Calibres of Smith and Wesson hand ejector

[maxman1]

Whether or not it's safe to shoot depends on the condition of the revolver and the dom of the cylinder. If memory is correct I believe it was somewhere around 1925 when S&W increased the strength and heat treatment of their cylinders. I would not use P+ cartridges. . A trip to the gunsmith would be advisable.

SAAMI lowered the rating of .38 Special in 1970 and dubbed the original .38 Special +P.

I had a model 10 that was rebarelled with a 38/200 marked barrel a few years ago. Accuracy was good: barrel slugged at .358. I suspect S&W factory didn't bother too much about that during the war...

I've read they didn't change the tooling for the barrels. Also note the serial number on the cylinder doesn't have the V, though it could just be from before that was added, but a check of the serial number range of the Victory model would confirm that.

Are you sure it says .38 S&W and not .38 S&W Special? S&W loves to put that on their revolvers instead of just .38 Special.

 

[tokguy]

I had a model 10 that was rebarelled with a 38/200 marked barrel a few years ago. Accuracy was good: barrel slugged at .358. I suspect S&W factory didn't bother too much about that during the war...

I've a couple 95's in 38 LC...they are around that .361 mark IIRC. Just use Hollow Base bullets, she'll shoot. But regular cast...throws fliers. 38 LC is like 41, weird duck, always thought it was just a shorter case than 38 spl but the base is bigger too. Hope it's 38 spl for sure.
Ever get it figured out OP?

 

[maxman1]

The cylinder does look as if it's for a longer round

The cylinders on the M&P are identical for .38 S&W and .38 Special. They simply cut the chamber differently for .38 S&W.

Also, the bore is identical. S&W and Colt both used their standard .38 Special barrels when making .38 S&W guns. So you can use .358 bullets in a Colt or S&W without hurting accuracy.

Other guns like the Enfield No. 2 Mk 1, Webley Mk IV and Colt Police Positive (not the Police Positive Special) have a shorter cylinder, and the Enfield and Webley have slightly larger bores and require .361 bullets.

 

[Hitzy]

Definitely leave negative feedback.
As a C-> marked pre-victory with 6" barrel, that also saw use in England, it would be a nice collection piece of it was in 38 S&W still.
It's a sub $300 gun now.

 

[StansfieldMcElroy]

It ended up being .38 special. It fired well enough at 15 meters. I had it out once and gave it to a friend who is just starting out.
I absolutely left negative feedback

 

[marshall]

It should be O.K., just don't use any P+ loads, and if hand loading, you could drop the power down a tad, but if he is a new guy , not likely handloading yet.
These are cheap to shoot , hand loading, factory ammo is getting a bit much. A soft shooting 38 special in a K frame is about like shooting a 22rf, and a hell of a lot more fun.
I shoot better with these than my 22 target guns now, as I use them way more.
But you will know this if you do any revolver shooting.
Good on you for passing it down to a new guy, everyone we get helps.
P.S. , anyone that don't stand behind there sale and does not make it right has no business selling guns here, used or not.

 

[maxman1]

Modern .38 Special +P is actually the original .38 Special loading. SAAMI downgraded it in 1970 because of aluminum alloy guns like the Cobra and Centennial Airweight.

 

[tiriaq]

It ended up being .38 special. It fired well enough at 15 meters. I had it out once and gave it to a friend who is just starting out.
I absolutely left negative feedback

The feedback you left says unsafe to shoot.
This post indicates otherwise. Not only does it fire well enough, you felt it was OK to pass it along to a friend.

 

[josquin]

I had a model 10 that was rebarelled with a 38/200 marked barrel a few years ago. Accuracy was good: barrel slugged at .358. I suspect S&W factory didn't bother too much about that during the war...

I did the same thing with a Model 10 I got off the EE. Having originally had a Bill C-68-certified deadly, murderous 4" barrel, someone had had a 'smith silver-solder a 1/4" bit of barrel on the end (!). He did a pretty good job, although it appeared there was a tiny bit of solder still in the grooves at the join. I decided to replace it with a 5" .38 S&W barrel from Tradex. Someone here said he had done this and those barrels measured .357, which turned out to be the case.

 

[marshall]

if you could see solder at the joint inside, than that was not a legal gun, good thing you re barreled it.
No gunsmith would do that.

 

[josquin]

if you could see solder at the joint inside, than that was not a legal gun, good thing you re barreled it.
No gunsmith would do that.

Well, it had been duly registered to the previous owner and who knows who before that and duly transferrred to me by the CFC, so not my problem. AFAIK, as long as the barrel is >105mm and rifled to then it's OK. The join was barely perceptible on the outside, so what I saw in the grooves might just have been a small inconsistency at the join. If it wasn't done by a "real" gunsmith, it was VERY well done, and the 'smith who replaced the barrel didn't mention anything about the legality of the old barrel, and gave it back to me.

 

[tiriaq]

It ended up being .38 special. It fired well enough at 15 meters. I had it out once and gave it to a friend who is just starting out.
I absolutely left negative feedback

The feedback you left says unsafe to shoot.
This post indicates otherwise. Not only does it fire well enough, you felt it was OK to pass it along to a friend.

Are you going to edit the feedback you left so that it is accurate?