Wow, a lot of good responses. Guess I shouldn't be surprised.
I appreciate the effort put into providing good information.
I really don't want to damage the firearm, so a big part of this is trying to get a warm fuzzy that there isn't going to be any sort of negative event.
Firing it would be fun and interesting, but not so fun and interesting that I would be willing to run any significant risk of breaking it.
As far as I know, it was never shot very much although I do know that it was fired some. It came with a box of .38ACP that is older than I am which I want to keep with the gun since my great grandfather almost certainly purchased it based on the age. It also came with another 6 loose rounds of different, much older ammunition, which suggests that at least one other box of ammo was purchased and used in the gun. Also, my grandfather told me stories that involved his father firing the gun.
I'm going to reread the responses and think about it some more.