of 1 and not a larger order set it up to be hand done.