So I go into a shop today and they have a S&W marked model 11 which I am not familiar with. 38 special, barrel marked that way, 1 line address which indicated pre war, hammer looks pre war, stocks do not, reminds me of a pre 14. I was able to snap a couple of bad pics, is this a parts gun or something else. The story is that it was brought in by a woman, it was her fathers gun that sat in a closet for decades, any insight would help.

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It appears to be an N frame .38/44 Outdoorsman from just after WW II, called a “transitional” model due to a mixture of pre- and post-war features. Looks to be in nice shape.

Not a model 11, but in the absence of a model stamping not the easiest gun to ID, and bigger than the K-38 Masterpiece..

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Worth the money? The bluing is very nice.

The pictures indicate good condition...If it passed inspection at that price, it would have left the shop with me......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

I would imagine the shop did a cursory internet search to get as close as they could. Finish looks nice and I would assume grips are original?

I wouldn't give $1K for it, but the shop may not be too far off in this day and age.

Since they don’t seem to know what it is, they might bite at a $750 offer. Good luck!

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Appreciate the help guys

An early postwar .38/44 Outdoorsman's in good shape with original stocks (apparently). I actually don't think $1K is a bad price at all. These don't come around every day. But, yes. Make an offer.

I suspect the "Model 11" came from something stamped in the yoke cut. Obviously, the shop management knows little about S&W revolvers.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Maybe, but they missed it by two miles! The Model 11 had fixed sights and was chambered for the .38 S&W, not the .38 Special. Plus, no shrouded barrel.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Going to buy it, they are working with me a bit. I can’t pick it up until the 15th because of the cities pawn laws. I snapped a few more pics that I’ll post.

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Nice. $350?

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

I paid $900 otd

They are letting me take it home today

We have a winner!......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

Well worth $1000.
What did you pay?

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Paid $900 otd

I guess it all depends on who's doing the selling---and how----and where---and of course what.

Mine (#S93429) went for $1625 during the liquidation of my collection by David Carroll during the last three years ending a year ago.

I knew there was a reason I asked him to tend to that!

Ralph Tremaine

When these guns come off of pawn, these shops are often staffed by guys that will just do a quick search and then label it for sale.

When they have a $300 pawn ticket, everything above that is profit.

Several years ago I bought a Japanese Type 2 paratrooper rifle, mummed and matching from a pawn shop... Price was $95. I sold it for $2000 and that was 20 years ago.

The listing was for "old Jap rifle caliber unknown".

Ralph, my above Japanese rifle buy was at a pawn shop in Dayton Tennessee, just south of Pikeville... I grew up around Pikeville and north.

The pawn shop was owned by "Sheriff Leon Sneed" at the time. I worked for Tennessee Department of Transportation then as a construction inspector on the Highway 60 project from Dayton to the Tennessee River.

I reckon it's been a while since you were in the neighborhood, so you get a pass on the geography.

Dayton is due east of Pikeville---over the mountain as they say. Dunlap, on the other hand, is due south---about the same distance for both. Both are more significant communities than Pikeville---you can tell because both of them have Walmart stores---and Pikeville doesn't---and very likely never will! Whether this is a curse or a blessing depends on where you came from. Coming from St.Louis/Philadelphia/Chicago, it's a decided BLESSING---BIG TIME!!!

And as for the Highway 60 Project, you and your TDOT folks did a fine piece of work!!---or was that Highway 30? Whatever, they're both fine pieces of work!

Ralph Tremaine

Yeah, well I know the "geography" quite well as I grew up there and graduated high school from there and retired from the State Of Tennessee. So yeah....

Dayton and Pikeville were both south to me because I came down Hwy 127S into Pikeville and then across Dayton Mountain from Crossville. I didn't live in Griffey or Cagle or those areas. I was north of there.

I spent hundreds of hours as a young man on Hinch Mountain, Black Mountain, (Crab Orchard), and the other side and really the entire Walden's Ridge all the way to the old strip mines on Luminary....

I was just explaining to my wife the other day about the coal mines on Cagle operated by Skyline Coal Company in the mid 1980's...That dragline could carry dozens of tons in one grab. I spent many hours in Dunlap as I had a really good friend that lived there. His family was from South Pittsburg.

Both the highway 30 project and the highway 60 project were multi million dollar bridges. As you know, both replaced ferries that went to Meigs County. I never worked on the Highway 30 project, only Highway 60...I did construction inspection on a small bridge there is dayton and then compaction inspection on the highway for about two years.

Great score. Congratulations! You absolutely did NOT get hurt on the price you paid.

The transitional .38/44 Target is one of my favorite S&W Models. I have S70130 (shipped September 1946) and S70405 (shipped July 1946). The postwar transitional .38/44 targets are thought to be serialized only between S69300 and S72000, a range that may include other postwar transitional N-frames in different calibers and configurations.

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David Wilson

On the 38 Caliber N frame. Some people would have the chamber bored out to accept 357 Magnum ammo.

School me...why no recessed cylinder?

.38/44's were chambered for .38 Special...Only the Magnums and rimfires were ever produced with recessed cylinders......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

Wasn't a Model 11 a Model 10 in .38 S&W caliber for India ?

The model 11 is a model stamped British Service Revolver in .38 S & W, with the standard changes of later guns. It was made for export markets primarily, and not in large numbers, so the available pool in the USA is pretty small.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Nice snag. Well worth it.

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"Free dirt, you dig."

With the kind of luck you are having Breadman you should buy a pocket full of lotto tickets. Nice revolver!!