Pre-14 K-38 One line address. Pretty scarce gun.Confirmed.

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The 4 line address started in 1948-1949 and the break between those two years is around serial number K70,000. That means there were at least 50,000 or so Masterpiece revolvers made with MADE IN USA only stamping. I would not call that scarce.

You have a very nice example of a K38 Masterpiece and I think its excellent condition will bring you more value than the one line address. Only issue I have is that the stocks are from a later vintage gun, which started production in the early 1950s.
 
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"I would like to see a "one line" address gun with a serial number higher than K 30060."

You are probably correct. I have on my list several in the low K 31xxx range which are 4-liners.
 
Not a one liner, but an early K38 # K 75735, shipped 5-1949, to a company in Sacramento. 100% matching, in original numbered box, matching high horn stocks, no target accessories. It is in near unfired condition. Big Larry

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I track the single-line K-38s, and the highest serial number known to me is K25257. The lowest serial number I know on a four-line K-38 is K35184. Among dated guns, no single-line K-38 known to me shipped after May 1948. The earliest shipping date I have for a four-line gun is July 1948. The order to go to the four-line address block was issued in April 1948. The K-38 was first shipped in commercial quantities in February 1948.

I have 36 single-line K-38s on my list, three of which have not been observed but are known from factory records. Serial number clusters (approximate ranges, so don't take these as hard and fast numbers) are K4500-K4900 and K22700-K25300.

I estimate that of all Masterpiece production numbered below K30000, about 90 percent are K-22s and 10 percent are K-38s. It's possible for the K-38 segment to be smaller than that, but it is almost impossible for it to be larger based on the serial range constraints. There will be a few prototype and salesman sample K-32s as well, but not enough to matter.
 
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What I believe is very scarce for the early K38's is a LERK. I watched one sell on GB a couple of years ago for around 3K.
 
brigham33 said:
What I believe is very scarce for the early K38's is a LERK. I watched one sell on GB a couple of years ago for around 3K.
Click to expand...

With one exception in the K23xxx range, all LERK K-38s are numbered below K4750. There are six known, and four documented but unobserved low-number guns could be LERKs. There are also five non-LERK K-38s with serial numbers below K4900.

My current estimate is that only 150-200 K-38s were manufactured with the large ejector rod knob.
 
Manufacturing serial numbers in the 1948 Masterpiece line ran from K18,732 to K73121. Most estimates found on the conversion of K frames from one line to four line was a window from 1948 - 1949. David has some solid numbers, but if you use a linear extrapolation of the production numbers, June production should have ended at 46,000.

Could the change have come in mid-1948, absolutely and I think this thread sheds a more precise transition timeline than my captured notes on the subject.

If we state the change had to occur between between 30,000 and 40,000 and expect some overlap and transition, that would fit into the expected production run quite nicely. Besides, 30,000 is still a respectable production and therefore cannot be considered scarce. Are they scarce in the marketplace? Yes . . . because all the members here have them in their collection and aren't selling.:D
 
i would like to see a One line address gun above K-30060. That would bust my bubble in thinking I have the highest numbered One liner out there. Please post it if you have it.
 
How many K38s they made in 1948 under K300xx seems would be a real guess to me.

You would have to take in account of the demand for the k22. Maybe a couple K32s if they started yet.

Many of us follow certain guns for serial numbers and i think plenty of us find the early K38 interesting.

I have noticed no three digit guns as of yet.
A dozen or so of four digit guns mostly in the 4xxx range
A very small amount of five digits until you get to the 210xx range.
At the Forty thousand range you really see a huge jump in these 1948 k38s.

I wouldn't be be surprised if the actual number of one line K 38s were under 1500 guns. Of coarse i would be guessing also.
 
Shootist Bob

If you had the highest numbered one line K-38, you would probably treat it as a safe queen. Be happy you can shoot it without worrying about lowering the collector value. I bought a Colt Officers Model target revolver in .32 New Police, and never shot it because there were less than 800 made. I wound up selling it to a friend for $800, which was half the Blue Book value at the time. It was worth $3,600 in the last Blue Book I checked. That doesn't stop my friend from shooting it frequently.
 
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