How to Read Smith and Wesson 38 Special Ctg Serial Numbers

#1 11-06-2010, 12:xi AM

A relative recently passed abroad and left me a Smith and Wesson 38 with "38 Southward&Westward Special CTG" etched on the barrel. I don't know much at all almost these guns and would appreciate any information (engagement, value range, etc.) for a gun like this. The series numbers on the butt of the gun and the underside of the barrel lucifer -- 11###.

A second number appears on cylinder swivel (and on the gun where the hinge attaches): 51037.

Cheers for whatever information.

#2 11-06-2010, 06:35 AM

Welcome to the Forum. We'll need some more information to place your S&W and pictures if you lot are able to post them. Is there a letter prefix in forepart of the series number on the butt . . . like "C" 11XXX? Also the barrel length would be helpful . . . mensurate from the forepart of the cylinder to the muzzle tip. Once again, pictures would be best.

Russ

#3 11-06-2010, 08:45 AM

Nosotros practise need more info. You make no mention of a model number on the frame visible when the cylinder is swung out (appears as MOD 10 or MOD 36, etc) and then nosotros assume it was made before 1958 when the model numbers appear.

Six shot or five? A vi shot 38 Special would sound similar a Military & Police force Model (probably with a iv" or 6" butt) and a serial of xi,000 would arrive a very early one, similar around 1910 or so. A v shooter with that series could be a J frame model (probably with a ii" barrel) from the early 1950s.

There are other possibilities, also.

#iv 11-06-2010, 08:51 AM

Thanks. I gave you all the numbers that appear anywhere, after a very careful inspection. Definitely a six shooter.

How do you measure out barrel length? With the cylinder flipped out, the length of the barrel alone is 4".

#**five** 11-06-2010, 08:55 AM

OK, on the barrel of the gun there are no messages and numbers, simply underneath the barrel, it looks something like:

C 111## Southward (with the Southward a little lower than the rest on the line)

#6 xi-06-2010, 09:15 AM

A half-dozen-shot .38 Special with the SN mentioned is a .38 Armed services & Police, later called the model 10, equally the other posters mentioned. It was probably made in 1948.

It should have the serial number on the bottom of the grip frame. Your showtime post mentioned:

"The serial numbers on the barrel of the gun and the underside of the barrel match -- 11###."

Your second post stated:

"OK, on the butt of the gun there are no letters and numbers..."

?

#7 eleven-06-2010, ten:10 AM

The C prefix makes it a post state of war War machine & Police, likely 1949 or 1950.

Don't know about the S postage. May not exist factory but added past a police or security agency that owned information technology.

Butt is measured from the muzzle to the confront of the cylinder. The iv" barrel is the most commonly seen length.

Sounds similar a basic M&P from effectually 1950 or and then. This gun (in various versions evolving over many decades) is the about popular revolver in the world and Due south&West sold millions of them. In 1958 it becomes the Model x. About folks around hither would probably pay nearly $300 for a decent example of such a gun.

#**eight** xi-06-2010, 12:51 PM

If the number is 11xxx, with no letter prefix, then its a model of 1899.
I presume that the extractor rod end hangs complimentary under the barrel, and
the underside of the barrel does not take a communicable-mechanism for
the stop of the extractor rod ?

Mike Priwer

#10 12-10-2010, 10:33 PM

This is a Model 67, which is a stainless steel revolver, not a nickel
plated carbon steel gun. A magnet should not be attracted to it.
It dates from the middle 1970'south, and is mayhap a $400 gun - possibly
a fleck more than.

This is probably not the best thread for it - you might want to
post it on the next thread, covering the latter years.

Mike Priwer