Regulation Police 38 S&W

smitholdtimer · #1 10-10-2011, 11:41 PM

Normally these are just interesting little jewels from the gun maker's art but I found one blue, with a four digit serial number, 367X and has the stocks with brass medallions that are properly numbered to the gun. The strange part is the 3 15/16" barrel that looks uncrowned. Has anyone ever seen a barrel with the business end flat as opposed to rounded on its end? No, not able to show photos, sorry!

DCWilson · #2 10-11-2011, 12:16 AM

Sam, the .38 RPs I have available to look at all have properly crowned muzzles.

The barrels on the .38 RP are supposed to be an exact four inches. I wonder if yours suffered a bad muzzle gouge that someone fixed with a flat file, leaving a slightly short barrel and flat surface.

Hondo44 · #3 10-11-2011, 03:27 AM

I think David is right, sounds like someone trued up a gouge or dent on the muzzle. Is the muzzle very close to the front of the sight base? If there's room I'd re-crown it and touch up with cold blue. That's a very early gun, 1st produced in 1917, it's probably a 1st year gun. The medallions are sunken slightly below the level of the wood, right? Those are actually gold plated.

smitholdtimer · #4 10-11-2011, 08:39 AM

Well you guys are the experts and I'm sure there is an explanation. There is a slight bit of room before the sight will be involved in any machine work on the end of the barrel. My problem with this theory is that there are no tool or file marks that "Buba" left after he did his work. I'll get my magnifier out later this morning after some running I have to do and inspect it more carefully. I appreciate the replies and the suggestions. PS, Hondo44 the medallions are sunken, gold plated, huh? Never was aware of that, is that true of all the gold medallions on all the frame sizes? Edited 11:15 AM: Upon further examination with much magnification you both are correct in your assessment of the lack of a crown on the barrel. If I were to speculate on the reason for the shortened barrel I would think the revolver may have been dropped on its barrel and had damage on the top just under the front sight and a little to the right looking from the hammer down the barrel. There remains some visible sign of a dent on the outer edge (the barrel continues to be round) but the cut is a clean cut made using something with a with extremely fine teeth. I think someone knew enough about what they were doing to avoid ruining the revolver but not enough to finish the crowning or just never went back to finish the job. Thank you both for the very helpful information.

Hondo44 · #5 10-11-2011, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smitholdtimer

PS, Hondo44 the medallions are sunken, gold plated, huh? Never was aware of that, is that true of all the gold medallions on all the frame sizes?

Yes all the 'sunken' or recessed medallions used from c. 1910 to c. 1920 on all size frames were gold plated or 'flashed' as some say.