The other day I discovered a lovely Smith & Wesson, Model 1905, 4th Change, .38 Special revolver at a local gun shop here in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a four inch barrel, blued finish, with matching numbers on the frame, cylinder and barrel. I plan on mailing Roy Jinks for a factory letter later today. In the meanwhile, I have two question to ask here.

(1) The serial number on this particular revolver is 390062. What year was it manufactured? I'm guessing the 1920's.

(2) Also, there are two small brass pins, maybe 1/16 or 3/32 of an inch in diameter, one on each of the walnut grips at the butt near the serial number. They are rounded off and have obviously been there for decades. I have not removed the grips yet, but only cleaned the revolver. I have no idea what these pins were for. The serial number is intact, there is no evidence of a lanyard ring, and besides that would be on the butt of the gun itself, not the grips. Any idea what these could have been for? The grips, while fairly well used, are solid with no cracks and are period correct to the gun, meaning they most likely date to the early-to-mid 1920's or so I would estimate. I have no clue as to why these two small pins, which extrude ever so slightly from the wood, represent. It looks like whatever they were for at the time, it was either removed or ground off. There is no indication of a depression in the wood, so I cannot say if anything was ever there or not.

Any information on the above questions would be most appreciated.

The gun should be about 1921.

Hard to say much about the pins in the grips, without seeing a
picture. Could have been some kind of a butt plate, that was pinned
to the grips.

Mike Priwer

"Hard to say much about the pins in the grips, without seeing a picture. Could have been some kind of a butt plate, that was pinned to the grips."

That was my first thought, but I cannot see any kind of impression left on the grips, they're not discolored, nothing to indicate anything ever covered that portion of the grips. That's what makes the pins so mysterious. I can't see where they do anything. Other than they're there. Really strange. Hopefully when I get the factory letter it will indicate the shipping location and perhaps that might explain it better, i.e. if it was to a police department or something maybe those pins held on some type of inventory number or identification to a specific unit or something similar. But right now I have no idea what that could have been used for.

Thanks for your thoughts however. I am inclined to think the same thing.

Your explanation of a name plate / # plate of some sort makes sense. Send a pic and keep us posted

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