Help with info about an inherited gun

T

TennLee

Inactive
Hello everyone.

I confess I'm a noobie with my first post. While I've been in the USAF for more than 20 years, I know very little about the details of revolvers. I wonder if anyone can shed any light or speculation on my grandfather's pistol I now possess.

I don't shoot it and don't desire to. The ammo found with it looks ancient, and I wonder if its really the wrong kind and should be long colt. What's especially odd is while the gun says S&W on it, its barrel says Colt. I'd guess sometime decades ago the original barrel was damaged and a smith or just a person replaced it.

Thanks for any insight. I saw the thread about S&W serial numbers, but it seems to gap between the late twenties and WWII and I'm guessing this gun is from somewhere around that area.
 

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Looks like somebody modded a butchered S&W by screwing in a Colt barrel (with its lack of the crane lock). But the front sight is S&W. Hmmm. Parts gun/frankengun? Definitely not factory.
 
The mismatched parts make the gun interesting but eliminate any value except as a novelty. The .38 Special ammunition would probably fire well enough, but I have doubts about firing any gun that has had that much done to it.

Jim
 
to my eye it looks to be a spanish made DA revolver and it may be chambered in 38 colt and not 38 special. If you don't know it to be in working order just put it in a display case because the gunsmiths i work with would not want to mess with a mix master or a spanish made S&W copy
 
No, I think it is, or rather was, a genuine S&W. But a gun that has had that much done to it is suspect, IMHO. Still, I wouldn't want to say it won't fire. Many S&Ws have had the front extractor rod support removed and still worked OK. I am not sure about the barrel threads and how the barrel has been fitted.

Jim
 
to my eye it looks to be a spanish made DA revolver and it may be chambered in 38 colt and not 38 special. If you don't know it to be in working order just put it in a display case because the gunsmiths i work with would not want to mess with a mix master or a spanish made S&W copy
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No, its definitely not that. The frame, trigger, hammer, etc all have the exact S&W profile. Also, the screws, cylinder notches, are all S&W. Spanish copies can be close (many are not) but they are never exact, and after you train your eye, its relatively easy to tell the differences. Its probably the Colt barrel profile and the extractor rod that are throwing you off.
 
Plus the S&W logo on the frame kinda negate the idea of a spanish special. I'm no expert, but it definitely looks like a Frankengun.

As for shooting, I woulld be very hesitant, and have a gunsmith check it first...
 
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