By the way I thought the first S&W .38 Special was in 1899?
That seems to be the conventional wisdom, but something told me to check before posting. I looked up .38 Special in
Cartridges of the World, 9th Edition by Frank C. Barnes (edited by M.L. McPherson) and it states:
"Also known as the .38 Colt Special and, more generally, as simply the .38 Special, this cartridge was developed by S&W and introduced with its Military & Police Model revolver in 1902." (p. 275)
I also saw a website later (I didn't make note of the URL) that said that the S&W M&P came out in 1902, and was based on an earlier model.
Of course, the conventional wisdom has always been 1899 and I've also seen 1898. Gene Gangarosa Jr's
Complete Guide To Service Handguns says 1899 as do several websites.
I don't know what sources everyone is relying on. Other possible sources of the differences could be that a version of the M&P came out in 1899 and it was modified to the version we know now in 1902. Was it actually called the M&P in 1899, maybe it was called something else until 1902. Maybe it was developed in 1899 but wasn't available until 1902. Or it could simply be a more reckless mistake on the part of one of the groups (or more likely the source used by one of the groups).
At any rate, originally I was thinking the M&P for this question if it came out by 1900 since I like the .38spl (as well as several other choices) for HD. However, having the past couple days to think about it I don't think I'd want an early one. The original loading would have been a relatively ineffective lead ball design. The .38 Colt Special only deviated from the .38 S&W Special in that it had a flat point (probably more effective) and I'd be willing to go with that, but it didn't come out until 1909. With the bullet technology of the day I think I'd be more comfortable with the larger bore so I think I'd still stick with something in .45LC, probably the tried and true SAA.