S&W 38 short ???

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Browntrout

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A friend of mine has a S&W 38 short and it says
Property of US Army on the top of the sight groove. The only numbers I can find for model number is 35290. The gun has a 4 inch barrel and it is in very good shape too. Any info about this gun would be a great help.

Thanks
 
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I don't believe there is a 38 short. The .38 S&W (38/200) would be the caliber of the Lend Lease guns transferred to the UK and other allies leading up to and including WW II. The 4" barrel would indicate a weapon used by the U.S. Is the barrel measured from the front of the cylinder?
 
Yes the barrel is measured that way. I forgot to add this info too. My friend also told me the gun was used as a paratroopers gun. It has a lanyard on the bottom of the handle. Maybe this might help in identifying this gun.
 
Sounds like a 38/200 Victory to me also. There should be a "V" in front of the serial number - there may be some space between the letter and numbers. The .38 S&W casing is very slightly larger in diameter than the .38 Special and obviously much shorter.

However, I ended up with a handful of once-fired Magtech .38 Special "C" (for "corto"?) brass which appears to be the diameter of the .38 special casing but the length of the .38 S&W casing. One of these days I will get around to verifying that.
 
Don't think they were making them in 38 Short at this time, nor had they for many years. I agree with the post above and suggest it's either a 38 S&W or a 38/200 intended for a British gun. David
 
Here is a pic of two different .38 S&W cartridges.
38_S_W_cartridges.jpg


A picture of a .38 special cartridge compared to the two .38 S&W cartridges.
cartridges1.jpg
 
Actually, the .38 Short was a rimfire black powder cartridge that was introduced in the mid-1860s. It was fired in such guns as the Remington revolving rifle. It is a completely different cartridge than the .38 S&W and has long been obsolete.
In the 1880s there was also a short case version of the .38 Long Colt cartridge. It also is obsolete.
The .38 S&W is currently made by some European ammunition makers and some of them may label the boxes as ".38 S&W Short" but this is a misnomer. It is correctly called the .38 S&W cartridge or the .38/200.
 
Jack, that's what caught my attention. I've seen Fiochi labelled as .38 S&W Corto, but this brass is clearly marked "38 SPL C" with the CBC (Magtech) head stamp. I did a quick fit test and itdoes fit in a .38 special chamber whereas a regular 38 S&W case would not. I found it in a mixed lot of range brass, so I don't know how it was labelled for sale. I didn't think anyone was making that either.

For the OP - sorry about the slight detour, but what you should take away is that there is a big difference between .38 S&W and .38 Special (sometimes seen as .38 S&W Special.) Your friend's revolver is one or the other and it should be marked on the barrel. If it says ".38 S&W CTG" it was certainly a 38/200 or British Service Revolver made for the UK during WWII. Most were produced with 5" barrels (measured from the front of the cylinder). If original, the 38 Special will not fit all the way in to the chamber.

Unfortunately, many 38/200's imported back in to the US had the chambers bored to accept the longer 38 Special ammunition. You can usually tell by looking in the cylinder from the back. If it was reamed, you will see two rings in the chambers, one for the original 38 S&W casing and a second (usually rougher) for the 38 Special casing. The 38 Special will fit, but the slightly smaller casing will bulge a bit when fired. Not really dangerous, but tough on the brass.

If there is a "V" preceding the serial number, it was likely shipped in the spring of 1942. Someone else may provide a more exact date for you. If there is no V, then it would have to be much older and based on the other information you've provided, that is very unlikely.
 
There is a .38 short Colt cartridge, and it is still loaded by Remington. An Academy Sports store near me had a bunch of boxes on the shelf a couple of years ago, and I bought a box just because. It is loaded with a 150 gr lead bullet of .357" diameter in a case that is the same diameter as a .38 Special.
 
Skeetr57 said:
There is a .38 short Colt cartridge
Click to expand...
Yes, Skeetr57. That is what I was referring to when I wrote this:
"In the 1880s there was also a short case version of the .38 Long Colt cartridge."

it is still loaded by Remington
Click to expand...
I thought I had seen somewhere that these were still (or again) being made. I suspect the Cowboy Action boys are creating the demand.

Thanks for your post!
 
Thanks for all info everyone. I have checked the gun for the V in the model number and I can't fine one. I will try to get some pictures of the gun in the next couple of days and post them. Maybe you guys can figure out just what the gun is and maybe a value.
 
Short 38

Midway as well as Sportsman's Guide sell 38 cbc SPL SHORT. Bullet is .357 dia . Looks like a 38 S&W without the .361 dia. bullet . I know this is a fact , they are sitting in front of me on my bench .I (personal experience) have found that Remington 38 S&W (not 38 Special) Will chamber and fire just fine in all my 38 Special revolvers , Winchester will not .
 
JP@AK said:
Yes, Skeetr57. That is what I was referring to when I wrote this:
"In the 1880s there was also a short case version of the .38 Long Colt cartridge."


I thought I had seen somewhere that these were still (or again) being made. I suspect the Cowboy Action boys are creating the demand.

Thanks for your post!
Click to expand...

When I was shooting cowboy action, and I will again, we used .38 Short Colt and .38 S&W interchangeably in double action "pocket revolvers" from the late 19th century/early 20th century.

Also, for the record, .38 S&W cartridges will often fit into the chambers of many .38 Special revolvers. Maybe not always but routinely. Many folks think that the .38 S&W is too "fat" to fit into a .38 Special chamber. It isn't.
 
The serial number will be on the butt of the gun by the lanyard loop hole it may or may not have a V in front of the serial number depending on when it was made. If the barrel says 38 S&W (this one had a 5 inch barrel) not 38 S&W Special (4 inch barrel)then it is a lend lease gun. Also the top strap won't say property of U.S Army it will either say ''UNITED STATES PROPERTY'' or U.S PROPERTY G.H.D.
 
Browntrout, Look on the butt of the gun. If the serial number on their is 35290 the to the left ( perhaps on the other side of the butt from the lanyard swivel, will be a "V" That "V" is part of the serial number, making the gun's serial number as V35290. (If the gun has incorrect grips on it that cover the butt, remove them to look for the serial number. The serial number will also be on the back of the cylinder and on the bottom of the barrel under the extractor rod . This gun did not have a Model number, as current style model numbers were not assigned by the factory until 1957. It was called the Victory Model as it was made during the early part of WW2 and was a wartime version of the Model of 1905, 4th change. .38 Military & Police. Ed.
 
"However, I ended up with a handful of once-fired Magtech .38 Special "C" (for "corto"?) brass which appears to be the diameter of the .38 special casing but the length of the .38 S&W casing."

Magtech may call it a .38 Special C (Colt??). but it sounds very much like the old .38 Short Colt, which is still being loaded. Dimensionally it is much the same as the .38 S&W Special, except the case length is approximately that of the .38 S&W. It's an old-timer, but is still in use for some types of competitive revolver shooting (ICORE) in which .38 Special revolvers are used, as the cases will be ejected completely, whereas, .38 S&W Special cases will not. That speeds reloading. It also can be used in revolvers chambered for the .38 S&W, but it is slightly undersized for that purpose. I have read that some have found that the .38 S&W cartridge can be chambered in .38 Special revolvers. While that may be true, I can chamber the .38 S&W in none of my .38 Special/.357 Magnum revolvers. I've tried just to see if it can be done.

"A friend of mine has a S&W 38 short and it says
Property of US Army on the top of the sight groove. The only numbers I can find for model number is 35290. The gun has a 4 inch barrel and it is in very good shape too."

Your description does not add up for a Victory or pre-Victory. First, a 4" barrel would indicate either a .38 S&W Special caliber (except for a very few early pre-Victories chambered in .38 S&W for South Africa), or that the barrel has been shortened from the 5" standard. The proper caliber will be stamped on the barrel. Second, a Victory model would never have a "Property of U. S. Army" topstrap stamping. The only stampings ever used on them were "UNITED STATES PROPERTY," "U. S . PROPERTY," or "U. S. NAVY". The only "Legal" serial number will be the one on the butt, and will probably have a "V" prefix.
 
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