[sally]

I have a S & W 38 Special that I am trying to find some information about.
Serial number is 41535
It has markings;
"38 Special S & W"
"US Service CTG's"
on the 4" barrel.
It's blue and has black grips.
Its a six shot double action and the finish is a little rough. Has some rust and some bluing is faded.
Can you tell me anything about it?
thanks!

[swampshooter]

Open up the cylinder and see if there are any numbers visible on the frame, if so post those, somebody should be able to help you then.

[rcmodel]

With that serial number it will not have a model number inside the crane.

The gun is a .38 Military & Police Model of 1902, First Change.

It was shipped from the factory in 1903 - 1904

In the condition you describe, it would probably be worth around $200 - $250 dollars.

rcmodel

[sally]

Thanks much!

[Jim K]

FWIW, the "U.S. Service Cartridge" was what we now call the .38 Long Colt, which was used by the military in Colt revolvers from 1892 on into WWI, even after the adoption of the Model 1909 .45 revolver and the M1911 auto pistol.

The .38 LC is shorter than the .38 Special so will work fine in a .38 Special revolver. You can probably figure out why S&W marked that gun "U.S. Service Cartridge" rather than ".38 Colt".

In any event, the .38 Colt is now out of production and scarce.

Jim