Quote:
Originally Posted by
AOM1Carbine 
| My father was a auxillory police office for a local town for many years and recently has given this gun to me. A Smith and Wesson 38 Special CTG....He has never fired it in all the years he owned it. Is there anybody that can give me so good information on this handgun it has adjustable sights and a 4 Inch barrel with the letter K in the serial number?
Its a beautiful gun I was looking for an estimated production date and value....also can it handle +p loads?
Thanks |
Hello
When
Civilian Gun production resumed after World War II, S&W changed
the hammer Block assembly which Prompted The
K-Prefix on K-Frame revolvers and an S-Prefix on Post-War -N-Frame revolver's.. Previous K-Frame revolver's had a hammer mounted block and sadly one failed on a Navy ship , as a sailor dropped his World War II victory Model, and when it hit the ship steel deck it discharged Killing the sailor, Prompting
a Madatory recall from the Springfield Armory of all Previously released Victory models to get the new
modified hammer block installed, and these revolver's were then stamped with
a small V Prefix on the left upper rear frame area of the revolver after this change. The Post-War examples also had the new
short throw actions as well. With Your Father's revolver having
a 4" Barrel it sounds like
a Model 15 or Pre-15 Known as
The Combat Masterpiece. This gun is the shorter barrel version of the famous
K-38 Target Masterpiece model that had a 6" barrel and Patridge front sight blade. Your's will have
the Baughman style quick draw ramped sight blade which prevented snagging when drawing it from a holster. Tooling up was as a Little slow after the War, and this model came Three Year's after they resumed production so They made them from
1949-1999 but
before 1957 they were called
a Pre-15 which had a six Groove back strap and was a Five screw gun and
after 1957 they started stamping the crane area with the guns
model number, which later became a Ten Groove back strap starting with
15 which changed to a Four Screw Model, then as design changes were made they got a dash series stamp in the crane area as
15-1, 15-2 and so on, and they Became a Three screw gun after 1962 or so. To tell when it was from I would need to have a serial number. I have a bank of serial numbers to reference with on shipping Dates but to be precise you would have to share it with me. If you prefer just
PM me a Partial serial number of your Dad's gun leaving
the last number an X prefix. That way I can look it up for you, and his serial number remains unknown only to you.
An estimate of value can not
be determined until I know
when it was made as the earlier ones are
a Lot Higher in collector Value and sell for a lot more in the open Market, compared to the newer models. It sounds as though this revolver either has
never been shot or shot very little if your dad got it issued to him new.
It is perfectly safe to fire Plus-P ammo in that frame size
it will not hurt a thing. Below is a Model 15-4 from the Mid 1970's. They came in either Nickel or Blued finish's. I hope this helps, Hammerdown
