TexasCHLforum.com

Well, I obviously don't have a clue about what it's worth... but if
somebody were to PM me with a decent offer, I'd probably take it.

I'm kinda in the market for something to hunt deer with (long gun)
so I'd probably be interested in a trade for maybe a 30-30, 30-06, etc

I just got a new high end digital camera that I need to experiment
with so in the next few days I can always get a bunch of pictures
under some good lighting so you can see what it looks like up close.

I'll work on that as a starting point and see where it goes.

I take it Roy is the fella that runs the S&W forum?

And, about the heirloom thing...I guess I'm not that
sentimental but practical, especially after getting
a couple of pieces that are much nicer than the .38

On the other hand I guess it doesn't hurt anything
to keep it, but I was kinda thinkin about selling it,
or trading it at some point.

Is this bad that I feel this way? I don't know
what to think really about this being an heirloom.

I really don't know hardly anyone from my family
as they all disbanded. I did live with my Mom
and step dad (who I wish I never knew...)

The pistol came from my Mom's step dad
which would be my step grandpaw

OK, I think I gott it figured out...I see now where
it says serial number 1 thru 54474 were made in 1917 thru 1940

So, since mine starts with 216, it was maybe made around the late 20s
maybe early 30s. Does that sound about right?

Thanks, but now I'm more confused about when this pistol may have been built.

Mine has a serial number that starts with 216** (last two digits truncated)

I guess I need to really read this book and see if I can figure this out...

Mike1951 wrote:And the reason you haven't looked this up in your brand new S&W book is.......??????????????

Man, I knew I was gonna get busted on this deal...

I did find the section that talks about this particular gun, but haven't taken
the time to sit down and really read everything in this section.

I will get to it, I promise!

joe817 wrote: Better be safe than sorry.

Yep, I know the rounds I got for my old .38 fit physically...but me not sure
if they are the more modern high powered rounds that this gun cannot handle,
so I'm probably going to take it to a gunsmith and say "here, you shoot it" and
hopefully he'll know what he's doing...

If he doesn't, then I'll lose the pistol (since it'll probably blow up)
and I'll be sure and send flowers to his family.

joe817 wrote:Sorry if this thread's been hijacked. Just one more statement

No hi-jacking offense taken...happy to see meaningful conversation
that is very educational to me and I'm sure others as well.

Too bad the serial numbers aren't like they are on tires where
the DOT number tells you the month and year of manufacture

I'll probably just wait until I take it to have it appraised
some day. Hopefully an appraiser will be able to tell about
when it was made since that should have some bearing
on trying to estimate it's value.

jimlongley wrote:Those dates are patent dates, the only way to determine the date of manufacture is to look it up by serial number.

Is it safe, or is it a good idea, to go ahead and post the serial
number so somebody can seee if they can tell what year it was made?

I'd be interested in knowing what year it was produced

Wow! Sounds like I need to ask somebody if the ammo I'm buying will work in my gun.

So, what's the deal with my old Smith & Wesson .38?

When I went to buy rounds for it, they gave me standard .38 rounds,
but when I got home to try 'em they were too long to fit in the revolver.

So, I took them back and they guy said, "oh, you must have that
really old .38 that takes the short rounds" and so I bought the
last box of that type of rounds that they had in stock.

The guy even told me he was glad to sell that last box because
they were not going to stock them anymore since nobody
buys .38 short rounds anymore.

Does this mean my little .38 is really old?

It says "Regulation Police - 38 S&W CTS" on
the side of the barrel

On top of the barrel after the usual S&W, Springfield MASS
is says: Patented Feb 6.08, Sept 14.09, Dec 29.14

Reckon this means the gun was made in 1914?

Excellent, thanks!

Heck, while we're at it...maybe there could be a run down of
all common gun calibers, including long guns

OK, so is a .45 caliber bigger than a .44 caliber
Is a .38 the same as a 380?

What about .357? Is that smaller than a .44, or a .45?

I had this whole caliber thing explained to me when
I was a kid once down on the deer lease, but would
like to get a handle on it again (I forgot...)

Isn't there like a visual chart that shows the
different caliber sizes in reference to one another
to help a fella understand the differences?