Can you ID this one?

[armoredman]

No picture, so bear with me. Cp40 and I were at Matt's house tonight, and he showed me the Smith revolver his Grandfather carried as a cop, so the story goes. It is a Smith 38 Spl 4 inch M&P, as it has nothing to ID it as a Model 10. What it does have is some weird stampings...
On the barrel, where the 38 S&W Special Ctg markings are, it has some odd stamps. Two lines, top line has a strange picture, almost looking like either a crook neck desk lamp, or as Matt says, some guy surfing. Then on the line is 38 " 76 . Bottom line under the picture it nays either ND or NP, then 3.5 T Z N S. Of the back of the grip is stamped USNCPC. Any ideas?

 

[Josey]

Sounds more like a plant guard issue. What part of the country? Any defense plants in that area in WWII? I guess it would be naval related. Munitions. The fellow might have been a LEO after the war and simply kept the revolver as surplus or bought it from the plant/government.

 

[Lone Star]

How about NP= Nitro Prooved, 3.5 tonnes? (UK spelling of "tons".)

My guess is that you have a .38/200, maybe converted to .38 Special, which is bad news.

Lone Star

 

[carpettbaggerr]

Search for USNCPC shows it stands for US Navy Civilian Police Corps

Check out lot 1501 here

 

[armoredman]

Thank you - another guy on another board brought that up, but I couldn't find a referance to that anywhere. Appreciate it!

 

[FPrice]

carpettbaggerr...

What book is that in the background? That revolver looks like my roughly 1942 M&P which has an "A O P" stamped on the backstrap.

 

[FPrice]

armoredman...

What is the serial number of your revolver? You can replace the last three digits with "x's" to preserve some privacy. Also, is there a "V" (or "SV") with the serial number?

 

[armoredman]

I didn't write down the number, but there are no letters in it.

 

[Josey]

IIRC, AOP stood for American Optical Police. They were a major WWII supplier and critical to the war effort. The book in the backgound is an auction catalogue. The one I saw was a reprint of an old article w/pics. That revolver is at auction.

 

[Old Fuff]

Armoredman:

In 1940, as World War Two approached The U.S. Navy became concerned about a shortage of appropriate handguns with which to arm security personal who were charged with guarding various naval installations. The first and most logical choice would have been the model 1911-A1 .45 Pistol, but the available supply of those was allocated elsewhere.

On January 4, 1941 a “Memoradum†from Jerome Doyle, Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, was sent to the Chief of the Bureau of (Naval) Ordnance concerning the purchase of handguns to arm a proposed “Naval Civilian Police Corpsâ€. These were to be Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolvers chambered in .38 Special, blue finish, 4-inch barrels, with lanyard rings and checkered walnut stocks. They were to be marked on the backstrap; U.S.N.C.P.C. (Standing for “United States Naval Civilian Police Corpsâ€).

The USNCPC, as you might have guessed, were civilians, hired to provide extra security at Naval Installations and Defense Plants and Shipyards making Naval equipment.

Other then the special marking and lanyard ring, these were standard Military & Police revolvers as regularly manufactured, and serial number in the regular civilian serial number range. Approximately 3000 revolvers were purchased, with serial numbers in the 752000 range.

An unknown number of these already scarce revolvers were later sent to Great Britain. These were marked with their military property and proof marks. As the gun you examined had such marks it is a rare example of a scarce variant. Some of those were returned to the United States as surplus after the war.

Armoredman – You have hit the jackpot. Congratulations.

 

[armoredman]

I wish it was mine - I left a message for my buddy. Thank you very much for the info. He has actually been shooting this weapon every so often, and it is in NRA very Good shape due to meticulous care. The timing is going out, but other than tat, very serviceable.
The only other odd marking is an electropenned x on the frame inside bottom, right under the clinder - wonder if that meant it was off the books, and saleable.

All this just showed me how much I'd like again to have a Smith Model 10 4". Nothing special, just a Special.....