A Gunshow Find: S&W K-38 Combat Masterpiece

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FPrice

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I didn't go to the Gunshow today intending to buy a gun. Honestly. I didn't.

However I know now what they mean when they say that a gun can call to you. Cause this one sure did call to me.

It was a typical late winter New England gunshow, perhaps a little bit better than some in recent memory. I saw a nice roughly 1949 K-22 Masterpiece with box. Not bad shape but not as nice as my 1955 versions. I was thinking about it when I saw a nice S&W Model 15 (or so I thought) way over on the other side. Looked at it and it has a serial number of K 67xxx. Hmmm, has to be a pre-Model 15, but not sure how early. Quickly wander over to a book seller and look for a copy of Supica and Nahas to check the date. Hmmm, 1948. Went by the dealer again. By this time my eight-year old is really complaining that he wants to go home. Tell him we will go soon. Look at the gun again, verify price ($300, no haggling, it's a consignment). Ask the dealer to remove the stocks so I can see if they are original and numbered. Cringe as he takes out his Leatherman clone, selects the smallest screw-driver, and works the grip screw. Yep, they are numbered. Fill out the 4473, make out the check, and she's mine.

Get it home and notice the little star after the serial number. First time I have ever seen the sign that the gun has been back to the factory for some sort of work. Take the grips off and see a very small "5 50" on the butt. Wow, refinished only a year or two after manufacture???

Anyways, do some quick research. Serial number listing in Supica and Nahas says this is a 1948 gun but the model was introduced in 1949. No big mystery here since S&W often used parts and made guns slightly out of serial number sequence. But this certainly was an early version of this model. Time for a history request to Roy Jinks.

Oh, and i have a card from the shop that had the 1949 K-22. They are just 50 miles down the road. Looks like I pull something else out of the safe to sell or trade in a few days or so.

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VERY nice, and the price was VERY good too IMO. I have a twin to that gun, my favortite handgun out of all of them I own.
 
It is pretty safe to say that the first K-38 Combat Masterpiece revolvers were made using frames that were made in 1948. Always remember that frames were made and numbered before they were assembled into guns. I have seen a number of examples where the frame's serial number pre-dated the supposed introduction. This is particularly true where a new model was introduced that was numbered in an existing number series - as this one was.

You also find examples where the gun was shipped later - sometimes much later - then the serial number indicates.

Anyway Roy will know.
 
You can't really trust the serial. S&W was all over the map on when serials were assigned and shipped. I have an N frame with a number that Nahas & Supica says is from 1954 but the Jinks letter says it was shipped in March of 1957! I have another N frame with a number several hundred digits higher that was shipped two years earlier! Might be worth the $30 to get the exact ship date and destination. Probably first year and might be fun to know where it went.

The 15 (CM) is a cool gun. I looked for one for a while before finding this sheriff's department veteran. It's the only Smith I have with aftermarket stocks. The dealer who was clearing these out had about 200 of them with maybe 1/4 being in nickel. Most were in 95% or better condition so maybe not used long before going with autos. I thought it was worth the $165 asking price.

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Musta missed you, Frosty! :) I was there, too. I, too, did not mean to, but brought something home -- but that would belong in another forum...as would the very nice 1946 Win 71 for $1400 that I'm mentioning just to make WildohmigoshIcan'tbelievehedidn'tbuyitwhoisthesellerIwanttocallthemrightnowAlaska a little more woozy.
 
Sunday, for precisely the same reasons, except that my boys couldn't make it Sunday either (I went alone :( ). It's kind of a tradition for the three of us.

I passed on the 71 because I'd have had to get rid of something or two. I did come home with an M6 in .22 Hornet that was kinda sorta within the discretionary spending zone, urged on a little by their apparently discontinued status.
 
I have two of them, bought them both new 30 years ago. Best revolvers I own. One was my target gun, the other is a safe queen, and has only been fired about 100 times. Don't ask, I won't ever part with them...
 
My Pre-Model 15 is really a.....

Smith & Wesson K-38 Masterpiece Pre-Model 14! Interesting.

Just got my history request back from Roy Jinks. It turns out this revolver was shipped in early January 1949 to a company in Boston, MA as a 6" barreled gun. It was returned to the factory to be re-barreled to 4" in May 1950, just as the star on the butt and the date on the grip frame indicate. However there was nothing on the barrel to indicate that it was the component which was changed. This happened shortly after the Combat Masterpiece series was introduced. I would guess that the owner wanted the new version but did not want to wait for one to come available?

In any case it's nice to know it's history.

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A substantial number of law enforcement officers and agents sent in pre-model 14's to have them converted to lengths between 3 1/2 to 5 inches (4 inches being most common). That's the reason the Combat Masterpiece was created.

You made a super find, and had the good sense to get it. Good show!!!
 
Frosty, if you don't mind I would like to know what the first 4 or so numbers of the serial number are.....
 
It looks to me like the barrel was shortened. My 4" gun is centered. I can post a picture if needed of an original 4" gun from about the same time period.
 
Yes guys, as Mr. Jinks pointed out, this revolver started life as a pre-model 14 (K-38 Target Masterpiece) with a 6-inch barrel. Almost had to be because that was all they were making at the time. And then at then owner's request they shortened the barrel to 4-inches and replaced the target-style front sight with a Baughman "fast-draw" style as used on the .357 Magnum with barrel lengths between 3 1/2 to 5 inches at that time. As a result the barrel markings are not centered.

Is the bad? It would be if I had done the work with my trusty hacksaw. But FPrice has positive proof that it was done at the factory, and this puts a whole different light on things.

I'm not sure what Roy Jinks would call it, but I'd say that it was a "pre-Combat Masterpiece conversion of a K-38 Target Masterpiece - done by the factory on a relatively few guns usually submitted by law enforcement officers and FBI Agents. If it had been rebarreled it would have lost its identity - except for the factory letter.

This gun is a collectable in its own right, and far more rare then regular early K-38 Combat Masterpiece revolvers.

It does pay to ask and get a factory letter when there is a question. This may be the best $30.00 FPrice ever spent.
 
Guys...

I put a 6" K-38, a 4" Model 15, and my transformed pre-Model 14 together and tried to get a picture but it did not come well enough to see.

The markings on my pre-Model 14's barrel are about where they would have been on a 6" barrel. So we can be pretty sure that this is the original barrel, cut down by the factory.

Also, look at the front sight. On my Model 15, the bottom portion of the sight appears to be an integral part of the top rib on the barrel. On this revolver it is a distinctly separate piece. AND the front sight appears to be pinned to the rib.

Mr Jinks' exact words are,"The barrel of this revolver was changed to 4 inch when the revolver was returned to Smith & Wesson in May of 1950.".

It's amazing what you can see when you know what to look for.
 
>> It's amazing what you can see when you know what to look for. <<

At the time S&W didn't have forging dies for a 4-inch KT (K-frame/target barrel) so 6-inch barrels were cut down, and a new front sight ramp & blade pinned to the rib. Sometimes you can see the round headed pins, and in other cases the pins were polished flat with the rib. The former is more common with cut-down barrels and the latter with original production ones. Four-inch production barrels will have the markings centered while those that were cut to a shorter length usually won't.

Custom gunsmiths of the day also made similar conversions, using the same methods and factory parts - so it is important to have a factory letter to prove the work was indeed done at Smith & Wesson. When you have the proof in the form of a letter the value of the revolver - all other things being equal - will usually be substantially more then that of a similar gun that was modified outside of the factory. In this case FPrice came out a big winner.

Yes, it does pay to know what to look for ...
 
One more little tidbit...

The tag for this gun said "Model 15". But as we were closing the sale the dealer kept calling it a "Handy Jack", or so that's what I thought I heard. What he was really saying was....
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Hand Ejector. Duh.
 
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