Hey is it normal to find chalk marks on a K38?

[Kavinsky]

Yeah I just got my hands on a vintage K38 from 1952 about 3 or 4 months ago thanks to a smith and wesson book I bought

and its only just now that I've finally built up the nerve to clean the thing after shooting it twice, as it was actually unfired and completely new save for one little mark, and I gotta ask is it normal to find like a rubber drum with a chalknumber on it in the grips that act as an insert to help it seal up with the frame

which was metal on the K22

as this according to the book must have been one of the first to come with the combat grips, which first came out in 1951, as it doesnt even have the medallions they typically have fitted to it

like its smooth trigger, combat grips, the kind you'd see on a model 19 without the medallions and what I presume is the normal hammer, with the old style front sight

and the chalkmarks are on the drum on either side of the grips

which I have never seen before, like I didnt accidentally pick up like a prototype with the first set of combat grips on it did I?

 

[DWalt]

I have not heard of such a thing, perhaps others may have. How about some pictures to illustrate?

 

[jeffrefrig]

Well, it sounds interesting. Did you have any pics? I’m personally curious about chalk marks, and confused, as usual. You said it was unfired, too? That’s what got my attention.

 

[Mbrgr1]

Welcome, but..............

with an introduction like this:


"like a rubber drum with a chalknumber on it in the grips that act as an insert to help it seal up"


That's a whole lot of something! Pictures are needed.

 

[glowe]

I do not believe that a 1952 Masterpiece ever left the factory with combat grips. This brings into question your theory that the gun was never fired, otherwise why would someone change factory stocks out??

The K38 Masterpiece came with Walnut Magna silver medallion stocks and larger Target silver medallion walnut stocks, but would have not have come with combat grips. Here are the two types of stocks available in 1952.

 

[Truckman]

To echo others, pics are really needed...Especially showing the grips, inside and out......Ben

 

[Vtgw938]

Other than the rubber part almost sounds like custom grips. Chalk or grease pencil were often used.

 

[Alk8944]

Photos are needed to even venture a guess. No idea what a rubber disk inside the stocks would be intended for, but it isn't factory. Perhaps you meant 'Target Stocks", not combat. No combat type factory stocks even existed before the late 1970s. And, finally, if there are no medallions the stocks are not factory.

In over 60 years and thousands of S&W I have never seen chalk marks on a gun.

Quite literally, without pictures your question is akin to "I have an old green car. What model is it and when was it made?"

 

[gwpercle]

A rubber drum ... with a chalk number on it ... in the grips ...

I would like to see this also ... photo's are required !
Gary

 

[mike campbell]

hmmmm. waiting for pics.

 

[sophie]

I can’t make heads or tails out of the gun having combats and chalk drum marks on grips. Like mentioned above the guns came with Targets or Magnas. Sure would like to see some pictures.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

I believe Kavinsky is referring to the "washers" on the upper back of the grip that mate with the rounded upper grip frame when he says "drum." Drum equates to cylinder in some languages and grip washers, for the most part, are short cylinders, sometimes half-cylinders when they are formed when the back of the grip is routed. Since they are marked with chalk or white ink and have no medallions, I believe they are aftermarket.

 

[paplinker]

I am hearing combats,no medallion and chalk writing.

Wonder if a custom pair of Farrents are on it?

 

[Kavinsky]

I am hearing combats,no medallion and chalk writing.

Wonder if a custom pair of Farrents are on it?

I dont think so it looks like the normal smith and wesson grips they had on the model 19

just sans the medallions and these weird rubber inserts that had the numbers on them

granted I think I should have said target stocks not combat, but it was unfired, their was NO marks where the rounds sit from it rotating in the clylinder

I think its called the blast shield

someone had tried to pass it off as new in box with a latter 60's box, the bango punta thing, only thing was they didnt own smith and wesson till the late 60's

I found and bought an original

and as per the book, well box, I did fire lead 158 grain 755 FPS rounds through it

and believe me its been left alone

what got me to buy this thing is I have been forever fixing up a 1947 K22 that I bought off of a vietnam vet

who had a father that was just the kind of person to abuse and beat the **** out of things

this K22 included as somehow the thing has a clyinder that is not stock to the gun

which I only found out was a thing when i found the serial number was put on the cylinder of this

and found it lined up with the rest of the gun

meaning someone replaced the cylinder on my K22 which is what had been forever causing me problems until recently when we finally got the headspacing right

which is DOUBLY why I was nervous to mess with it or even touch it as I DO NOT want to screw it up

only to take the grips off and see that

as its a weird almaganation

like the combat, sorry target grips, Stock style, no medalians

those numbers, its got the earlier style front sight which according to the book they went away from in 1951 partridge apparently

which is why I THOUGHT it was a 51 at first

and it was completely unfired and put in a box ment for an 8 inch K38

when that wasnt even a thing, hell the only reason I picked up on it was the book listed the serial numbers on the website, the first three digits with XXX behind it

and I was buying it as a non screwed up version of the K22 I've been forever trying to get right for years on end

and I told them to hold it, only to find that

smooth trigger, which I had done to this beat to hell K22, as the lines dug into my fingers

so that was a win

the grips, which werent the smaller kind, which I replaced with some bear butt grips I found at a gunshow

much to the dismay of the smith and wesson collectors that were at the other end of the hall

as apparently those are quite rare

so it was kinda like, huh it ticks all the boxes AND its unfired

and I Know I can shoot it with those normal wood grips unlike on the Model 29 where your hand just slips too much to really control it properly

I'll take it, the ironic thing being those bear butts are ment for a K38

but I'm not changing it, not with how mint this thing is lol

also FYI do NOT shoot those Super X 100th aniversary .22 LR rounds .40 grains 1240 feet per second out of your K22's or any .22s for that matter

I had two that stuck in the damn thing, no powder

luckily I stopped and had a cleaning rod with me,

but that was TWICE, and I just got the thing working right

and I think it broke my P22 actually, had to send it off to warranty for work again just recently

so those go in the ruger, and most certainly NOT that PPK I just got

 

[Retired W4]

Pictures, pictures, pictures...if you please.

I am just getting more confused without them.