38 Double Action 4th Model Box

[Boulder350]

Here is an uncommon barrel length box for a DA revolver. The box serial number is 203 off from the revolver. The box serial number on the box looks like 331,025 to me. Have not sent in for a letter on the revolver to see how it originaly left the factory.

The serial number of gun and box are classified as antique. Is the leaflet pre 1898? Sounds like it referes to smokeless powder.

[glowe]

The insert does not refer to smokeless powder, but rather to a bullet with grease and a plunger inside. The theory was that as the gun was fired, the grease would be pushed out by the plunger in the base of the bullet and exit holes near the head of the bullet. I rarely see boxes of this type anywhere and suspect that they did not last long. The insert would have been appropriate for the black powder era only and I found the details in a 1903 S&W Catalog.

No explanation as to why the serial numbers are off by by an odd number, but here is my guess. A customer walks into a hardware store in the mid-1890s. He wants to look at a few guns and looks over a few 38 DAs. He buys something, or not, and the store clerk puts the guns back in the boxes, but makes a mistake with a couple of 5" guns. No big deal, since the guns would have been 5" or they would not have fit in the boxes.

As for the gun, roughly 20% of the 38 DAs listed in the SWCA database are 5", so a great many were made. By the way, the 3 1/4" barrel made up the largest segment with about 40% of total production of 3rd, 4th, and 5th Models.

The finish looks original, except for something very strange that has happened to the cylinder. It obviously shows copper under-plate, but the nickel appears to have just simply disappeared??

[Boulder350]

Thanks for the info Gary. Never heard of that style bullet, very interesting.

The cylinder is actually gold washed with the nickel showing through in worn areas.

[glowe]

Originally Posted by Boulder350

. . . The cylinder is actually gold washed with the nickel showing through in warn areas.

That makes sense, since the color was off for copper. Personally, I would try to figure out a way to remove the wash, since the gun is in very nice condition. Not familiar with how to do that, but I do know the wash is microscopically thin and my guess is that a fine metal polish would clean it up, as well as putting the original shine back on all the nickel plating on the gun. Stock medallions from the 1910s had a gold wash that could almost be removed by rubbing it too hard with a cleaning cloth. No, I do not think it is factory, but hope that others would comment on the cylinder wash before you do any work on it.