Identifing older 5 screw hand eject pre war 38 SP

LocoLucas

Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2025
Messages
8
Reaction score
3
Location
Forks Wa
I certainly hope I am doing this correctly.
I have a 6.5 inch barreled S&W that has the square butt, pre war adjustable sights. 5 screws, .38 Special caliber hand eject that is supported.
Serial number is 113488
I am getting conflicting information on this revolver so I have come here for help. I can barely read the patent numbers, but nothing is adding up from what I can find.
I am not tech savvy so not sure if I loaded the photos or not.
 
Register to hide this ad
Photos?

I am definitely not getting how to load photos off my phone... LOL
 

Attachments

  • 20250201_151647.jpg
    20250201_151647.jpg
    72.3 KB · Views: 67
You have a Military & Police ("M&P") Model of 1905.

Various changes (typically internal) were made over the years which are identified by "change numbers". Yours is listed as "First Change", but could be a Second. To quote the book that's supposed to make us look way smarter than we are, "The change from 1905 First Change to Second Change was made between serial numbers 73251 and 146899. This serial range covers the period between 1906 and 1909. The exact date and serial number were not recorded." The good news is nobody really cares, except for folks with WAY TOO MUCH TIME on their hands!

Ralph Tremaine

As an aside, the exact shipping date (and recipient) can be had with a "Letter of Authenticity" from the S&W Historical Foundation (See their section in this forum.)
 
Last edited:
Hi LocoLucas

From your description, your revolver should look very much like this one. It is an M&P Target Model, 6 1/2" barrel, serial number 110893. It shipped on April 6, 1908.

jp-ak-albums-k-frame-target-revolvers-picture8334-38-m-p-target-right.jpg
 
At that SN it may have the dual caliber stamping on the barrel. What does it say? Would be something like .38 Special and U.S. Service Ctg. If so, S&W would also have called it the .38 Military Model at the time.
 
Last edited:
So the caliber is stamped on the barrel of course, it is in .38 Special, no other caliber is listed. Thanks for the reply!
 
Hi LocoLucas

From your description, your revolver should look very much like this one. It is an M&P Target Model, 6 1/2" barrel, serial number 110893. It shipped on April 6, 1908.

jp-ak-albums-k-frame-target-revolvers-picture8334-38-m-p-target-right.jpg

Yep, that is what it looks like. Only someone put on Pachmyar Grips. Who knows where the original wood grips went over the last 100 years.
 
You have a Military & Police ("M&P") Model of 1905.

Various changes (typically internal) were made over the years which are identified by "change numbers". Yours is listed as "First Change", but could be a Second. To quote the book that's supposed to make us look way smarter than we are, "The change from 1905 First Change to Second Change was made between serial numbers 73251 and 146899. This serial range covers the period between 1906 and 1909. The exact date and serial number were not recorded." The good news is nobody really cares, except for folks with WAY TOO MUCH TIME on their hands!

Ralph Tremaine

As an aside, the exact shipping date (and recipient) can be had with a "Letter of Authenticity" from the S&W Historical Foundation (See their section in this forum.)

Thank you very much for the information!
 
someone put on Pachmyar Grips. Who knows where the original wood grips went over the last 100 years.

Yes. I am very fortunate to have this one with its original stocks - the serial number appears in pencil on the inside of the right panel. I inherited this one from my grandfather. Everything on it is original except, of course, the wear, which was added by my grandfather. I remember, as a child, him carrying it on our excursions into the desert.
 
I jumped onto GunBroker... doesn't look like they are worth very much when they are "well" used... LOL
 
Back
Top