A nice old five screw smith.

[tark]

Drove down to Simpson's today and grabbed this nice old smith & Wesson. It was a C&R gun and I hoped it would be a five screw. It was. It is a .38 Spl. and I am a sucker for K frame Smith's with a 5 or 6" barrel. Gun was as advertised: Tight lockup, smooth action, clean screw heads and a .005" cylinder gap. And some good, honest wear. All numbers match. Timing is spot on. I shot it a bit when I got it home. Seemed to hit exactly where I pointed it.

The holster came with it. It's in good shape, all stitches are sound. Just needs a bit of cleaning.

I need some help. I'm not very knowledgeable about Smith & Wessons. Is this gun a M&P hand ejector? Or a model 10? Or a whatever? The full serial # is: 195913. There is a "C" prefix. I would really like to know when it was made.

The quality and craftsmanship of these old guns just blows me away. They were made in an era when labor was cheap and hand fitted precision ruled the day.

While I was there, Mr. Simpson came out of the back room and we chatted for a few minutes. He is a wonderful old gentleman and will share a few tidbits of knowledge anyone who asks. In addition to being one of the world's foremost Luger experts, he knows a thing or two about C-96 Mausers as well. Today, he showed me where the serial #s are stamped on a S&W. I also learned that the S&W stamp and the caliber stamp on the barrel are always centered. If they aren't, the barrel has been cut. This was new knowledge to me.

Told ya' I didn't know much about smith's... Lol. Sorry about the crappy pics

 

[J-Bar]

I recently purchased a similar S&W .38 Special M&P with serial number C170xxx that was dated to 1949 by one expert and 1950 by another. Your serial number 195xxx should be in the 1950 range, well before S&W started calling them the “Model 10” in 1957. So yours is a hand ejector M&P. Others more knowledgeable than I can provide additional info. Great find, congratulations on scoring a fine revolver.

 

[Walkalong]

Very nice, a great pick up.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Speed hammer too, very nice!

 

[tark]

Speed hammer too, very nice!

I wouldn't know a speed hammer from a cucumber. Lol. What is a "speed hammer?"

I recently purchased a similar S&W .38 Special M&P with serial number C170xxx that was dated to 1949 by one expert and 1950 by another. Your serial number 195xxx should be in the 1950 range, well before S&W started calling them the “Model 10” in 1957. So yours is a hand ejector M&P. Others more knowledgeable than I can provide additional info. Great find, congratulations on scoring a fine revolver.

Thanks J Bar ! I was hatched in '48. I was thinking it was close to being as old as me.

I did pull the grips off, the right one has a different number than the serial # of the gun, so the grips aren't original. No big deal. The gun is a shooter, with good, honest wear showing, It's not a collector's gun. I have been researching the gun. The grips have the plastic medallion that was used after WW II because of a world wide metal shortage. At least they are period correct

 

[Pat Riot]

Congratulations!
That’s a nice revolver. A nice find. I am envious.

 

[Riomouse911]

Drove down to Simpson's today and grabbed this nice old smith & Wesson. It was a C&R gun and I hoped it would be a five screw. It was. It is a .38 Spl. and I am a sucker for K frame Smith's with a 5 or 6" barrel. Gun was as advertised: Tight lockup, smooth action, clean screw heads and a .005" cylinder gap. And some good, honest wear. All numbers match. Timing is spot on. I shot it a bit when I got it home. Seemed to hit exactly where I pointed it.

The holster came with it. It's in good shape, all stitches are sound. Just needs a bit of cleaning.

I need some help. I'm not very knowledgeable about Smith & Wessons. Is this gun a M&P hand ejector? Or a model 10? Or a whatever? The full serial # is: 195913. There is a "C" prefix. I would really like to know when it was made.

The quality and craftsmanship of these old guns just blows me away. They were made in an era when labor was cheap and hand fitted precision ruled the day.

While I was there, Mr. Simpson came out of the back room and we chatted for a few minutes. He is a wonderful old gentleman and will share a few tidbits of knowledge anyone who asks. In addition to being one of the world's foremost Luger experts, he knows a thing or two about C-96 Mausers as well. Today, he showed me where the serial #s are stamped on a S&W. I also learned that the S&W stamp and the caliber stamp on the barrel are always centered. If they aren't, the barrel has been cut. This was new knowledge to me.

Told ya' I didn't know much about smith's... Lol. Sorry about the crappy pics

Nice find!

As for the stamps “always being centered”, that may hold true on the older Smiths, like your 5-screw or my 1940’s era M&P .38 with a 4” barrel shown here:



For newer guns, like these Model 14-3 .38’s, the stamps line up with the stud on the barrel, not the center of the barrel. (Kinda blurry, sorry.)





Both of these were 8 3/8” barrels. One is untouched, the other had a bulge about an inch from the end where the previous owner stuck a bullet then fired another shot.



I had the barrel cut to 5” and a new front sight installed, so now the stamp on the barrel is allllllmost centered.



When you get a chance to go shoot, let us know how it shoots for you.

Stay safe.

 

[StrawHat]

Nice looking revolver, and probably a good shooter.

However, Mr Simpson has unfortunately, repeated a myth. S&W has stamped barrels in any location they choose.

All of these are from the factory,

S&W Model 22-4, 4”,



S&W Mountain Gun, 45 ACP,




S&W Model 28-2



S&W Model 22-4, reintroduction of the Model 1950 Army,



S&W Model 1917 Commercial,




As you can see the stamps are located on the barrel, not in any particular spot.

Kevin

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I wouldn't know a speed hammer from a cucumber. Lol. What is a "speed hammer?"

Thanks J Bar ! I was hatched in '48. I was thinking it was close to being as old as me.

I did pull the grips off, the right one has a different number than the serial # of the gun, so the grips aren't original. No big deal. The gun is a shooter, with good, honest wear showing, It's not a collector's gun. I have been researching the gun. The grips have the plastic medallion that was used after WW II because of a world wide metal shortage. At least they are period correct

The speed hammer was a factory option with a shorter throw and upturned spur.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

The proper name for your revolver is 38 Military and Police. In 1957 S&W went to a model numbering system and the 38 M&P became the Model 10. If it were a Model 10 it would say so on the frame under the cylinder yoke (the hinge the cylinder swings out on). It would be stamped MOD 10, or MOD 10 with a dash number.

By the way, that is a pretty old box of Remington Kleanbore ammo you were shooting. Probably made between 1946-1960. Here is a box of 44 Russian from the same era.






This is the style of hammer that was introduced in 1899 with the 38 Military and Police Model of 1899.






This is a Speed Hammer. It was introduced in 1948 on K frame revolvers. Also called the Short Action Hammer.






This is a modern S&W hammer. Not sure exactly when this style was introduced.






This photo shows the difference between a Short Throw or Short Action hammer on the Model 14 at the top of this photo and the older Long Throw or Long Action hammer on the M&P Target Model at the bottom of the photo. When the trigger of any double action revolver is pulled double action style, the trigger releases the hammer at a certain angle. However when the hammer is cocked for single action shooting, the hammer goes back a bit further than when the trigger releases it for double action shooting. That is because of how the mechanism works. So the hammer fall for double action shooting has to compress the hammer spring enough to reliably fire a cartridge. S&W realized that the Long Throw hammer was compressing the hammer spring a bit more than necessary for single action shooting, so the parts were redesigned so the hammer did not go back quite as far when cocked for single action shooting. That is what this photo is demonstrating. Your Speed Hammer was the first design S&W made for a Short Throw hammer, later they settled on the design of the hammer shown on my Model 14.

 

[tark]

By the way, that is a pretty old box of Remington Kleanbore ammo you were shooting.

The box is old, the ammo was Remington new commercial. And thanks for the info. I am learning

As for the stamps “always being centered”, that may hold true on the older Smiths, like your 5-screw or my 1940’s era M&P .38 with a 4” barrel shown here:

Looked at my gun again. The stamps are centered on the lug! Both stamps are about an inch closer to the frame than the end of the barrel ! You and StrawHat are absolutely correct. Thanks to all for the info.

 

[Archie]

The easiest way to tell:
Military and Police has fixed sights.
Adjustable sights are the Target Model.
A Hand Ejector is a revolver requiring a specific motion (pushing the extractor star rod) as opposed to the automatic ejection of a top break revolver. Made more sense when the swing out cylinder was introduced. Before that, S&W revolvers were mostly top breaks.

As usual, there are some variations and exceptions for the wind blowing North or Tuesday past 12:30 PM. But these are what I've seen.