'Mystery' S&W .38....

S

shooter1201

New member
My new neighbor showed me a revolver he got from a former LEO. At first glance, you would SWEAR it was an S&W M28. Not so.

It IS built on S&W's 'N' frame, but....

* it has a .38 Special cylinder
* barrel is marked .38 S&W Special ctg

The barrel has been professionally shortened from, I'm guessing, 6 1/2-inches, to 4-nches or so.

It wears an 'N' frame semi-target hammer and a narrow grooved trigger.

It's a '5-screw' model, with NO model designation on the frame/yoke.

It wears factory adjustable target sights(NOT the w/o type), the top frame strap being grooved to match the barrel.

If I can see it again, I'll get a serial number.

I thought it was a .38/44 Outdoorsman, but I don't think it is. It doesn't appear to be anywhere near 'old enough'.
 
Sure sounds like a sawed-off Outdoorsman to me. They made them up until 1966, so I don't know what 'old enough' means.
 
If it has the 5-screw frame it is certainly old enough. The M23 Outdoorsman was made in 4"... 5"... & 6.5" barrels with adjustable sights. It does look like a M28 in .38 Special if you think about it.
 
My error. I thought the .33/44 Outdoorsman wasn't made after WWII. The 'Modern-type' semi-target hammer and 'modern-type' rear sight has me stumped, too.
 
Wouldn't this particular S&W bear a Model #, then? It doesn't. I know when 5-screws were SUPPOSED to have been phased out, but I also know that S&W used up old parts gradually.
 
from 1946 till 1955

Large framed Smiths had 5 screws.The screw in front of the trigger(4th) was dropped in 1961. Prewar guns had a smaller overall rear site unit . Hope this helps....dewey
 
It wouldn't have the model number stamped on it if it was made prior to 1957 or so, when S&W started stamping the numbers on the guns.

To tell when it was made, you'll need to get us the serial number, which will be stamped on the butt of the gun.

The upper side plate screw was deleted in 1955. If that screw is missing, then the gun was made sometime after 1955. If that screw is there, along with the screw in front of the trigger guard, then the gun was made prior to 1955.

If the serial number begins with an 'S', then it is either the .38/44 Outdoorsman, made from 1946 to 1949; if there is an 'S' prefix, then it is the .38/44 Outdoorsman Model of 1950, and made from 1950 onwards.

If it has no 'S' prefix, it's a prewar gun, made from 1931 to 1941, and commands a small premium.

Again, we really need the serial number to tell you exactly what you've got.
 
You said that the sight grooving extends onto the bbl. I gather that it's a ribbed bbl.? Those were postwar guns. Look at the hammer. Not a sure thing, for some early postwar guns had the old style hammers, and the short action didn't arrive until the late '40's. No model no. on the frame? Sometimes, those frames were made years before they were used; the gun could have been assembled or shipped well after 1957, but not had a numbered frame.

Gonna shoot it? Plus P .38's should do for raccoons or coyotes at 50 yards or less, and it ought to take small deer or javelina within that (or hopefully closer) range. The late Larry Koller, a major gun writer in the '50's and '60's, used a four-inch Colt Diamondback and 125 grain Plus P's to take a deer at 25 or so yards, so it can be done, although I prefer a .357.

Bear in mind that you hold in your custody a portion of the nation's history: be good to that gun. Get it a good, lined holster and baby it. We're talking heirloom here!

Oh: I hate to be obvious, but didn't you check any of the many books that should illustrate this gun? One is Keith's, "Sixguns", which should be in many libraries. Those books that Koller edited in his day usually showed it, too. Roy Jinks's guide or Nahas and Supica show these guns. The really easy way to tell if it's pre-war, though, is to look for a ribbed barrel. Those were definitly postwar.

Lone Star
 
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