Help with Identification of my revolver

[dbme2d]

Hello,
I've gotten an old S&W revolver. The serial number found on the butt of the grip is 319654. Text on the top of the barrel reads in all caps:
Top line: SMITH & WESSON SPRINGFIELD MASS.U.S.A PATENTED
Second line: OCT.8.01.DEC.17.01.FEB.6.08.SEPT.14.09.DEC.29.14
Left side of barrel is marked: SMITH&WESSON
Right side of barrel is marked: 38 S. & W. SPECIAL CTG
inside the yoke appear the numbers 2042 followed by what might be an 8, 9 or 0. The firing pin is in the hammer. The cylinder holds 6 rounds. The barrel length is just short of 5 inches measured from the beginning of the forcing cone.
I've attached two photos of the gun. Any descriptive and or pedigree/historical information you may provide will be much appreciated. Thank you for your time and attention to my question.

 

[glowe]

Welcome to the Forum. That is a 38 Hand Ejector Military & Police, 4th Change, also called a Model 1905. This model was made from 1915 to 1942, with around 400,000 manufactured.

Looking at your photos, it appears to be original, with sharp edges, little wear on the walnut service stocks, and only a slight amount of muzzle wear. It most likely would have shipped in 1919.

 

[DWalt]

You have a fairly nice condition and apparently all original M&P which likely shipped from the factory in late 1919.

 

[lamarw]

Did S&W change the grips on this model during its production period? I have the same model delivered in Nov. 1929 which has smooth upper wood surface to the grips without the emblem. The grips on my revolver look original with a matching serial number written in pencil on under side of the right grip.

Mine is a decent example but nowhere near as nice as the OP's revolver.

 

[Absalom]

Did S&W change the grips on this model during its production period? I have the same model delivered in Nov. 1929 which has smooth upper wood surface to the grips without the emblem.....

Yes. I'd have to look up exactly when the respective changes occurred, but in general terms it's easy to remember, as the deep-dish medallion like on this gun here is the 19-teens style, yours with no medallion the 1920s, and another different flat silver medallion style started with the 1930s up to the smooth no-medallion Victory stocks.

 

[lamarw]

Thanks Absalom. Here are pictures off the one I mentioned.

 

[lamarw]

I believe this is a picture of the third type grip mentioned by Absalom.

 

[DWalt]

Your grip pictures are correct. Earlier S&W checkered round-top wood grips had sort of a concave surface at the top without medallions. I think around 1911-12, the grips went to the round-top deep-dish gold medallion style until sometime in 1920, when a return to no-medallion grips occurred, this time with convex tops. Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, the round-top service grips had a smaller silver medallion (and there are larger silver medallions known, but those are considered scarce). In fact, any of the 1930s style grips in good condition are desirable, as during the Depression, not many guns were made, resulting in relative scarcity of grips from this period. Those were used until the smooth (uncheckered) wooden no-medallion grips of the Victory model which began in early 1942. But there are also some examples of pre-WWII Magna grips which are highly desirable. After WWII, Magna service grips became the norm (but of a different style from the pre-WWII Magnas), and there were several different variations of those made over the years. The Diamonds around the screw holes vanished in the late 1960s. As typical, there are no precise dates at which the grip changes occurred, as new designs were phased in as existing grip inventories were depleted.

 

[JP@AK]

Here are some pictures of some of the stock styles used over time:

Walnut square butt, from c. 1899-c. 1910.

Round butt hard rubber, 1896-1940s.

Round butt walnut, c. 1911-c. 1920.

Square butt walnut, c. 1911-c. 1920.

Square butt walnut, c. 1920-c. 1929.

Square butt walnut service type, c. 1930-c. 1941.

Square butt service style during the war.

Square butt Magna, c. 1935-1946 (top gun in picture).
Square butt Magna, 1946-c. 1953 (bottom gun in picture).

Square butt Magna, c. 1946-c. 1953.

Walnut Magna, c. 1953-c. 1967 for target sight guns.

Walnut Magna, beginning in 1967-68 for fixed sight guns.

I hope this helps.

 

[JP@AK]

The last two pictures in my previous post show the fixed sight Magna style after c. 1967. There is no diamond around the escutcheon. This "modified Magna" style with the rounded butt edges was also available from c. 1953 until 1967 with the diamond. I just don't have a picture of them.

 

[glowe]

I have never ran across this before, but I swear that the same workman numbered your stocks that numbered a set the just sold on ebay.