S&w mod 38

[BouvMan]

My wife has a S&W revolver, SN J708nnn, that she bought at an auction before I met her. She has no manual or paper work of any kind. I would appreciate any information anyone might have about this weapon.

 

[Schofield3]

Any Pictures by chance?

 

[Ron James]

Double post

 

[Ron James]

From your abundance of information, the only thing that can be determined, is that it is a "J" frame of some type made in 1979-1980. The J sequence of serial numbers were used on 5 different S&W revolvers. Open the cylinder, there shoud be a Model number stamped on the yoke frame. It should look something like this, M36, M37, M38, M49 or M50

 

[BouvMan]

Thanks. I do not see anything else that would be helpful. I don't have any pictures, but I guess I can take one. It does have "MOD 38" stamped on it. That was in the subject, but I guess it was not clear.

I met her in the early 80s, so it must have been fairly new when we met.

 

[BouvMan]

My apologies. I found pictures and it does not look like a MOD 38, so I rechecked and it is a MOD 36.

 

[rcmodel]

O.K. then.

S&W Model 36 Chiefs Special.

[/IMG]

rc

 

[BouvMan]

Ah yes, the picture looks exactly like it.

 

[Ron James]

The model 36 was first introduced in 1950. Since then it has been carried by countless law enforcement as a back up and untold number of civilians as a primary defence weapon. In terms of small revolvers you can't do much better. Because of the short sighting radius it is difficult to shoot accurately at distance, however, that little two inch barrel is very accurate { by no means a target gun } in the right hands. It's best to use standard loads, however it can handle the so called +p loads. For a novice I wouldn't worry about the hoopla on the difference 38 shells available. Practice with what ever is the cheapest, and just load it with Winchester Silvertips. There may be better defence load available,but keep it simple, Silvertips are proven and are still effective. Google Smith and Wesson and I believe you can find a downloadable users manual for it. Good Luck.

 

[Pistol Toter]

If it was me I'd load it with std vel .38 spl 158 grain lead semi-wadcutters. Pretty mild to shoot and will poke a desent deep hole.
Model 36's are cute little buggers.

 

[Doublet]

Year Manufacture Colt Gov. 380

Like to know year manufacture on Colt Gov. 380 SN RSO35--