1905 4th Change M&P questions

[Matt G]

Hi folks,

I'm dipping into an area in which I am not very familiar, Pre-War S&W revolvers. I have quite a few 1960's through 1990's Smiths, but know little about the earlier guns.

I met with a local club member that is looking for a CCW gun yesterday. He is a precious metals dealer and wants a bit of comfort. He brought along his "house gun," a pretty nice S&W M&P that he inherited from his Father (and was possibly purchased originally by his GrandFather). Not being too familiar with pre-war examples, I checked it over and gave it a quick cleaning (it seemed a bit "gummy" and the bore needed a few passes with a Bore Snake). It has a very nice bore and cleaned up well. The action seems good (after cleaning).

I counted four screws, but, being a pre-war novice, forgot to look at the front of the trigger guard for the fifth screw. The gun is a blued fixed sight square butt and has a six inch barrel. It retains virtually all the original finish, with very light wear at the right side of the muzzle, but what appears to be a rust defect or gouge at the tip of the muzzle on the left side (I didn't have any sort of magnification with me).

The gun is serial no. 4555**, which the S&W book indicates to me a M&P Model of 1905 4th change and a manufacture date of somewhere between 1915 and 1942?

Can anyone provide a more specific year?

Also, the S&W guide appears to indicate that the square butt fixed sight gun is "scare." Is this true and will that actually increase the value exponentially?

TIA,

Matt

BTW, he decided on a Model 36 for his CCW and wnated to buy mine (not for sale).

 

[fyimo]

I owned a M&P 1905 4th change with sqare butt and fixed sights made in 1918 and I sold it recently for $225 so I don't think unless I'm missing something that they are worth a lot more. The blue book gives them a high value but unless they are pristine I don't see them going for big bucks. I bought mine at the Tulsa Gun Show for $300 but it had a nice set of S&W combat grips on it which I sold for $125 and when I sold it I had magna's on it.

 

[mikepriwer]

The gun is about 1923.

That comment in the SCSW is an acknowledged error. There is
absolutely no shortage of square-butt 1905 4th changes.

Later, Mike Priwer

 

[Tin]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was to understand the scarcity was referring to round but versions.... Can anyone clarify the point for me..???? TIN..

 

[mikepriwer]

TIN

The reference was for square butts, but it was totally wrong. It had
nothing to do with round butts - it was just an erroneous statement.

There are, probably, fewer round butts in the later production, than
square butt, but I've never seen any numbers as to production of
the two butt configuration.

The round-butt K-frame is not only the longest-running model of
any S&W, but , as of a few years ago, it is the only butt configuration
for a K-frame. Square butt configuration has been discontinued for
some years now.

If anything is scarce, it would be a round-butt target from the 1920's
to the 1940's . They are rarely seen.

Later, Mike Priwer