I am looking at finding out any information regarding the following:

38 S&W Top Break, 4" barrel, visible hammer, automatic shell extractor, with fixed sights and a strain screw in the front grip strap.

S 412XXX

Thanks to anyone/everyone with any information you can help with!

Folke

A few photos would help immensely.

Hey Folke, welcome to the Forum. Sounds like a run of the mill double
action 38. Blue or nickel? S&W made a whole lot of them.

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

It's nickel, and when I figure out how to post pictures, I will get them out. Thanks much!

A couple of pictures.....

Attached Images

	IMG_3983.jpg (224.7 KB, 41 views)
	IMG_3984.jpg (227.8 KB, 43 views)

OP, You will have to give us the correct serial number for the gun. None of the top-break guns has a prefix letter in the SN! Just guessing you mis-read a 5 as S? But that would make the gun a 5th change version, and your photos show an earlier model. The obvious difference is the barrel latch. If the SN is really 412xxx then it is a 4th change gun made between 1890 and 1909, toward the end of this range.

It does appear the gun is a .38 Safety though, but in photos the .32 and .38 caliber guns can be hard to tell the difference and you didn't say what caliber it is. These guns were catalogued by S&W from 1880 clear until 1940.

It has just a 6 digit serial number the "S" was just my notation for serial number (sorry for any confusion). I believe it's a 38 caliber, due to the original ammunition I received with the firearm.

Thank you everyone for the information you have provided. It is so nice to see people helping people.

Folke

Appears to be a .38, Double Action, 4th Model (issue, change), 4"-barrel, nickel finish. Factory .38 S&W ammo (not .38 Special or Buffalo Bore) is often difficult to locate but should be fine to shoot in your handgun.

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Mike Maher #283