I just aquired an S&W 4" barreled .38 Special.
The serial number is K 164xxx
When I swing open the cylinder, where I'm used to seeing
the model number there is the number: 39xxx with a 5 below it and an "#" above it.

It has factory adjustable sights, a pinned barrel and 2 pins
near the muzzle below the front sight.

I was told it is a Model 15 but then it was identified as a "combat masterpiece".

Can anyone help with an ID on this gun and maybe a manufacture date?

Picture:

Smith15.jpg picture by vivapuccini - Photobucket

Gerry

Welcome to the forum. The box your gun came in would have had the words "Combat Masterpiece" on the top and end. That's what S&W called the four-inch barrel version of their K-38 Masterpiece model. Your gun probably shipped in 1952.

Model numbers were not set until 1957, but at that time the Combat Masterpiece became known also as the Model 15. So your gun could be called a Pre-15, because that's what it would have been called if it had come along five or six years later.

There are a couple of early four-inch K-38s from the late 1940s, but the Combat Masterpiece became a catalog entry and standard production model in 1950.

The "combat" designation just recognizes that a shorter barrel will clear leather faster than a long barrel, and the ramp front sight (rather than the patridge sight of the longer barrel target revolvers) would not snag on anything while you were getting it out.

Ignore the numbers on the frame under the yoke. Those are process control numbers that just kept some gun parts together until they got to the point of serial numbering.

__________________
David Wilson

Yours is a pre model 15 combat master piece. Diamond magna grips were deleted from this model in 1968. According to SCSW made in 1952. I have one just like it from 1954. A good shooter

__________________
S&W Accumulator

You bought a great revolver and excellent shooter.

Hello Puccini213
Congratulations on your very nice acquisition.
A pre-1957 Combat Masterpiece in top condition is a great find - and yours has period, if not original, grips on it.
Enjoy it. These are wonderful little guns. Good ones don't come along every day.
JP

WOW,
THanks for all the great info.

I got this revolver in a bulk trade with a fellow retiring to
Florida to go into one of those retirement communities that did not allow firearms. (very silly idea)

I'm a 1911 competition shooter and really don't have any
use for a revolver even though this is probably one of the finest I've ever seen.
I has an amazing double action feel and the trigger is superb.

Can anyone recommend a really good target load for it or a commercial ammo that works well?

Gerry

Welcome and you have a very nice gun.

If you reload, try a 148 grain hollow base wad cutter and 3.2 grains of either W-W 231 or HP-38. There is factory .38 Spl. match ammo out there too.

Thanks for the load tip.

I took the K38 to the range and bagged it up using RWS .38 match ammo.

At 25yds it shot a very respectable 3" group.
Pretty good for a 4 inch barrel.

Then I tried offhand and the results were miserable.

My results with a Match grade 1911 is usually 3" offhand but
for some reason I can't get used to the K38.

I tried a set of oversized wood target grips and it didn't help much.

Any advice on this?

I have seen a number of pictures of pre 1957 K38's.
Whats odd is that mine, a 1952 Combat masterpiece, has what looks like a pinned front sight.
There are 2 pins below the front sight assembly.

Was that done just for a ferw years or is it something special?

Normal for ramp/sight assembly in that era.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

How long did it take you to achieve a 3" group with your first 1911?

You shoot that CM a few more times and you might be surprised how much more accurate it will become. Or maybe you might be growing accustomed to it....... Nah.... The gun must be learning from you.

Anyway, you have one of the nicest revolvers around, get to know it and enjoy it.

I bought a brand new fresh out of the box Masterpiece in the late 70's....it came with the Diamond Magnas on it. Kept it 3 years or there abouts and traded it in for a SST Combat Magnum.

I might still have the grips here somewhere??? because I put the oversized Target grips ( is that what they were called???) on it. It was my wifes personal handgun and when I traded it off..it had been fire a TOTAL of FIFTY FIVE rounds!!!

How long did it take you to achieve a 3" group with your first 1911?
___________________________________________________
Well, my relationship with the 1911 began a log time ago.
Like many shooters , the first one I bought was a GI type and shot factory 230 ball out of it. Nothing special in the tight group area.

I kept buying up to better models. I had a RIA tactical and it shot good, then I got a Taurus PT1911 and that was really a good shooter with 230 ball. BUT, then I got aquainted with some experienced 1911 guys and started loading my own 200Gr. LSWC bullseye loads and things got better fast.

I scoured the net for shooting advice and especially started
shooting regularly with the old timers.

What really helped was that I managed to aquire a TOTALLY worked Colt from an old competitor who was giving up the sport and retiring to Florida. Got it for a song.

On the bags it shot a 2" group at 25yds so I knew it was better than me.
After a trip to the eye doctor and new glasses, some decent practice, I started getting the consistent 3" group.

The lesson I learned were:
1911's are inherently accurate.
230 ball is not for accuracy.
Ya gotta read and learn about how to shoot a 1911.
And most of all, don't waste your time and money trying to find the inexpensive 1911 that will shoot really tight groups,
Do the research and buy the really great gun FIRST.

And saying that, I have to warn you to be careful what you buy.
Morgaging your house to buy a Les Baer,Wilson, Ed Brown,etc,
might be one way to go but a really good used Colt or other fine gun and some bucks to a decent gunsmith will get you the same results or better, cheaper.

One of the best and most reasonable gunsmiths I ever met is George Fosnocht of Douglasville, PA (610-310-7526).
Former Marine, highly experience machinist and top 1911 competitor. I can recommend him highly.

The 1911 is more than a thing of beauty.
It is mechanical harmony in action.

They always leave you satisfied. More than I can say for some of the women in my life.

Good shooting.

Gerry