I have read several post, blogs etc regarding Smith & Wesson but still cant figure out what I have.
Marking: 38 S&W Special CTG
butt: 650676
frame: 53747
fixed sights
Trying to understand age, value, description etc

Attached Images

	IMG_5209.jpg (100.0 KB, 225 views)
	IMG_5222.jpg (79.0 KB, 159 views)
	sn.jpg (70.4 KB, 146 views)
	IMG_5208.jpg (56.6 KB, 142 views)
	main.jpg (91.2 KB, 157 views)

late 30's M&P .38 Special, the predecessor to the Model 10. They didn't start marking model numbers in the yoke until about 1957. Up until then they just had names. A nice gun but quite common. Probably shoots like a dream. The serial number is the one on the butt. Value might be around $400 depending on the local market. Careful who you call antique around here

__________________
Some collect art; I shoot it!

Thanks! So what os the number 53747 on the frame mean?

Welcome to the forum. Check out the attached info. This post will likely be moved to the correct category since this is not an antique but it is a very nice shooter as mentioned. Go easy on it though. No hot loads!!! It’s an older Smith and a great target revolver! Standard 38 special loads only!

Oh, the number on the frame is normally an assembly number. Should be one on the crane and under the barrel also. Should match but my knowledge on these M&P’s is limited. You should go to that category to talk to very knowledgeable folks!!

Murph

Attached Images

58463771-758E-443E-B26F-FCCB9CD091F0.jpg (31.4 KB, 48 views)

You have a Model of 1905 Change 4 that shipped in late 1934 or early 1935. Commonly known as a .38M&P. It is the F-150 of revolvers.

The closest one I have to yours is s/n 675xxx that shipped in Mar 1939.

__________________
Mike
S&WCA #3065

Everything you've been told about the mystery number on the frame (in the yoke cutout and on the yoke) is more or less correct. More correct is it is indeed an assembly number used before the serial number was determined/applied. Less correct is its location/use on the barrel------it ain't there---never was, near as I recall. Also near as I recall was its use on the sideplate (inside)----for awhile at least.(??)

The more interesting thing about it is I don't recall anybody ever asking why it was necessary to use it at all. I'm sure someone must have done so---just as I must have missed it.

Somewhere along the line I got the idea the serial number and the stock fitting came next---serial number first, because it was available to put on the grips (once fit to the frame). I decided they didn't want to commit a serial number to these other pieces (frame/yoke/sideplate) until after they knew these pieces were good to go. I went on to decide that was because there was more than a little brute force and awkwardness involved in fitting the sideplate-----some whammity-bammin' with a babbit bar (think lead), and not all the frame/yoke/sideplate assemblies survived in usable condition. (I don't know how the yokes were fitted---with or without whammity-bammin'.)

Ralph Tremaine

Ship dates in the 1930s are quite hard to extrapolate with any precision since the Depression cut production and sales down to less than a third of the decade before, and guns shipped on an irregular schedule, and not necessarily in serial order. It’s the hardest decade to guess right. But 1934/35 is as good as any as a ballpark.

I can’t make out whether it says Mershon or Pachmayr on the grip adapter. I just see a two-line inscription.

Great information from all previous posts. Here is 654xxx, shipped November 1935. Perched on the reproduction box it came with. They are great shooters, especially when a grip adapter is added like on your gun.

__________________
Tim
SWCA #2697

I have to ask how you know it is a reproduction box, and if so, where did it come from?

I have received information from some experts here on the Forum that leads me to believe there were unused, leftover boxes from time to time. Apparently, they somehow left the factory and were sold to whoever wanted one. They were most likely never going to be used, so the factory let them go or threw them away?? Just curious if your box could have been one of them since the construction that I can see looks very much like a factory box?

__________________
Gary
SWCA 2515

I cannot imagine that an 80 year old paper product such as that box could be in that condition , no matter how gently it was handled. There would be evidence of exposure to the atmosphere.

Such is the deduction of this non-expert.

Well known that the boxes are being reproduced and sold on ebay and other venues. Sellers often misrepresent them as "old new stock" but they are repros.

__________________
No life story has happy end.

Nice old gun. I had 2 distant relatives who served as Sheriffs in Macon County, NC. One in the late 1800s. One in the 1950s. I have examined some of their variety of firearms owned by other family members. The later Sheriff had a 1905 M&P, 4th change. I shot it when I was about 17. It made me an S&W fan from that day forward. I'll never own that one but have looked for the right one for sale for a long time. I want one that's a solid shooter but shows some honest holster wear without rust and not priced in the stratosphere. It's turned out to be hard to find.

I have my father's WWII Navy Victory model where he served as a crew member on a PB4Y2 bomber. It's a 1943, a bit rough, but goes bang every time you pull the trigger. It's priceless.

__________________
SWCA 3417 HF 642 NRA-TC

The box came with the revolver when I purchased it. The seller disclosed that the box was a reproduction but did not say where he got it.

__________________
Tim
SWCA #2697

"I have my father's WWII Navy Victory model where he served as a crew member on a PB4Y2 bomber. It's a 1943, a bit rough, but goes bang every time you pull the trigger. It's priceless."

That last statement - You , sir , are a lock for understatement of the week. Also - a fortunate man.