Trying to identify

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songman

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This was my Granddads
38 special ctg
Ser# 561201
Ejector sights
Five screw
5" barrel
Strain screw
No butt swivel or lanyard ring
wood checkered grips have no medallion on them
Stamped on top of barrel with Springfield Ma. and the Patent feb6.06 Sept.14.06 Dec28.14

Thanks for any help.
How in the world would CC this gun? I love the balance and aiming feel.
What would be a suggested personal carry round be for this?
 
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Welcome! You have a .38 Military & Police from the later part of the 1920 decade. With a 5" barrel it 'might' be amenable to carry with a shoulder holster if it is your only option. There are several standard pressure 158 gr lead semiwadcutter loads that would work well for defense and will likely print close to the sights. Others will be along with different opinions.
 
holster

Thanks for the info.
I have the original belt holster as well, Looks like this will be a cold weather CC only. summer wear will not cover the length of the butt of this as a complete no sight carry.
 
Think I'll sell this one with the holster, any input on value? it does show a little bluing missing stripe where it rides in and out of the holster, Holster has a corner tear at the top of the holster.
 
songman. We will definitely need some good pictures to give you a reasonable estimate. Millions of these were made. Condition is everything. It is most likely valued between $200 and $400. Welcome to the forum.
 
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My kids are collage liberals who believe the 2nd amendment should be abolished. All guns collected and of course the government will pay for them and everyone will live in peace.
 
Sorry for your troubles. Fantasyland must be a nice place to live on a permanent basis.

I would agree with the upper half of the value estimate above if it is in good mechanical condition. Any hope to keep it for your grandkids? :)
 
If it was your granddad's, I'd be keeping it but I do understand your "dilemma".

I bought a 1952 M & P with a 5" barrel - finish about 80% a while back and I paid $300.00 for it. It's one of my favorites to shoot - I was looking for a 4" but decided to pick up the 5" "just 'cause" and I'm glad I did. A great shooter. Your's of course is older and since I'm not a "collector" - I'll leave the pricing to those that are. For what you'd get out of it though - you might consider keeping it and shooting it.
 
561201 would date your Military and Police Model (M&P) to about mid-1927. Without pictures, I cannot tell you much else, except without medallions, the grips are likely original to the gun. This is one I would not sell. Regarding ammunition, any .38 S&W Special ammunition is safe to use. But most would recommend you stick to lead bullets. What you have is as good as any similar revolver made today.
 
It's a double edged sword --- if not for all of these anti-gun types inheriting firearms, we wouldn't have local gun shops filled with nice old S&W revolvers for sale.

Last week while gun-hunting I ran across a K-22 (that I bought), a 90%-ish 53 w/o inserts, a 547 with box, 2 very nice (95%+) 29-2s, a P&R 66 4", a pre-28 4", and lots of M&Ps/10s/15s/36s/37s. I almost bought a nickel M&P 4" to go with the K-22. This was only 3 different gun stores! Seems like the golden age is upon us...
 
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"...if not for all of these anti-gun types inheriting firearms, we wouldn't have local gun shops filled with nice old S&W revolvers for sale."

This is a great example of how what you see depends on where in the country you live.

Out in Washington the liberals may be getting rid of their old revolvers, but here in Tennessee the people are hoarding them. I was at two gun shops and three pawn shops over the weekend and the gun shops had ZERO old revolvers - not even one. One of the pawn shops had one overpriced Model 38, one had a poorly re-nickeled top-break .38 for $469 (reduced from $499), and the other a re-blued old Colt Police Positive for $500.

A good friend has a gun shop about fifty miles from here (Nashville) and he says he never gets old revolver trade-ins any more.
At the gun shows there are still a few available, but the prices have just about doubled in the past year or so.
More like the Stone Age than the Golden Age for guns around here...
 
rjb1 said:
"...if not for all of these anti-gun types inheriting firearms, we wouldn't have local gun shops filled with nice old S&W revolvers for sale."

This is a great example of how what you see depends on where in the country you live.

Out in Washington the liberals may be getting rid of their old revolvers, but here in Tennessee the people are hoarding them. I was at two gun shops and three pawn shops over the weekend and the gun shops had ZERO old revolvers - not even one. One of the pawn shops had one overpriced Model 38, one had a poorly re-nickeled top-break .38 for $469 (reduced from $499), and the other a re-blued old Colt Police Positive for $500.

A good friend has a gun shop about fifty miles from here (Nashville) and he says he never gets old revolver trade-ins any more.
At the gun shows there are still a few available, but the prices have just about doubled in the past year or so.
More like the Stone Age than the Golden Age for guns around here...
Click to expand...

Never thought about it that way! From what I've gleaned from the forum, it seems like the Midwest and the "Rust Belt" states have been the most fruitful for older S&Ws. Maybe that's changing?

We here in WA also succumbed to idiotic legislation that took away our right to sell firearms between private parties. It's possible that this might have a hand in it too. I have never seen the number and quality of used older guns (of any make) as I do now. I'd never bought a used gun in a store before this was passed, all private party.
 
I have a 38 special with a 4" barrel. It's a 4 screw hand ejectors. Can't find a model no. on it but think it is a mod. 10. The no's I found on it if they help are, B391304, and 11764. The S&W stamp is on the cyl. in-lock side. I wanted to know how old this gun is and what it's worth may be?
 
Welcome to the forums from the Wiregrass, songman and charlie102! Charlie, you need to start your own thread. You will get a much better response. It sounds to me like your M&P has grips that cover the entire butt frame. You need to remove them and look on the bottom of the butt frame for the serial number including the prefix letter which I believe will be C. For value estimates, we need well lighted and sharp pictures of all sides of the gun.
 
charlie102 said:
I have a 38 special with a 4" barrel....... The no's I found on it if they help are, B391304, and 11764. The S&W stamp is on the cyl. in-lock side....
Click to expand...

Definitely follow Wiregrassguy's advice, but just based on the tidbits you provide, it is an M&P from the early 1920s with no prefix and the butt serial will be 391304. The B just denotes it was blued from the factory, and I suspect you found that number under the barrel; the five-digit is an assembly number. The logo on the left side confirms the placement in time and makes a prefix to the serial number not likely. That early, there were no model numbers, but this later evolved into the Model 10.
 
Wiregrassguy said:
.....I made my guess on it being a 4 screw gun. Wouldn't be the first time that the sideplate screw under the grips wasn't counted.
Click to expand...

That was my thinking; grips that cover the butt serial usually also cover that screw ;) .
 
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