i have a S&W .38 special, no model #, top of barrel has patent #'s up to 1914. no "made in USA" or S&W on side plate. has four screws on right side and one in front of trigger guard. serial #is 315###. flat bottom grip w/gold S&W at very top. PLEASE help, been working on this for 3 days!

Welcome to the forum.

Based on the serial number, I would guess close to 1920 or so. Others will chime in with a closer guess soon.

I have a .38 special HE with serial # 315083. It is from 1919. You can find about anything SW here.

__________________
Just a shooter

I have 321091 which I show as 1921. Post some pictures and folks here may be able to give you more information. Welcome to the Forum.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

I'll try to post pic soon, when i figure how to.

Welcome to the Forum.

If you remove the grips, the serial number should be written, in pencil, on the inside of the right grip. Most of the time, the number is hard to read. It takes a bright light. Sometimes, if you take a picture, the SN will show up really well.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

the #is 315630

also the serial #under the barrel has a "b" in front of the same number

The B means it shipped with a blue finish.

.38 M&P with serial number 316648 was the first to get a heat treated cylinder and was assembled in September, 1919. Your number is just a bit lower than that, so 1919 is a pretty good guess. A letter from the Historical Foundation would be the way to be sure.

That patent date is December 29, 1914. This variant did not start to ship until 1915.

__________________
Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Thank you all for your help!

And you started getting answers here in 30 minutes! I love this place.

everone helped so much on my 1919 S&W, my other one is a S&W model 10 Serial #c924818. any idea on date of mfg?

1966-1967.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Thanks, it looked much newer than the last.

Just a word of advice. If you want to ask about a gun not mentioned in the original post, please start a new thread about your particular gun rather than piggy backing on another thread.

__________________
Some collect art; I shoot it!

I have #308905 that shipped in November 1919

Robert

__________________
Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

Welcome to the Forum. Lots of guesses here, but not much to support what is being guessed. Let's start by explaining why we are saying what we are saying??

First to address is that the patent dates found on the top of the barrel of early Military & Police K frame revolvers is meant to convey some patented engineering changes of consequence and when it was patented. If you look at the date in front of the 1914 patent date, you will find a 1909 date that was the last date found on the 38 M&P, 3rd Change. So up to the introduction of the 38 M&P, 4th Change 1914 patent, the last patent would have been 1909. That same 1914 patent date would have been found past the end of WWII, around 1948.

S&W patented the first hammer block safety in 1914 and by 1915, 38 K frame revolver hammer block safeties had been incorporated into the manufacture of the 38 M&P. Your revolver is normally called a 38 Hand Ejector, (Military & Police), 4th Change by collectors.

Now as for the date of manufacture, there were typically no records kept on when a particular revolver was made, but rather S&W kept records on when guns left the factory. Inventory being high or low affected when a gun shipped since the factory did not ship in serial number order. There are various databases, some privately kept by members as well as the S&W Collectors Association member database kept for SWCA members. There are 38 M&P database entries that show lower serial numbers than yours shipped in 1920, but most shipped in 1919. Your note that the gun has matching serial numbered gold medallion stocks tells us that it most likely shipped prior to 1920, or extremely early that year when leftover stocks were being used up.

So no hard fast rules about patent dates or ship dates and only a factory letter will tell one for sure exactly when any particular S&W shipped. Hope that helps.

__________________
Gary
SWCA 2515