Elderly S&W .38

[velocette]

Here's another from the box of old firearms my brother gave me.
Smith & Wesson .38 revolver. 5 shot and definitely a .38 short as an empty .38 spl goes in about 2/3 of its length.
The revolver was rusty & nasty. I spent a couple of hours with Kroil and cloths to remove much rust. It is completely functional. After partial disassembly & cleaning & some adjusting (the strain screw had backed out & the gun wouldn't go to full cock) all systems work properly. Bore has pits but not too bad, cylinder has some pits on some of the chambers. It was nickel plated & has perhaps 60 ~ 70% of its plating, along with corrosion on places where the plating is gone. Patent dates on the top of the barrel:
"Jan 17 & 24, 65; July 11, 65; Aug 24, 69; Jan19, 1875; July 25, 1871"
Serial # 22007 both on the back of the cylinder and on the bottom of its birds head frame. Note the grips look like square butt frame but it is birds head. The wood grips have S&W roundels at their top and are held in place with two screws.
Any idea which model Smith this revolver is?

Roger

 

[Mike Faires]

It's a Single Action 38 Second Model, chambered in 38 SW cartridge, they are available. The grips or off a different model gun, a turn of the century 22 target I believe

 

[Jim Watson]

I believe it to be a First Model based on the long extractor housing.
Manufactured only 1876-1877.

Grips look like they are off a 22-32 Target or Regulation Police.

 

[Mike Faires]

Jim is correct, 1st model

 

[velocette]

Gentlemen;
Have you any suggestions on how to obtain the correct grips for this revolver and / or help someone with a revolver needing the grips that my revolver has?
This gun is not, will not be offered for sale. It is part of my grandfather's collection that I keep and maintain. It along with some others will be passed down to my son when I go kicking and screaming through heavens door. (granddad's collection was broken up among 16 descendants following his passing in the mid 50s. my family recieved 1/16th of his collection.)

Incidentally, I've found that this revolver is known as the "Baby Russian", being the li'l brother of the S&W .44 Russian.

Roger

 

[Radagast]

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=330240A&catid=8051
AFAIK the frame should be the same size for the single action and double action guns, so these will hopefully fit.

 

[Coyote3855]

If it was grandpa's pistol, I'd leave the grips on it. I inherited a Colt Woodsman from Dad, one he carried every day for the last 50 years of his life. It had replacement grips, fake stag. I put on correct checkered wooden grips. But it didn't look like his gun, so it now wears the ugly plastic ones.

 

[velocette]

Coyote;
I agree that if it were one of granddads real collection, it would not be changed. My granddad collected firearms for 50 years, his home was full of some of the most exquisite percussion cap Colts, S&Ws, flintlocks, caplocks, matchlocks etc etc. When he died in the late 50s, his collection was broken up among 6 of his children and perhaps 20 of his grandchildren (of which I was one) Of that breakup, I now have 20 firearms that are displayed in my home as he displayed them in his 60 years ago.
There were some that he bought (auction sales, yard sales, etc) that were in boxes and not displayed or cleaned etc. They were the less than wonderful pieces. This box my brother gave me was one of those boxes that my dad had. I've managed to reconstruct an 1851 Navy Colt from pieces in a bag found in granddads basement that was kept in a (another) box by my dad. This S&W is just one of the last ones of the "less than wonderful" pieces he had.

Roger

 

[andrewstorm]

nice baby russian

The original ammo for this gun was 36/38 cal 15 gr blackpowder 146 gr bullet,680 fps 150 fpe.......nice lil smoker..... black powder cartridges only!!!! The S&W factory Advises againstusing modern 38 sw ammo,as the conventions on ammo were not yet established,and steele was softer back then,and then theres metal fatique

 

[velocette]

andrewsstorm;
Thank you for the image of the box for my revolvers ammunition. A gentleman on this forum is donating 5 rds of original ammo to me for display in the shadow box. A photoshopped print of your image will be part of that display.
when I'm done, I'll post a picture of the end result.
again, thank you and thanks to all that have added information and suggestions.

Roger

 

[Kernel]

velocette,

Cool. Will you be putting the gun & ammo behind plexi-glass so any "little kiddo's" can't get to them both?