I purchased this from a friend who was needing money. I have been looking at your forum and I am pretty sure I am posting in the right spot. He claims it was his Grandfathers gun. Can anyone tell me the age of this gun and the approximate value. The serial number starts with S. (S876XXX) It has 38 S&W special CTG on the right side of the gun. The number on cylinder also matches the serial number on the bottom of the butt. It is very "chrome" looking to me with very few scratches. The grips are stag type with the name Franzite on them. Thanks for your time!

Welcome to the forum

What you have is a very bad (sorry) bumper chromed early post-war M&P. The S serial number was used until the transition to the current short action when the SN prefix changed to a C

I would put it in the late 40's and hope your friend didnt owe much more than $100

Lackey,
What you have there is a Pre-model 10 made between 1945-1948 roughly. I can't tell from the picture but I'm guessing it's got an aftermarket chrome or high polish nickel job on it. It looks like the hammer and trigger are plated as well, if they are then it's certainly aftermarket because they should be case colored. If it indeed is a non factory finish then you are looking at a $150 to $200 gun. If you look around the screws on the side plate they look like they are rounded out from over polishing and it looks like the S&W trademark on the plate is hard to make out. Also, the fit of the side plate to the frame should be an almost if not perfect fit with square sides. Try to get some better pictures of the gun from various angels. As for the grips, Franzite has been making aftermarket grips for ages and they are nearly worthless. The gun should have came with Diamond Magnas. It should be a good shooter but not worth much more than that unless my eyes are deceiving me and it's the original finish.

Bill

(Edited to add that Curtis was typing the same time as I was.)

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US Marine, 16 years+

I will post more pics soon. I took these with my phone and they aren't very good as you can tell. I can see the S&W emblem perfect when I am looking at it.

what do it say on top of barrel ? is it a 1902 ? 1905 ?

This is a post-WW2 gun. Probably 1947 or so. Not worth much, given the bad refinishing, etc.

Later, Mike Priwer

I posted some new pictures with a regular camera. As you can see, it's not as bad as original pics. I tried some without flash also because it is so shiny the flash makes it look bad. Thanks again!