S&W pre model 10 4"

[jjroth63]

Hi,
I have a S&W hand ejector revolver, I think it is a pre model 10. It is a 38 S&W SPECIAL CTG 4" with serial # S 866553. It is blue with after market grips (?), half moon front sight, frame groove rear sight.
Please let me know if I am correct, I am looking for year of manufacture and approximate value and any other information.
Thanks,
John

 

[tops]

According to my book 1945-1948. I don't know what the going price is but about a month ago I gave $450. for one. I'm partial to 5 screw, 4 in. .38 Specials. Larry

 

[Lee Barner]

i will again go out on a limb and guess mid to late 1946. Lee

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Welcome to the forums from the Wiregrass! Its is a .38 Military & Police revolver. Too early to be a pre-Model 10 which didn't come along until 1948. I see lots of bluing loss and some rust. Stocks are not original, as mentioned. But does have a very nice holster. You might get lucky and get $350 for the gun alone if the stocks are plastic. Maybe $450 if the stocks are jigged bone and with the holster. That's the "around here" prices. Maybe more in some regions of the country.


.38 M&P serial S863090 was shipped in January 1947.

 

[JP@AK]

S866553 probably shipped in January, 1947. The extractor rod should still have the barrel shaped knob. All the examples in my database in that serial range had 4" barrels. The closest one on my list is S866405.

 

[NB4EST]

Serial # S 866315, a 4" nickel gun, shipped in January 1947, 2 months before the good doctor slapped breath into my lungs.

 

[max]

I have S903XXX that shipped in April of 47.

 

[S&W Kid]

I have a similar one, although yours looks to be in better condition (bluing/finish) than mine. I gave $400 in a private sale. Mine probably shipped in October, 1946.

 

[DWalt]

What most collectors consider to be a "pre-Model 10" (a term never used by the factory) began very high in the S-series, around S990xxx. It ended when S&W began using model numbers in the late 1950s. So roughly 10 years of M&P production are "pre-Model 10s". All C-series M&Ps up to around C 42xxxx are pre-Model 10s. The closest M&P I have listed to your S866553 is S86423x which shipped in 12/46. So yours likely shipped in the late 1946 to early 1947 period. S-series civilian production revolvers up to around S990xxx are usually called "post-war" M&Ps. Not so many of those were made, fewer than 200K.