I was given my great grandfather's gun this weekend and was looking for the year that it was made. It is a 38 special ctg with the serial number 284731. I know he was a police officer and served in WWI. I couldn't find any gun online that looked similar, but this might be due to the gun having different grips, but not sure though. The grips are yellowish ivory looking without a S&W symbol. I apologize for the lack of info. If this isn't enough info then I will try again to download a picture. For the life of me I couldn't get my computer to download a picture so sorry about that. Thank you in advance.
Please help identify the year of a 38 CTG
- Thread starter Royal
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
Welcome to the Forum.
Is this number taken from the butt of the revolver? Are there any letter prefixes present, like V, K, or S, even ones to the left of the seial number?
Is this number taken from the butt of the revolver? Are there any letter prefixes present, like V, K, or S, even ones to the left of the seial number?
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2005
- Messages
- 26,079
- Reaction score
- 46,763
Sticky: To IDENTIFY your Gun >
Nobody has mentioned the model name yet, so I will. That's called a .38 Military and Police; the CTG you see stamped on the barrel is not a model designation but simply the abbreviation for cartridge. If it's mechanically sound (and its condition makes me think it would be), it's probably safe to shoot. But don't take the long distance evaluation of some guy on the internet. Be guided by the gunsmith's inspection.
If you do shoot it, you should avoid overpressure loads or hot modern rounds. I usually limit myself to low-speed commercial target wadcutter loads in my revolvers from the '20s and before, or if you roll your own you could load some soft rounds to match their performance. The gun won't explode in your hand if you shoot hotter commercial loads, but it's nearly a century old and has earned a soft life. Why stress it if you don't have to?
By the way, your GGF's gun has a round butt, which is a little uncommon for this model. At this time, most medium-frame S&W .38s like this one had square butts.
Nice family heirloom. Congratulations on having been selected to care for it for the next several decades. And welcome to the forum.
If you do shoot it, you should avoid overpressure loads or hot modern rounds. I usually limit myself to low-speed commercial target wadcutter loads in my revolvers from the '20s and before, or if you roll your own you could load some soft rounds to match their performance. The gun won't explode in your hand if you shoot hotter commercial loads, but it's nearly a century old and has earned a soft life. Why stress it if you don't have to?
By the way, your GGF's gun has a round butt, which is a little uncommon for this model. At this time, most medium-frame S&W .38s like this one had square butts.
Nice family heirloom. Congratulations on having been selected to care for it for the next several decades. And welcome to the forum.
DWalt
Member
Agree on the 1917 shipping date. The M&P revolvers came in both square butt and rounded butt versions. Otherwise, they were the same. The revolvers of that time were not heat treated, so if you wish to shoot it, use only standard velocity lead bullet ammunition . That won't hurt it.
I agree with both David and DWalt on this.
One more observation - those look to me like ivory stocks. Very nice. I like the 6" barrel as well!
One more observation - those look to me like ivory stocks. Very nice. I like the 6" barrel as well!
bananaman
Member
Get it checked, but I have a similar one from 1919 that was still shot quite often.
WELCOME TO THE FORUM! Just use standard velocity loads. Bob
Nice old S & W!
Stocks appear to me to be 'Catalin', which was an early form of hard ( and typically solid in this application, not thin and 'hollow' like later kinds of 'plastic' stocks,) Man-Made material.
Stocks made of it were available aftermarket in the 1930s on on for a while.
Stocks appear to me to be 'Catalin', which was an early form of hard ( and typically solid in this application, not thin and 'hollow' like later kinds of 'plastic' stocks,) Man-Made material.
Stocks made of it were available aftermarket in the 1930s on on for a while.
Green Frog
Member
Let me extend my welcome too. I agree with most of what has been said by the previous posters except for the identification of the grips. They are obviously not original from S&W but seem to have been on the gun a long time. From the picture of the bottom of the grips, it would appear that they are some sort of synthetic, and I would guess from the color that they are made of Catalin™, a Bakelite™ sort of material that was popular back when that gun was being carried... in fact John Wayne is said to have had them on one of his most used single actions, seen in many of his westerns. Enjoy your inheritance, it looks like a nice gun with a great history.
Froggie
Froggie
DWalt
Member
Catalin was a phenolic plastic which was one of the earliest plastics to be widely used for many consumer purposes. It was very commonly used for radio cases, telephones, and even jewelry, knife handles, appliance parts, combs, brush handles, etc. It came in a rainbow of colors. Most any item made of Catilin will be highly collectible.
Last edited:
I really appreciate all the information. This will forever be my favorite gun. I have fond memories of watching my grandfather clean this gun, and he told me it would someday be mine.
When my grandfather asked my great grandfather for my grandmother's hand in marriage he put this gun to my grandfather's head and told him to never come back. From what I understand he was never the same after returning from ww1. They ended up eloping and were happily married for over 50 years. Sadly, my grandparents were both murdered 20 years ago on labor day. This is when my Dad received the gun and last weekend he decided it was ready to be mine. Needless to say, but this gun means the world to me and will someday be my daughter's. I have introduced her to shooting and she fell in love with it.
Anyway, thanks again everyone. It meant a lot to me.
When my grandfather asked my great grandfather for my grandmother's hand in marriage he put this gun to my grandfather's head and told him to never come back. From what I understand he was never the same after returning from ww1. They ended up eloping and were happily married for over 50 years. Sadly, my grandparents were both murdered 20 years ago on labor day. This is when my Dad received the gun and last weekend he decided it was ready to be mine. Needless to say, but this gun means the world to me and will someday be my daughter's. I have introduced her to shooting and she fell in love with it.
Anyway, thanks again everyone. It meant a lot to me.
