38 M&P Ship Date?

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Asking for a friend. He just picked up a 38 M&P Model of 1905, 4th Change.

He says the SN is 862xxx.

Can anybody hazard a guess about when it shipped?

Thanks.

 

[JP@AK]

If there isn't a letter S in front of that number on the butt, it is from 1941. With an S prefix, it probably shipped in January or February, 1947.

Can you post pictures, including one that shows the butt?

 

[DWalt]

Caliber stamping on barrel? Proof markings? Could be British military. And it is not a Model of 1905.

 

[glowe]

Depends on whether you follow collector speak or factory documentation. McHenry, Roper, Jinks, and Neal named the K frames made right up to 1942 - 38 Hand Ejector Military & Police Model 1905, 4th Change, so the OP is not wrong. Factory changed the name of these K frame revolvers several times up to the point when they simply named them Military & Police without notice to round or square butt designs. If the gun is pre-WWII, serial number 852,000 era guns were shipped in 1941. Databases show that K frames made from around 740,000 to 890,000 shipped in 1941 and went to many different entities as well as some commercial purchases as well. Destinations included law enforcement agencies, US Distributors, Britain, DSC, US Army, US Navy, etc.