Need Info on .38 Safety Hammerless

[GSonnen]

I just aquired a Safety Hammerless:

.38 S&W, Blue, 3" barrel
Looks like a 4th model
Serial 1669XX

Can someone with a reference cite the date of production?

The grips are hard rubber and dark brown in color. The bluing is 95%. The grips looks so good, I am wondering if they are aftermarket replacements.

Can post pictures if anyone would like to see it.

[GSonnen]

I just aquired a Safety Hammerless:

.38 S&W, Blue, 3" barrel
Looks like a 4th model
Serial 1669XX

Can someone with a reference cite the date of production?

The grips are hard rubber and dark brown in color. The bluing is 95%. The grips looks so good, I am wondering if they are aftermarket replacements.

Can post pictures if anyone would like to see it.

[cflier]

GSonnen
I would really like to see pictures. Chances are your old Safety shipped in 1903 or 1904. The only way to know for sure is by sending $50 to the S&W historian, Roy Jinks, or by joining the S&WCA. They didn't necessarily ship them in numerical order. As an example, #1589xx shipped 9/1903, 1615xx 1/1903, 1649xx 7/1907 ? and 1776xx 6/1904. You might want to check your barrel length again, as the standard barrel length was 3 1/4 inches. to check to see if the grips are original carefully take off the right grip and check to see if the serial number is scratched on the inside. That is a good indicator to determine if they are original. Sometimes the assemblers used an awl to scratch the number, and sometimes it was penciled in. It is quite often hard to see or gone if it was done in pencil. I'm betting this will be the first of many.
Mark

[rayj101]

GSonnen, I was told, on this forum, that the old rubber grips can turn from black to brown due to UV and age. My .32 Safety Hammerless, shipped 1-1891, has one brownish grip while the other is still black. The grips are original (at least the one with the pencilled sn). Regards, Ray

[GSonnen]

The barrel is 3 1/4"
The right grip does have the serial number. It is very small and appears to be the same stamp (font and size) as the serial number on the frame and cylinder.