M&P Round Butt

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Driftwood Johnson

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Howdy

I keep telling myself I don't need any more K frames. One thing I didn't have was a nice round butt M&P. I came across this one yesterday. Sorry, the photos are a bit out of focus. What really caught my eye was the hard rubber grips. The photo showing a lot of blue missing from the side plate is a little bit deceiving. The gun actually looks a lot better than that in broad daylight. This one has the REG.US.PAT.OFF stamped on the hammer and trigger.

SN is 6731XX. The grips have the number 5139XX scratched on them, so I am pretty sure they are not the grips that came with the gun.


MPRoundButt01-2.jpg


MPRoundButt02-2.jpg


MPRoundButtHammer.jpg


A couple of questions. First off, of course, any idea when this one shipped? Second question is, what would the correct grips have been for this gun? I really like the hard rubber grips, but I dunno if they are correct for this gun.

I took it to the range today and fired a box of light 38 Specials through it. It is a beautiful gun to shoot, trigger is smooth and it hits right where it points. I was hitting a steel plate at about 20 yards with almost every shot.
 
You did get a nice one and the photos are fine.

Made just before the war but someone could pin that down more. Almost surely had the wood service stocks that late in production.
 
Someone with time to check serial numbers can tell you about when it shipped.

Some had wooden grip plates/stocks, with gold meallions on those from about 1910-1920.

All of the snub M&P's I've seen photos of made in the 1930's had these hard rubber grips. I think the earliest M&P's also had similar ones, circa 1902 and before.

Finding any good round butt grips that old may take some doing. Don't know if round butt Pachmayrs will fit that old a frame. If they do, you'll probably like the way they feel in your hand, and you can save the old grips, which may crack or chip if dropped or banged on a car door.

I think some outfit makes plastic copies of those grips, but i forget who.

The round butt M&P with four-inch barrel is a good compromise between a duty gun and a concealed one. And I bet that many ladies or men with smaller hands would prefer the smaller butt.
 
The large logo on the sideplate says 1937 or later, and the serial number points to 1938. The number on the stocks point to the mid 1920s. Hard rubber stocks are also found on late-'30s RB K-frames, so that gun probably looks now the way it did when it shipped.

Nice specimen. The prewar RB K-frames are handsome revolvers.
 
DW

Gun is 1938 - 1939 time frame, so for a round butt, grips would have been either
hard black rubber ( as the gun is now ) or small silver-medallion checkered walnut.
Its also possible that the gun was special-ordered with pearl or ivory stocks. Only
a letter ( assuming the invoice can be located ) will identify the original grips.

The hard black rubber grips are prone to damage, such as cracking, chiping or breaking.
It's certainly possible that the original grips were hard rubber, sustained some damage,
and were replaced with a similar pair - what it has now.

Regards, Mike Priwer
 
For what it's worth, 67308X shipped in February of 1939.
 
A fine looking revolver. Round butt M&P is next on my buy list, and I'm on the prowl for a nice 4 or 5 inch.
 
Howdy Again

Thanks for all the comments.

Just heard from Roy. The gun shipped in June of 1939.

Regarding the grips; I like them just fine. Very comfortable for shooting. I have no intention of taking them off and substituting something modern or replicas. I bought some replica plastic grips for an old Model 1926 and they are a poor imitation of the originals.

So I will keep these nice hard rubber grips on the gun and I will be very careful with them.
 
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