I love the old long barreled M&Ps, so I picked up another early 38 M&P Target a few days ago and immediately started to clean it up. Auction title was: "Pre-War S&W K-38 Target Double Action Revolver". Well it was a pre-war gun alright, but I think the auction house was referring to WWII, while this gun was actually pre-WWI. It had those dreaded rubber stocks, which I believe kept the value down at auction, but I quickly resolved that problem. The gun, sn 150057, shipped in 1911 and upon inspection, found that there was very little wear, screws appeared to have been unturned in the last 120 years, plus the action was as super-clean. The 3rd Change was made from 1901 to 1915 in serial number range 146,900 to 241,703.
I pulled the gun apart and found that there was some damage to the finish under the rubber stocks on the rear of the frame. Bluing had thinned and was a little cloudy. Too bad and a BIG reason why people should never keep these type stocks on their vintage guns. I lightly wiped the gun down with Oxpho-Blue and waxed it, which cleaned up the original gloss bluing nicely, but the area that was under the rubber stocks still show a less polished look. Matching numbers, mirror bore and great case coloring on the hammer and trigger. Got out a couple of sets of teens stocks and found one fit the gun well and the other was too short. I need to clean up the stocks a little but for now, I am ready for the range.
One part of the auction description caught my attention. It stated that the gun was a 6.5" barrel, but Roy and other publications show that the 3rd Change was only available in 4" and 6". The 2nd Change did offer the 6.5" barrel. I dug into the SWCA database to find only four 6.5", 3rd Change guns, and the last one listed shipped in 1911. Not much of a stretch to make the observation that there were a few long barrels left over after 1910, but the question is how many?? The four listed in the database were all Target revolvers, so there were likely a few long barrel leftovers and maybe set aside to be used with target models in 1910 & 1911 and quickly used up. The gun is likely scarce and maybe rare, so would ask if anyone having an early teens 3rd Change 6.5" gun post some information here?
Before and after images are attached. This is the second vintage revolver that I have bought with really over-exposed images. They were from two different auction houses, so maybe this is something new to enhance any flaws in the guns??? At least most buyers should be pleased with the guns in person, but think it might result is lower sold prices for the sellers. This gun in-hand certainly shows much better than the high intensity flood lights images.
I pulled the gun apart and found that there was some damage to the finish under the rubber stocks on the rear of the frame. Bluing had thinned and was a little cloudy. Too bad and a BIG reason why people should never keep these type stocks on their vintage guns. I lightly wiped the gun down with Oxpho-Blue and waxed it, which cleaned up the original gloss bluing nicely, but the area that was under the rubber stocks still show a less polished look. Matching numbers, mirror bore and great case coloring on the hammer and trigger. Got out a couple of sets of teens stocks and found one fit the gun well and the other was too short. I need to clean up the stocks a little but for now, I am ready for the range.
One part of the auction description caught my attention. It stated that the gun was a 6.5" barrel, but Roy and other publications show that the 3rd Change was only available in 4" and 6". The 2nd Change did offer the 6.5" barrel. I dug into the SWCA database to find only four 6.5", 3rd Change guns, and the last one listed shipped in 1911. Not much of a stretch to make the observation that there were a few long barrels left over after 1910, but the question is how many?? The four listed in the database were all Target revolvers, so there were likely a few long barrel leftovers and maybe set aside to be used with target models in 1910 & 1911 and quickly used up. The gun is likely scarce and maybe rare, so would ask if anyone having an early teens 3rd Change 6.5" gun post some information here?
Before and after images are attached. This is the second vintage revolver that I have bought with really over-exposed images. They were from two different auction houses, so maybe this is something new to enhance any flaws in the guns??? At least most buyers should be pleased with the guns in person, but think it might result is lower sold prices for the sellers. This gun in-hand certainly shows much better than the high intensity flood lights images.
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