Top Break 38 S&W what do you call it

[Rutgers]

I'm sure it's a top break, and sure it's 38... and I'm sure it's old and rusty, but that's where my expertise on these old guns ends.

Anyone care to identify it for me... any value beyond a cool paperweight ?

See the photos at S&W something

Dave

 

[mrchuck]

Looks to be a 38SW cartridge.
Used to have one.
Depending on your shot placement,it is a lethal weapon.
Hard to find ammunition for it these days.
Back in the mid-50's I used to see a lot of them.
Rarely today.
It has some collector value,but the shape and condition and provenance will dictate the saleable value.

 

[gmborkovic]

I call it a 38 DA Model. True, its, old, rusty, dirty and honest gun from the turn of the century. It has the classic cracked grip. From the pics, a paperweight with no collector value. Just brush out the bores and rub with an oily rag. Then hang it up or fiddle with it. Best.

 

[FlyFish]

Looks to be a .38 Double-Action 3rd or 4th Model - need the serial number from the butt to determine which for sure. 3rd would be 119001 to 322700; 4th 322701 to 539000. Dates from late 1800s/early 1900s. Looks to be in pretty rough shape, so paperweight would be about right, IMHO. I certainly wouldn't want to be the one to see if it still shoots. .38 S&W isn't too hard to find, and I even reload it for a Terrier that I shoot now and again, but I really don't think you want to find any, lest you be tempted . . .

 

[glowe]

You have a 38 Double Action, 3rd Model made from 1884 to 1895. What value there is would be in parts and not as a firearm. As is, maybe $150. A half million were made, so even decent shooters will seldom bring over $200. Caliber markings were not placed on these early models, but is a 38 S&W, which is a shorter and much weaker round that the more common 38 Special.

 

[Rutgers]

Serial Number

Looks to be a .38 Double-Action 3rd or 4th Model - need the serial number from the butt to determine which for sure. 3rd would be 119001 to 203700; 4th 322701 to 539000. Dates from late 1800s/early 1900s. Looks to be in pretty rough shape, so paperweight would be about right, IMHO. I certainly wouldn't want to be the one to see if it still shoots. .38 S&W isn't too hard to find, and I even reload it for a Terrier that I shoot now and again, but I really don't think you want to find any, lest you be tempted . . .

Looks like 3081r 2 Can't make a number out of what looks like a lower case R. Please see the added photo

S&W something

Dave

 

[glowe]

Serial number 309172 puts the ship date around 1894.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Heck, I have a nice 3rd Model, or maybe 4th, I forget - I use it as house decoration and mine shoots!!! It's nice looking, too, and has unbroken stocks!

 

[FlyFish]

Looks like 3081r 2 Can't make a number out of what looks like a lower case R. Please see the added photo

S&W something

Dave

That would make it a 3rd model. I had the sn range wrong in my original post - copied the number made, instead of the ending sn, from SCSW. I've corrected it.

 

[shouldazagged]

Clearly it's been "rode hard and put up wet", but those old beaters still fascinate me. I'd think of it as a conversation piece.

Of course I'm not normal, so I would make up some outlandishly silly back story for it. Like how Sherlock Holmes took it from Baron von Richthofen.

 

[glowe]

I have used some parts guns and non-shooters in displays. When I did taxidermy, I would often make glass cased dioramas and added an old 38 Single Action S&W parts gun to the display of this one. Yours would work well in a display of memorabilia and the guns always draw comments. Needless to say that I do not have a IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, BREAK GLASS sign anywhere near that display!!

BTW, an extra "LIKE" to the first person who properly identifies the ducks.

 

[mmaher94087]

Mergansers?

 

[glowe]

Mergansers?

Too bad there isn't an "Unlike" button. You have only a few dozen possibilities left.

 

[FlyFish]

Definitely not mergansers - the bill is wrong for a fish-eater, among other things. I'm going with Barrow's Goldeneye.

 

[glowe]

Game over!

 

[FlyFish]

Nice to be right about something - for a change.