Model 14 no-dash 4 in. barrel

[linde]

Kansas City PD ordered 4" heavy barrels. Mine is in the K292xxx range. Does the OP's fall in their range?

The 375 Kansas City PD 4" Heavy Combat Masterpieces special ordered in April 1957 were in the K260XXX to K298000 s/n range with the lion's share K292XXX and were not model marked. However, there were subsequent (much smaller) orders placed by the KCPD so it's still possible the OP example could have been shipped to the KCPD. (note, during this timeframe, the KCPD typically refinished a duty revolver whenever it was returned to the armorer for service &/or re-issue. Given the amount of "refinishing" done to the OP's example, I suspect it went to the KCPD.

To help with terminology ... the factory (in general) referred to a 6" non-tapered barrel with wide barrel rib, adjustable rear sight and a Patridge front sight as a "K-38 Heavy Masterpiece" ... and anything less than 6" (e.g. 5", 4" or 2") non-tapered barrel with wide barrel rib, adjustable rear sight and a Baugman front sight as a "K-38 Combat Masterpiece".

Russ

 

[JP@AK]

Hey Russ!

I'm glad you weighed in on this. I haven't seen you around here lately. I hope all is well with you and yours.

 

[k22fan]

It is good to see you posting Russ.

Now I suppose I'm obligated to try to add some thing of consequence to the thread. how about my definition of ish? My very early .22 Combat Masterpiece has an original Patridge sight. At its vintage all or a high percentage of them did. That rules out a Baugman sight being part of the definition of a Combat Masterpiece. Despite its Patridge its 4" skinny barrel with a thin barrel rib make it not the least bit K-22 Masterpiece-ish. It takes more than a sight to make a revolver some thing that it is not ish.

 

[JP@AK]

Points well taken, k22fan.

However, I'll point out two matters:

1. The subject of this thread is the .38 versions and there are some distinct differences between the evolutions of the .22 Combat Masterpiece and the .38 Combat Masterpiece.

2. The sight discussion came up in the context of defining the major points of difference between the standard configuration of the K-38 Masterpiece and the .38 Combat Masterpiece. And the front sight difference is one of those.

If we want to broaden the conversation to be about all the variations of these four guns, the discussion becomes much more complicated, as your post implies. I'm with you on that!