.38 Special HELP!!!

[Buckfever4life]

I posted this in another section, I am unsure where it needs to be.

Hello all, I recently acquired a S&W 38 Special pistol on a trade. I do not know nothing about the gun, nor do i know what Ive got. I will post some pics below for review, sorry for the quality, they are taken with my Blackberry.

The pistol is fully engraved even under trigger guard and looks awesome. The # on the frame under cylinder says "8", I am use to seeing a model # like 29-1 or 66-1. The S&W logo is on the right side of the frame. The sights are adjustable with a small screwdriver. The front sight is ramped and grooved. The trigger is grooved as well. Its a 6 shot. The #'s match and the barrel is pinned but cylinder is not recessed. Can you give me an approx value on this piece? Is this a 3 or 4 screw model? I have about $400 in this pistol.

The rust/dirt that shows up on camera is not visible with the naked eye.

Can you give me an approx value on this piece?

Thanks in advance

Any/all help/information is greatly appreciated

 

[SFCHAINLEY]

ENGRAVED REVOLVER

I have no idea about value but I like it. If you decide to sell put me first. Thanks Joe.

 

[Texas Star]

This is an easy one: you have a Combat Masterpiece, made before Model numbers were assigned, in 1957. The hammer dates it from 1949 (date of introduction) and the mid- 1950s, whe the hammer style changed. I call this the squiggle hammer; some call it the fishhook one.

None of the S&W .38's have recessed chambers. That was only on Magnums and .22's. There wasn't enough pressure in other ammo to make this a desirable safety feature. Actually, given the quality of modern brass cases, not even .357's need recessing, so the feature was dropped. .22's are another matter and may well still be recessed. I haven't looked seriously at an S&W .22 in years.

Your gun was perhaps the property of a diplomat or military person, as the ivory (?) grips seem to have been carved in the Orient, and the engraving looks more American. May have been done in Germany? Won't rule out an Oriental engraver, but the style is intended to please American eyes. German and Austrian engravers tend more toward relief engraving, with acorns and whatnot. Italian engraving is also usually more baroque, often very ornate.

This is a good gun, once used by the USAF and many civilian police forces, including that of Los Angeles and Dallas. It is basically the old M&P .38, but with a tapered, heavier barrel and target sights.

In view of it's being so old, I'd hesitate to fire much Plus P ammo, but it won't blow up if you have to shoot a few. Will shoot loose sooner if you fire a lot of it, and the factory doesn't sanction using Plus P in guns not having a model number marked on the frame. (This became Model 15 in 1957.)

For the sum mentioned, you got a good deal, assuming that the engraver didn't soften the steel wthout hardening it properly thereafter. Probably, some other member can tell you more about that.
A factory letter will let you know if the engraving was done at S&W. That would be very desirable to know.

I didn't notice any rust at a glance, but put some Break-Free CLP on a pipe cleaner and swab all the hard to reach crevices, like along the rear sight base. The sight screw looks quite dry.

T-Star

P.S. Use that oil-laden pipe cleaner all around the rear sight. I think that stuff on it is just dirt. But you need to clean that area and oil the gun.
P.P.S. The serial number on the butt is offset, like the butt was meant to be drilled for a lanyard ring/swivel. The frame may date from the war or some other military order, but I think the topstrap being cut for the adjustable rear sight rules that out. Not sure.

 

[Jim Watson]

The illustrated revolver is a Combat Masterpiece made before they assigned model numbers in 1957-58. Some would call it a "pre-model 15" but I won't because I like the fine old names.

It is a five-screw version. There is another sideplate screw under the grip panel and the cylinder stop plunger screw in front of the trigger guard counts.

I won't guess a dollar value but doubt you got hurt at $400.
The engraving is extensive in coverage but not first class work.
I would not be surprised if it were Japanese work, by somebody who had seen American styles.
You could get such work done cheaply in the defeated Axis countries for a good while after the war.

 

[Buckfever4life]

Thanks for the information...Do you think the grips are indeed Ivory? Would this be a good gun to send the info to S&W for research? Would it help the value? I am wanting an insurance value on this gun.

 

[sw44spl]

very nice good trade .

 

[MP1983]

by the serial number it dates to 1951....a letter to identify where it was shipped and when is worth th fifty bucks IMO since you don't have too much in it already and it always increases the value for collector types and if it went to a military base that would help support some of the theories in this thread about it's history, I've seen Smith's that letter to Okinowa...

my guess is the grips are ivory...could be some sort of bone though, but in the 50's ivory would have been easy to obtain

google a place called Collector's Firearms in Houston, they have lots of old S&W's and Colt's w/ ivory that you could compare (from the pics)

 

[Jim Watson]

From a site on Oriental ivory art:

The tried and true method to test ivory is the famous "hot pin test". This method is used by beginners and experts alike. Because true ivory is virtually impenetrable with heat, this is a good test and will
not damage the item if it is "real". Take a pin, large needle, or better yet a large straightened out
safety pin, and heat the tip RED-HOT. Poke the item somewhere that it will not show too bad (I
use the netsuke hole). If it is real ivory, it will NOT penetrate and only leave a tiny tiny mark. If it is a resin, it will enter the item and produce a little crater around the hole. Now the big test… smell the "smoke" that comes of the test as you are poking it. If it is real ivory, it will have that unmistakable
smell of the dentist's office when you had that root canal (stomach turning). It smells like burning
tooth (because it IS). If it smells like burning plastic, it IS. Now, bone is also resistant to heat, but
not as much as ivory. The smell is less (or hardly at all) and is different than that of burning tooth

 

[Culina]

The grips look like Ivory Micarta, probably Westinghouse, real ivory would have more character by now adn the rings wouldn't be as consistant, but then what do I know.

 

[MP1983]

The grips look like Ivory Micarta, probably Westinghouse, real ivory would have more character by now adn the rings wouldn't be as consistant, but then what do I know.

Bucfever4life, Kurac makes a good point. If they are synthetic, you may want to think twice about the letter, it's a great old gun & makes a fine curio & probably a fine shooter, but value of the steel alone w/ unidentified engraving won't be likely to climb much w/ or w/o the letter if the grips are synthetic. If they are ivory on the otherhand, that has been nicely decorated, the grips themselves would be worth the value of the gun alone, and a letter in such a case wouldn't hurt...

I'd take them off & do the test described above on the inside portion of the grips to see what you got. I own 3 sets of ivory and the test sounds very reasonable.