Hello fellow Smithophiles. How was your day?

At the Miami fairgrounds show I found an early K-38 masterpiece.
Standard finish. Huge ampersands. Bright bore and chambers.
Great lockup, and grips number to the gun.

Here are the pictures. Taken as the evening light was about to escape
the horizon.

The ampersands just blow my mind,,,

Tapered rib and tapered light barrel, which I did not show clearly in my
pictures.

This will be a great gun to train my new shooters with.







































Good Luck
Allen Frame

Post Script: , . / -


Edited; 7/27/11 , Price check. This gun cost me $433. total. If it was a $500. gun with no room to bargain I probably would
have passed. But then I am cheap. Read that as cheap on SHOOTER grade 38s'.

This gun has no collector value. It is a shooter. It fits a niche for a 6in. barrel K frame 38 Special with a light barrel.

High condition guns of this early post-war era command a premium.

Remember;; there are three things to look for in a used Smith and Wesson revolver. These are;

1. Condition.
2. Condition.
And ,3. Condition.

If it is not in the high 90%% it is a shooter, and should be priced as such.

Thanks and Good Luck

Allen Frame

__________________
NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

That is a dandy. I sure like the tapered barrel and rib. Just something about them that turns my crank.

Ya done good.

Iggy, I guess as we get older our tastes tend to run in similar veins.
That's what I felt when I held it. " It turned my crank" (an official old guy saying)

Allen

__________________
NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

Allen,
Your pics sure do it justice compared to the dim light at the gun show.

I didn't notice this when looking at it by eye at the show, but it certainly stands out in your last picture -- any thoughts on what the butt was hammered against?

My guess is a previous owner hit nails. Maybe he was a farmer and needed to repair fence posts out on the back forty.

Very, very nice piece.

Rgds,
Fred

Good find. Nice gun and all matching. I love those standard K38's. Big Larry

Very nice light-barrel K-38. Congratulations.

As an aside, the K66000 - K69999 range include a bunch of narrow-rib K-32s as well. Well, "bunch" is an exaggeration, being that they were K-32s. But there were some.

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David Wilson

You got to be fairly old to understand the significance of that phrase.

To start a model T one had to ' turn a crank to turn the engine over.'

My 1937 Chevrolet coupe had a slot below the grille that mated with a
spud on the crankshft pulley to put in a long handle with an angle on it, to 'crank the engine' in case the battery or
starter died.

I am pretty old.

Allen Frame

__________________
NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

Nah, you just have to have an understanding of older cars and farm equipment along with a love of classic firearms. I'm neither old nor young anymore but a nice 1948 K-38 would 'turn my crank' any day.

By the way- my 1950's pre-10 has the same type of butt damage from being used as a tack or staple hammer.

NICE!!!! great find..

Did it come from anybody I know??

Sal

__________________
SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

love that 38 barrel for a gun thats 52 years old, its a stunning example. thanks for sharing and terrific that you snatched it out of the clutches of the vultures who prowl the shows to resell them for double the price

That indeed is whole lotta ampersand. Good score!

That is a great looking firearm. I wish that one of those would fit my small hands. I had a nice shooter-grade K22, and sold it because
it didn't fit me. That opened up the whole S&W world of j's, I;s, and
break-tops. Hope you find more!
TACC1

Very nice K-38. I was thinkin about starting a search for just such a hand-ejector; it only whets my appetite to get one. I picked up a 1950 (my birth year) K-22 about a month ago. Guess I'll be lookin for a K-38, circa 1950 now! Really good find and great pics in the low light. Thanks for sharing.

Just want to join the chorus by offering my congrats as well. Nice gun!
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

Allen, I'll bet that trying to crank start the 6 in that 37 chevy would have made you feel old even at 16.

As for that K-38, looks to be the perfect gun for traing a new shooter and one that an old shooter would find to be the perfect plinker.

That is sweet. Nice find.

Very nice, I do like the tapered barrel.

Rod

Haris, you old coot. The gun is 63 years old not 52.
That college edumacation must not have included arithmetic.

I an jazzed. I will shoot it Friday morning with my 'special' 148 grain wadcutters.
Maybe I'll even bring out the Giles 38 wadcutter gun and shoot it too.

Regards
Allen frame

__________________
NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

New poster asking questions about the value of just such a shooter.

Brought the thread back up with a ' Post Script' at the end of the original post.

Read it if you care to.

Allen Frame

__________________
NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

Allen,

A sweet ole' slim barrel that's for sure! Those ampersans are something all right and affectionately called pregnant, lazy or beer belly ampersands.

The nail marks on the butt? Always has to be wanted posters!

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Nice K38! I have one from 1950 that is THE most accurate handgun I have ever shot.



Unfortunately the previous owner had changed the original grips for a set of factory target stocks (I put the later magnas on it).