38 S&W Special CTG Revolver

[Kizer]

I was wondering if I could get some info on this revolver. My grandfather has had this for a few years. He got it from his sister who gave it to him after her husband passed away. He was a gun collector of sorts. The story behind this is that it was once a police officers revolver. He thought it came from Chicago PD many years ago.

We were both curious about the production date of the revolver. There are a few dates stamped onto it but I honestly have no clue what im looking at.

Im not really a revolver guy, I carry M&P9 FS so this is kinda new to me.

I posted a few pics below to try and help. Just looking for general knowledge and cool info on it. It still shoots great.

Top of barrel reads:

Smith & Wesson Springfield Mass. U.S.A. Pat'd Mar.27.94
May21.95.Aug.4.96.Dec.22.96.Oct.9.01.Dec.17.01.Feb.6.06

Along side of barrel says: 38 S&W Special CTG

Bottom of grip, inside cylinder, and bottom of barrel all read number:109909

Inside where the cylinder rests is another number that reads: 38395

 

[HKSmith]

Your revolver is a S&W .38 Military and Police, Model of 1905, 2nd change. These were manufactured from 1906-1909 and your gun is about in the middle of the serial number range for this model. The .38 M&P has been in almost continuous production since 1899 and is still being manufactured. It is one of the quintessential police revolvers of the 20th century and should be an excellent shooter if it's in good mechanical condition. I would only use standard velocity lead bullet .38 Special ammo, as your gun was produced before S&W heat treated their cylinders.

 

[Kizer]

Awesome. Thank you! Yeah it still shoots good.

 

[DWalt]

The closest SN on my list to yours is 1108xx which shipped in 4/1908. Please recognize that yours may have shipped earlier or later than that, as S&W did not ship in strict serial number order. You would have to order a factory letter ($50) to get an exact shipping date. But I suspect you probably don't care that much about having an exact date.

38395 is simply a parts assembly matching number, and it has no significance.

 

[glowe]

Actually, your revolver is a round butt, so until the early teens, it was called a Model 1902, while the square butt example was called the Model 1905. Here is a page from a 1907 S&W Catalog. They sold for $15.00 in 1907.

 

[DWalt]

That 1902 - 1905 model distinction lasted until 1914 or thereabouts. Then they both began to be referred to in S&W advertising as the Military and Police (M&P) Model, either round butt or square butt. But many collectors continue use the 1902 and 1905 nomenclature to refer to all such revolvers made until WWII. There were actually only a very few minor changes made in the M&P line throughout the 1914-1941 period, such as the grip appearance.

 

[Hdhic]

I like the old holster almost as much as the S&W. Any brand on it.
Hdhic aka Cliff

 

[Art Doc]

Does S&W still manufacture the CTG model?

 

[gaucho1]

Does S&W still manufacture the CTG model?

Yes.................................................................

 

[Peak53]

Methinks SP is being a tad sarcastic, here. This thing gets kicked around a lot on the Forum. The abbreviation CTG simply stands for cartridge and is often confused as part of a model name or something. In this case, it just designates the cartridge the gun is chambered for as .38 Special

 

[Kizer]

I like the old holster almost as much as the S&W. Any brand on it.
Hdhic aka Cliff

Only thing it says is: Hand Made by Viking Mexico 44