I have a 38 S&W Special Ctg that was given to me after my father died in 1991. He was a Mining Geologist in charge of exploration of the western US. He used the revolver as his personal sidearm when in the "bush." He was also a fighter pilot with the Army Air Corp in WWII. My family always told me that this was Dad's service revolver from when he entered the USAAC in 1939. I joined the forum in hopes of understanding this revolver. On the left side of the receiver, I only see 3-screws. On the butt of the revolver is the serial number: C 565XX. The left side barrel has the stamp, 38 S&W Special CTG. A few years ago, I got into an argument with a guy at work who told me that there was no way this was a S&W revolver, because the serial number didn't have enough digits in it.

How old is this revolver?

Thanks,
Crutch

my guess is a late '40's m&p pre model 10.

can you take some pics?

Hi Crutch:

Welcome to the forum. For me, it is almost impossible to say what you do or do not have based upon your description. I strongly suggest providing photos of the piece for a more definitive answer. One thing I will tell you from experience is "never say never" when dealing with S&W products. As soon as some "expert" tells you nope, never happened, you'll get (often multiple) responses with photos and documentation proving him wrong. If possible, (carefully) remove the grips and provide as detailed photos as possible as this could really help in identifying your pistol.

Best of luck,

Dave

Welcome to the forum.

Your "friend" speaks with forked tongue. The "C" series of serial numbers began 1948 at C1 and went to C 999999 in 1967. So the possibility of a C followed 5 digits is totally possible. The block from C 1 to C 223998 encompasses 1948 to 1951 so I can't give you an exact birthday, but it would most likely be late 1948 or early 1949 if I were to take a WAG.

This was the second block of one million numbers used after the no letter prefix, the V prefix, the SV prefix and the "S" series had been used up. (not to be confused with S serialed "N" frame guns)

S&W then went on to use the "D" prefix serial numbers from 1968 to 1977 when they hit D 999999.

These are K frame revolvers including the model 10, 11,12 and 45 to name a few. Model numbers were assigned to S&W's after 1957 or there abouts.

Your gun should be referred to as the .38 military and police (postwar)

__________________
James Redfield
LM #497

ABQCrutch, welcome. My wife's great-uncle (from NM) won a Silver Star as a fighter pilot in the USAAC in WWII. If you're a neighbor here in Albuquerque, send me a private message or an email and I'll give you my phone number - you can give a call and I can sit down with The Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson Firearms, Third Edition, and we can figure out what you have over the phone.

And, so you'll know how to describe the gun better in future, when you say "I have a .38 S&W Special CTG", you're saying "I have a .38 S&W Special cartridge", you're not giving a description of the gun itself beyond its caliber.
Denis