Hi all,

I recently acquired a Smith and Wesson revolver from a party who initially advertised it as a "Model 10."

I asked him whether it was a 10-3, 10-4, etc.? He replied that he didn't know, and I asked him to check inside the yoke. He said no model designation was found, but just a 5-digit serial number. He said his gunsmith said it was a pre-Model 10.

The serial number is 126xx. Curiously, there is another 6-digit number on the bottom of the butt. It is 6775xx. Removing the grips (unfortunately these aren't originals, but they are very nice wooden finger-groove grips) reveals that the side panel has four screws holding it in place.

The screws all appear to be "proud" or sticking out from the side of the frame. Is this normal? My other Smiths are currently a Model 620, and a Bodyguard .38 (the new one with the laser).

The .38 appears to be in excellent condition. There is some holster wear at the end of the barrel and on the edges of the cylinder, the kind you'd expect of a police revolver that was carried a lot, but shot little.

One curious thing I noticed is that, when the hammer is down, the hammer spur obscures the sighting channel on the top of the frame, in the manner of an old single-action revolver. This makes me wonder if the hammer is aftermarket, since I thought police doctrine of the double-action revolver Era was to always fire their revolvers in double-action mode. I'd imagine it would be difficult to sight in on a target if you didn't have the hammer cocked!

126xx is the assembly number, not the serial number. All S&W hand ejectors have an assembly number stamped on the frame, back side of the side plate and yoke to keep those fitted parts together during the manufacturing process. Assembly numbers are not recorded and are of little use after the revolver is completed.

6775xx is the serial number. Assuming that you are not over looking a letter prefix your Military and Police (M&P) revolver was made before WWII. While many collectors only call M&Ps made from about 1949 to 1957 pre-model 10s the seller's gunsmith was not wrong. It is a M&P that is too old to have a model number.

Pre-WW II M&Ps had a round head rear side plate screw that should be the only one that is proud. The other three were flat heads that were flush when turned in snug like they should be.

Until about the spring of 1948 the hammer spurs of fixed sighted M&Ps covered up most of the rear sight notch while the hammer was down. Their rear sight notches were uncovered early in the double action pull. That was changed when short action M&Ps superseded long action revolvers.

SN 6775xx indicates that it is an M&P which probably shipped in 1939-40 based on other nearby SNs. Model numbering did not begin until about 20 years after this one.

I can bracket you but not very tight.

s/n 6702xx shipped in May 1938
s/n 6957xx shipped in Aug 1940

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

The closest I have to yours is s/n 765111. It shipped in Apr 1941

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

"Pre-WW II M&Ps had a round head rear side plate screw that should be the only one that is proud. The other three were flat heads that were flush when turned in snug like they should be."

That statement is incorrect. Sideplate screws are round or dome headed until Magnas became standard and the screw under the grips was changed to a flat head. Some revolvers with Magnas used a round head rear screw. The Magnas used were relieved slightly to account for the round head screw.

I don't know exactly when S&W went to the flat head rear screw, but it was post WW II.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Thanks, everyone. Very informative, as usual.

Targets Guy, the hammer on mine looks just like that one.

I'll try to post some pics later on.

Additionally, this Smith is the smoothest, most finely-fitted revolver I think I've ever handled. I can see why Smith enthusiasts have such reverence for the revolvers built in the heyday of the revolver era, and such (relative) disdain for Smith's current revolver offerings.

While I currently now only own three S&W revolvers, I have had in the past a number of others, including a Model 66-6 (my first Smith, I foolishly sold it even though it was a fantastic shooter), a Model 1917 (handled a lot like this M&P, although it was bigger, of course) a 327 TRRP, a silhouette 686, a 586-4, ad another sweet shooter that was kind of a Frankenstein gun - it was a Model 15 frame mated to a Model 14 6" barrel. The previous owner had a trigger job on it that made it smooth as silk. It was a very fine shooter, but I needed money bad, and unfortunately it helped satisfy that need.

Let me just add. The more of the old ones you accumulate, the smoother they all shoot.

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

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Regards,
Bruce

Yes, that's the standard hammer used by S&W until about early 1948. There was one other hammer style available then, but it's uncommon to see them.

Thank-you for the correction. This stuff happens when I type really late at night. For punishment I have to take old revolvers to the range and spend less time at the key board.

Humpback? When did those appear and disappear? Were they always special order options?

I don't know much, but I have understood the HBH was always a special order factory option (or sold by S&W for installation by the owner), and was not an item of original equipment. They were used for both N and K frames, and it seems that their period of use was from the mid- to late 1930s. They were a fairly popular option for the Registered Magnums. Personally, I have never understood what their advantage was, except apparently some competitive shooters preferred them for single-action shooting. Maybe someone more familiar with HBH lore can provide better details.

Try this site, it's free. Photobucket now wants $400 to host your pics.

https://postimages.org

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Get off my lawn!