squarles67:
No insult taken.
oldtrainfan:
You have a S&W .38 Military & Police 2nd Model (Model of 1902) manufactured in 1902-1903 in the serial range 20976 to 33803, so 1902 seems certain.
U.S. SERVICE CTG refers to .38 long colt, the then US service round. S&W were not going to stamp Colt on their gun! .38 S&W special is a stretched version of the long colt case, both will chamber in your gun, but .38 special will be the better round as you will have less crud build up in the chambers.
Word of warning, your gun predates both the internal hammer block safety and heat treating of cylinders, so if carried or kept loaded the chamber under the hammer should be left empty. Stick to standard pressure lead ammunition, don't use jacketed or PlusP marked ammunition.
The sights should be regulated for 158 grain round nose lead, 148 grain lead wadcutters should also hit close to point of aim.
There is a how to check out a revolver thread stickied at the top of this forum, if your gun passes the tests then it should be safe to shoot with any standard pressure lead load.
The original grips would have been checkered hard rubber with the S&W logo molded into the top or checkered walnut with an uncheckered diamond around the grip screw and a rounded top. Any modern round butt grip for the S&W K frame will fit, but the style would be incorrect. The old style grips had a rounded top and no inset medallion. See the attached pics for the correct style.
Check out Numrich Arms (gun wreckers) or
www.smith-wessonforum.com (collectors forum) for replacement grips.
If your gun has adjustable sights then it potentially has considerable collectors value, if the sights are fixed, not so much.
Introduced in 1899 with the First Model, the .38 Military & Police with some design changes continues in production today as the Model 10. Several million were made, so there is no shortage of them on the used market.