DOM 38 DA help please

[Geezer7]

Dear Forum Family

Any help dating my 38 DA closer than 1895-1909 would be greatly appreciated:

--38 Double Action 4th Model Top Break, 3.25” bbl, .38S&W
--SN: 423552 on butt/cylinder/und bbl latch
--Squared trigger guard; 5-shot fluted cyl; diamond black rubber grips w/top S&W logo
--Stamped on bbl rib: “Smith & Wesson Springfield Mass. U.S.A./Pat’s May 13,1880 Jan 6, 1889 Apr 9, 1889”; stamped on bbl left side: “38 S&W Ctg.”

Thanks

 

[BMur]

Post 1900

Looks to me based on a Flaydermans reference to be in about the 1905 time frame. Based solely on serial number reference and averaging an even number produced per year.

Murph

 

[DWalt]

Serial # 382,002 is considered the breakpoint of .38 DA production to be considered an antique (pre-1899). So yours is definitely later and not legally an antique.

 

[Geezer7]

Thank you, gentlemen!

 

[glowe]

Don't forget that dates documented for S&Ws are almost always ship dates and not manufacture dates. Some logs do exist that show production dates of some models and are in the hands of SWCA members or in museums, but S&W has always been dated by when the revolver left the factory.

Your gun would have most likely been shipped in 1902.