Thought SWAMBO would skin me alive for buying another gun.
But, like me, she fell in love with it the moment she saw it.
I almost had to pry it out of her hands just to take pictures.
She wouldn't allow it out of her sight long enough to set up lights and tripod, so these are handheld macros with less than optimal lighting.

S&W Regulation Police -5 Shot Revolver
S/N: 13xxx (Serial# on Tang, Cylinder and Barrel all match)
Caliber: .38 S&W
Barrel - Pinned 4"
Trigger: Light and smooth.
Finish: Some wear at tip of barrel and ring on cylinder. Otherwise it is nearly unblemished.
Grips: Might be original? Need to research. One grip has small chip (see picture)

Paid $250.00 for revolver, 158 rounds of Ammo, 51 fired cases and 4 Midway Ammo cases.

I've got a few S&W revolvers in .22LR, .38Spl, .357Mag and
45ACP. but this is my first in 38 S&W, so any info would be most appreciated.

Please excuse the lousy lighting, like I said SWAMBO wanted "HER" gun back.....

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

Nice old gun. I have several RPs but they are in .32. If the grips are correct that should be a 20s pistol. Is there a s/n penciled in on the back of the rt hand grip?
Larry

I like it a lot !!

Your wife has good taste

That should be an early 20's pistol. Looks like someone "adjusted the elevation" by taking a tad off the front sight. Bet it shoots to POA.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Nice looking heater! Also, you and your wife are a match made in Heaven. If she has fallen for the Reg. Police, let her try a Terrier.
She deserves it, and she Might even let you shoot it someday.
Congratulations on wife and shared tastes. TACC1

Yep. Second and third digit are hard to read, but the other three match, so I'm pretty sure they are the original stocks.

Thanks for the ID tip.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

Good catch! I hadn't noticed the flat top on the front sight until you mentioned it.

Whoever did it knew what they were doing. Had to get it under one of those circular florescent desk-lamps with a 3X magnifier in the middle to see the file marks and it was blued afterwards.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

I'm coming to appreciate the prewar .38 RP more and more, and I love to see evidence that others like these little guns as well.

I'm not sure there is a crisp date on which the non-medallion stocks began to appear on new production, but the serial number here sort of points to 1919-1920. Since these stocks appear to be original, they would be early examples of the non-medallion stocks configuration.

The rollmarks on the barrel look crisp and deep, and the barrel looks completely original apart from the adjusted sight height. The frame and one area of the cylinder look as though they may have been at least partially refinished, unless I am being misled by the lighting in the pics. There is some sideplate roughness and the screw holes look slightly dished.

Can't tell in the bright light, but are the hammer and trigger blued, or do they just have aged case coloring?

I'm not trying to be critical, but just to understand the gun. Even if parts have been refinished, so what? It is still an excellent shooter .38 RP that you got at an advantageous price. I'd have bought it too.

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David Wilson

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WWSSD?
What would Skeeter do?

Go ahead, be critical.
I'm trying to figure out the gun too.
This is my first I-Frame and first gun in .38 S&W caliber, so I don't know much about either yet, but I'm learning and like what I've learned so far.

All my guns are shooters, so a few dings and blemishes don't bother me, but the gun looks better in hand than in the pictures. (Lousy lighting, glare, overexposed areas, white balance. etc. etc. etc.)

There is some shallow surface pitting here and there, probably from fingerprints that weren't wiped off, but I can't find anywhere except the top of the front sight that has been refinished.

Trigger and hammer are blued, so it could be that the whole gun was refinished at some time in the distant past.

The sideplate roughness you see in the picture was mostly dirt. The pictures were taken as is when I got it. Most of it cleaned off, but there are still some dull spots.

Screw holes are dished about the same as those on my J,K,L and N frames. The screw head slots appear to be abused in the picture, but it's just reflections. I have my doubts if any of the screws, except the grip screw, has ever felt a screwdriver blade since they left the factory.

The elegant lady will get a good cleaning and thorough inspection, and then carried regularly and exercised at the range often by another elegant lady, my wife.

Now to come up with a good load for it, and scrounge up some more .38 S&W brass. Counting loaded ammo, I've only got 209 reloadable cases and SWAMBO will go through that in one trip to the range.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

Nice find! I've never seen a S&W with a patent date stamped on the bottom of the grips. Thanks for sharing the pics.

JohnnieB... Good! (You just know I had to say that! )

I agree with David that your RP is almost certainly a reblue... a very good one, but a reblue nonetheless. Starting with the amount of wear on the grips compared to the overall metal finish, then the blued trigger and hammer, the pitting on the sideplate (other than the dust) the thinning of the word "POLICE," and the dishing around the sideplate screws on that vintage of S&W all scream "refinish." That said, who cares? It is a great little revolver that many of us on this board (including especially me ) would be happy to have in our collections. IMHO, at least, that RP, along with the Terrier mentioned by TACC1, make up the pinnacle of S&W-ness for the .38 S&W round! Congratulations on a really great find.

Froggie

I'm about 99.99% sure she had a factory (or similar quality) facelift a few years ago and is still carrying her 90+ years well.

In addition to all the red flags pointed out by you and David, what convinced me was the front sight.
The rounded top has been filed flat, so there had to be bare metal showing, yet the top is blue and there is no visible variations in color from the top to the sides, to the barrel and the barrel itself, nor any demarcation lines (all edges rounded) under a 10x loupe.

Obviously, someone loved her enough in the past to spring for a professional re-bluing, so SWMBO and I feel obligated to continue giving her the TLC she deserves.

I can hardly wait to take her out to the range and she if she shoots as good as she looks.
None of my local ammo mongers have any .38 S&W, I don't trust any of the ammo that came with her and I don't have any .38 S&W dies yet.
There are 8 round that appear to be factory R-P 145 gr LRN, but I'm not 100% sure if they are or not.
There are 150+ reloads with 148 gr BBLWC over 2.5 gr of Bullseye according the the reloader's label, but that is about 15% hotter than max in my newer manuals and max in one of my older ones.
I'm going to break those down, fertilize the garden with the old powder and reload with about 2.1 of fresh BE when I get the dies.
I'd rather wait (impatiently) to shoot the old girl than run the risk of abusing her, so Yes, you can call me "JohnnibB ......... Good" since I am Being Good.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB