Help with an old 38 K frame

[zipty6]

It's been a good week for $250 revolvers. I managed to get another one last night. I'm hoping you guys can help me out with some more info. Is this a run of the mill M&P, or is there a more precise name?

Serial # 642149
5 Screws
No hole for lanyard loop in the butt.
Left side of the barrel is marked "38 S. & W. SPECIAL CTG."
Older style transfer bar/hammer block safety.

The hammer spur is broken. I have a replacement on the way.

 

[P&R Fan]

Looks like you did OK at that price.
The Catalog says # 700,000 was made in 1942, so it is right about there.
It is a .38 Military and Police Model 1905 Fourth Change. In '42 the Victory Model came out. S&W made Jillions (actual number) of the M&Ps. In 1957 it became the M10.
Jim

 

[DCWilson]

Do you know that serial number is only a couple of hundred away from Hermann Goering's M&P? Other 642xxx revolvers were shipping in the 1932-1934 period.

6450 looks like a rack number. Maybe this was a Law Enforcement or Guard Service revolver.

The stocks are postwar, but you got this one at a good price. The box it came in would have had a label identifying it as a .38 Military & Police, but I don't think there is anything "run of the mill" about any S&W revolver.

 

[zipty6]

Awesome info, people. I really appreciate you taking the time to look and share.

 

[Absalom]

6450 looks like a rack number. Maybe this was a Law Enforcement or Guard Service revolver.
.

Four-digit number could be an officer's shield number. NYPD sold M&P's to its officers and until about the early 60s required them to be so stamped; stamping could be on butt or lower backstrap.

 

[DWalt]

642149

The closest SN I have on my list is 6429XX which shipped on 7/5/32. Yours may have shipped about the same time, but it's not possible to give an exact date without a factory letter, as during the Great Depression, serial numbers and shipping dates do not track very well.

At that time, S&W did not use the Model of 1905 nomenclature. They cataloged it as the Military and Police (M&P) Model.

The Magna grips on it are no older than from the mid-1950s. Original grips are checkered wood, round top, and smaller silver S&W medallions. A nice pair will be fairly difficult to find.

 

[zipty6]

Thank you.