Plz ID this old gun for me thx.

[Muley Gil]

That sounds right based on what I remember. I recall the bore was not pitted but the outside is a little rough. The owner offered it to me at $265. Good deal or not so much? Also can it be refinished by S&W or will that kill what value it has?

Smith & Wesson doesn't work on anything that old. Shoot, they are turn down guns from the 1960s, so I hear.

 

[handejector]

It is a 38 M&P with a 5" barrel and a round butt.

Despite all of this, looking at the photo, the gun to my eye looks like an I frame in 32 long. The trigger guard doesn't look like a K frame shape and the cylinder height looks too short to be a K frame. Also the trigger and hammer look smaller than that of a K frame. Thus, the barrel would be a 4.25 in barrel. With the SN of 167XXX, it would be a model 1903 5th change.

WOOPS!
I think you nailed it.
So much for the quick glance and relying on the supplied data...........

32........38........what's the difference......

 

[old tanker]

Not always...

Smith & Wesson never chambered a revolver is 38 Long Colt. It was always a 38 Special way back to the Model 1899. 38 Long Colt will chamber in a 38 Special S&W revolver, but 38 Special is too long to chamber in a Colt revolver.

I have military Colt revolvers chambered in the US service cartridge. Their cylinders are bored straight through, that is no step. Not only will they accept a .38 Special cartridge, some .357 magnums will also chamber. (Considerable excitement might ensue from that mistake.)

The Officer's Model, first issue I have, also based on the New Army and Navy revolvers is chambered in .38 Special and has the step.

Since the .38 Colt cartridge was initially outside lubricated, a straight through cylinder makes sense. The Army changed to inside lubricated cartridges and reduced the bore size from .363 to .357 in 1903.

 

[glowe]

. . . Since the .38 Colt cartridge was initially outside lubricated, a straight through cylinder makes sense. The Army changed to inside lubricated cartridges and reduced the bore size from .363 to .357 in 1903.

Thanks for the information about early 38 Long Colts. What does one shoot today in those old bored through revolvers?? What I was trying to say about was that the 38 HE cylinders all had a stepped chamber that would take a 38 Special round, even if they were stamped 38 Mil or 38 US Service Ctge. I have unmolested 38 Mil. guns that 38 Special rounds will drop right in. Colts built after 1903 must have had a stepped chamber as well, so would that era revolver chamber a 38 Special?? The 38 Special brass is .13" longer and what I read is that you cannot chamber 38 Special rounds in a Colt, apparently after 1903??

 

[Absalom]

That sounds right based on what I remember. I recall the bore was not pitted but the outside is a little rough. The owner offered it to me at $265. Good deal or not so much? Also can it be refinished by S&W or will that kill what value it has?

Not only will S&W not refinish it, any refinish by someone who knows what they're doing, together with the $265 would cost you considerably more than just finding a much nicer identical model, all original; there are usually a few on Gunbroker. This was a fairly common model. And while a refinish might make the gun look nice, it would indeed, as you surmised, kill most of the remaining collector value (although that's not very high to begin with, due to its present condition and commonality).

If the stocks are pearl (impossible to tell from picture), they could be worth something, but they wouldn't be original as factory pearls should have S&W medallions.

 

[old tanker]

What does one shoot today in those old bored through revolvers??... The 38 Special brass is .13" longer and what I read is that you cannot chamber 38 Special rounds in a Colt, apparently after 1903??

The 1905 Army manual states that earlier model revolvers undergoing repairs needing a barrel replaced would have the .357 bore version installed. Military armorers did what they needed to do to keep stuff in service and did not much care what problems they might cause collectors with mismatch parts.

Later .38 Long Colt military cartridges used inside lubricated .357" bullets and longer cases. The original 1889 military .38 LC case had a length of 0.87" and an externally-lubricated heeled bullet with a 0.376" diameter. These "Old Style" .38 LC cartridges were not made by Frankford Arsenal after 1897. The "New Style" cartridge was manufactured at Frankford Arsenal starting ca. 1892-93, and had a 1.03" long case and an inside lubricated hollow base .357 lead bullet that expanded upon firing to fill the larger bores of the older Colt revolvers. The last known Frankford Arsenal .38 LC production was in March 1915. There were also .38 LC military cartridges made by commercial contractors, such as Peters, WRA, USCCo, Western, and Remington-UMC. The Army called the .38 LC cartridge simply the ".38 Revolver Ball Cartridge."

Cowboy shooters using .41 Colt have been pretty successful in loading heeled bullet ammo.

Shooting Heel

The Lyman 358160 was the 150 grain heel base bullet intended for the .38 Long Colt. The 358070 was the 150 grain 38 Long Colt Hollow Base mould. They are getting hard to find and expensive when you do.

 

[Hondo44]

Thanks for the information about early 38 Long Colts. What does one shoot today in those old bored through revolvers?? What I was trying to say about was that the 38 HE cylinders all had a stepped chamber that would take a 38 Special round, even if they were stamped 38 Mil or 38 US Service Ctge. I have unmolested 38 Mil. guns that 38 Special rounds will drop right in. Colts built after 1903 must have had a stepped chamber as well, so would that era revolver chamber a 38 Special?? The 38 Special brass is .13" longer and what I read is that you cannot chamber 38 Special rounds in a Colt, apparently after 1903??

The 38 Colt cartridge with the inside lubricated bullet uses a hollow base bullet to expand and shoot accurately in the older large bored barrels for the old heeled bullets. It's not so much that the hollow base bullets work, but how well they work!

I have a 1906 Colt SAA; barrel stamped 38 Colt, the cyl chambers have a step, but they do chamber 38 Specials. The Colt books indicate this was fairly standard for all Colt revolvers after the change to the smaller barrel bore dimension for the 38 Colt with the inside lubricated bullet in 1903.