Hey! I've got one of those...sorta.
I've got the OTHER one: a Model-1902/2nd change, but I have the other caliber option, to wit, the .32 Winchester Ctg. otherwise known as the .32-20.
Mine is a lot more worn, with the grip checkering worn smooth on the right-side panel, and only about 30-ish % of the finish remaining. What's left is a DEEP shiny blue, however. The barrel's got a ring-bulge right at the end of the ejector rod, the forcing cone and the cylinder face are pretty severely eroded, and there's a neat blast cut on the underside of the topstrap from the flash gap positioned neatly in front of the dish-out placed for the .38 Special-length cylinder.
It's rather tired overall, but it still shoots OK despite the semi-destroyed state of the rifling. .32-20 can be impressive from a handgun, with a loud muzzleblast and a brilliant white flash a good 12" across from the cylinder gap. Respectable recoil as well, but aside from the forcing cone and the annular pitting surrounding the chamber-ends, the rest of the metal parts on the gun show little obvious wear despite a LOT of obvious use, which speaks well of S&W's metallurgy at the turn of the century.
I really like the unusual barrel configuration. The pictured .38 is the only other example of this barrel type I've seen. It's not a classic pencil profile, instead being closer to a Colt-style straight-sided cone, but without the heavy thickness of the later M-10-style heavy barrel. It must not have lasted too long in production. I find that the early K-frame with the long-ish barrel is considerably bigger and heftier than the equivalent-era Colt D-frame, but in return you get a steadier hold and a more muzzle heavy balance that worked really well for handling the sharp-cracking .32 WCF.
The sights are classic 1900-era. That equates to a skinny rounded front blade and a really tiny groove in the backstrap, we're talking a 1/2-circle groove a skosh smaller than 1/16" diameter. That makes for a slow-to-use, but potentially very accurate sight picture, subject to the rounded front sight getting lit evenly. As worn-out and tired as the rifling is in my gun, so long as I assure proper indexing, the gun will shoot workable groups rather than patterns. Not bad for a century of abuse!
The internals of these early guns are built like Swiss watches, but are quite confusing to look at with a Kunnhausen book in front of you. A few major changes to the internal layout happened early in the K-frame's history. I rather wonder why, as none of the parts inside my gun show anything like severe wear. The action is quite smooth also, in spite of a wonky ejector spring that makes the cylinder bind.
My gun's the Second Change version. The most obvious difference to the one pictured is a bigger knob on the end of the ejector rod. Otherwise, they could be peas in a pod. They're neat old antiques that display a level of craftsmanship that puts modern practice to shame.
Sometimes the 100-year-old guns are the best ones.
