K-.38s What's the difference?

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Jim Watson said:
I never heard of the Navy procuring the 1905.
But it was surely carried with empty chamber, just like the 1911.

An old magazine article about the .38 Automatic said that while the hammer could be lowered on a loaded chamber, that it was simpler just to make "an easy motion of the slide" to charge the chamber from the magazine.
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Don't recall anything on the Navy ordering M1905's in my reference books. But take a look, Man at Arms Magazine, June 2020, pages 45 & 46. The Navy had M1905's and during WW2, they were reissued to state side Navy personnel, in security jobs, as "substitute standard".

Even though John Browning considered the half cock as the "safety position", there were negligent discharges when the hammer slipped from under the thumb. You can read his patents, and John Browning expected Cavalry troopers to roll the hammer back with the shooting thumb, till it hit the grip safety, and then lower the hammer to the half cock. I don't have a horse, but I am sure, if the horse was bouncy, bouncy, that was hard to do without the hammer slipping.

The Austrian M1905 had a positive safety which made lowering the hammer less problematic.

 
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What can I say? Best Mother's day present I ever got?
Not exactly how it was described,
It's still a keeper.

This was suppose to be a K-38 w/ 8 3/8 barrel (pre-Model 14)
It turned out to be S&W Model 14-4 Target Masterpiece with 8 3/8 barrel.
It's a hoot to shoot and I will give it some TLC

  • Got practice pic taking again. Got some strange reflections above the barrel lug and off the cylinder. This puppy is 100%.

  • Scan_20220507 (2).png
 
J-Bar asked Fitz or Ropers or...?
They are Fitz K series S&W target grips.
You see the miss's sewing machine went down 2 months ago and due to who knows what, covid-19 and alike, an estimate will take 4 months. We had Chicken Little Syndrome at my house! So I got prices before leaving the store. She went right back and took a home a new machine, knowing full well Father 's Day would come early this year. She got the better deal, but I have what I wanted since late last year.
 
02E3F968-4C77-4350-87EC-0EDD50B28AF8.jpeg
Thomasss said:
J-Bar asked Fitz or Ropers or...?
They are Fitz K series S&W target grips.
You see the miss's sewing machine went down 2 months ago and due to who knows what, covid-19 and alike, an estimate will take 4 months. We had Chicken Little Syndrome at my house! So I got prices before leaving the store. She went right back and took a home a new machine, knowing full well Father 's Day would come early this year. She got the better deal, but I have what I wanted since late last year.
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I have similar Fitz grips on my K22 Outdoorsman, which is essentially the same revolver you have, (yeah, .22 versus .38 I know) before S&W started numbering their models instead of naming them. You are going to have fun with that set up, shooting bragging sized groups. We expect a range report!! :thumbup:
 
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daverich4 said:
My 14-6 has the full underlug. My 14-3 does not.
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The full underlug came in with the 14-5 in 1991.

In other news, there have been some runs of 4" barrel 14s. There were a few special runs and IIRC, at one time the LAPD used 4" 14s. Why they special ordered 14s rather than using regular production 15s is a mystery to me. IMO, the whole point of the Model 14 is target shooting, which calls for a longer sight radius with target sights, large hammer, large trigger and trigger stop, all of which are pluses for target use and negatives for service use. If you want a service revolver, get a 15.
 
natman said:
The full underlug came in with the 14-5 in 1991.

In other news, there have been some runs of 4" barrel 14s. There were a few special runs and IIRC, at one time the LAPD used 4" 14s. Why they special ordered 14s rather than using regular production 15s is a mystery to me. IMO, the whole point of the Model 14 is target shooting, which calls for a longer sight radius with target sights, large hammer, large trigger and trigger stop, all of which are pluses for target use and negatives for service use. If you want a service revolver, get a 15.
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LAPD more often than not marches to their own drum, having S&W make guns ordered especially for them is not surprising.

I have a 6” and 8 3/8” model 14 and a 4” model 15 (and matching 67 no dash like the one shown above.) They are great revolvers, by far my favorites!

Stay safe.
 
Riomouse911 said:
LAPD more often than not marches to their own drum, having S&W make guns ordered especially for them is not surprising.

I have a 6” and 8 3/8” model 14 and a 4” model 15 (and matching 67 no dash like the one shown above.) They are great revolvers, by far my favorites!
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LAPD would have the size and prestige to order anything they wanted and S&W would happily do a special run for them. Why they wanted 14s rather than 15s is the mystery. The 14 was something of a flagship model for S&W and I have noted that my 14 has an unusually smooth double action trigger pull, indicating a bit of extra attention during assembly. This is ironic since a 14 used for its intended purpose will rarely be fired DA. Perhaps that was the motivation.

I have a 8 3/8" 14 and a 6" K38 Target Masterpiece. Both are scary accurate.

Here's the 14:
ss51ubO.jpg
 
CraigC said:
14's have a 6" or 8 3/8" barrel and a Patridge front sight. 15's have a 2" or 4" barrel and a ramp front sight. Safe for anything including +P. Great guns, I have every length but an 8 3/8".[/QUOTe

When Smith dropped the model 15. They made run of 4 in. barrel model 14's. These had the barrel profile of the 14 with ramp front sight instead of the "skinny" barrel profile of the model 15.
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I don't have any pictures yet, but I was adjusting my sights yesterday and had several clover leaf groups touching each other at 10 yards. I am finding out the gun really likes extending the my cast 158 grn. SWC bullets to 1.455. A friend also suggested that I drop my bullseye powder charge down from 3.4 to just over 3.0 That should bring it down to about 700fps.
What do you guys think?
 
Thomasss said:
A friend also suggested that I drop my bullseye powder charge down from 3.4 to just over 3.0 That should bring it down to about 700fps.
What do you guys think?
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I think it is fun to experiment.

For decades, the classic .38 Special load for competition was a deeply seated 148 grain wadcutter over 2.7 grains of Bullseye. This one mikes out just about 1.250" overall. Seating the bullet deeply reduces case volume, increases pressure, and maintains velocity with small powder charges. The Lee Manual says muzzle velocity is 713 FPS. I don't have a chronometer so I'll take their word for it.

IMG_0955.jpg

This load shoots well in my S&W Model 14-4, made in 1977. This is a 15 yard group that was shot with my elbows rested. I'm a shaky old man; wish I could do it offhand.

IMG_0956.jpg

Load up a dozen of your regular profile bullets with the lower Bullseye charge and test 'em. Like Ripley said, "It's the only way to be sure!"
 
I have a few ideas I would like to try. I will include some LWC and see what the gun likes. I too have "the jitters" and have to modify my shooting stance. Friends have recommended I reduce my charges down to 3.0 to 3.1 grains of Bullseye. I'm also going to try lowering my charge of PB using LSWC.
 
Scan_20220529 (2).png Scan_20220529.png
Left target was 10 yards with 148 grn. Speer HBWC using 2.8 Grains of Red Dot. Right target was 25 yards using my cast 158 grn. SWC with 3.4 Grains of PB. I was still playing with the adj. sights when these were shot. Now that I am finally sighted in, I've decided to go back to Bullseye using near 3.2 grains and see if I can tighten the groups up. It's tough when a lot of practice is needed but one's powder choice is limited.
 
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