Another Old Pistol 1902 S&W Military and Police

[old tanker]

Attachment 121184

I have read that 38 Special was actually introduced in 1898 as a black powder load, and smokeless a year later, but have also heard that the smokeless was introduced in 1902 in this 1902 M&P. The serial number of this one puts it at 1903, and it is definitely .38 Special.

Responding to the bad press from the Philippines, Smith and Wesson lengthened the Army's service cartridge by a small amount, upped the bullet weight and powder charge a little bit to bring the .38 Special to the market in its Military & Police revolver. That's why the .38 Smith and Wesson Special is a longer version of Colt's cartridge rather than a longer version of its own proprietary .38 S&W cartridge. The idea was to promote the fact that both the US Service cartridge (aka .38 Long Colt) and the new .38 S&W Special could be fired in the new Military & Police revolver. Early ones are even marked that way.

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