Smith & Wesson Model 10-5 Caliber
Need a little help here. I have a blued S&W Model 10-5, 6 shot revolver. I'm wanting to be absolutely certain of the caliber. (I inherited this piece which accounts for my ignorance) The lettering on the barrel reads "38 S.& W. Special Ctg." Is this a .38 special or a .38 S&W or what? I'm not a fan of experimenting with ammunition so I would appreciate any help. [8D]
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bilgerat57,
The "38 S.& W. Special Ctg." IS exactly the same as what we know as the .38 Special. Most people do not bother to call it that, or they do not know that it is a Smith & Wesson "Special". The .38 S&W is not interchangeable, with your ".38 S&W Special"-chambered Model 10. The older, .38 Long Colt is closer to, but shorter than, our beloved .38 S&W Special (see the chart, below). Enjoy your new gun!
Fat #10 is the .38 S&W; #17 is the .38; #18 is the .38 S&W Special:
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Thanks for the quick response! I was pretty sure that was the case, but I have an "abundance of caution" when it comes to firearms. Seen too many injuries from taking chances...... Thanks again![:D] 0 -
bilgerat57,
You are welcome!
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The cartridge was created by S&W, so they got to name it. And it's full name is the S&W .38 Special. Just as .45 ACP is Automatic Colt Pistol.
It hacked off Colt to have to put "S&W" on the barrel of their revolvers- so they actually created the .38 Colt Special cartridge. It was identical to the S&W .38 Special in every way EXCEPT it had a flat tipped bullet, and was headstamped .38 Colt Special. So they could drop the "S&W" marking on their barrels. I have one cartridge in my collection marked that way.
But as he said up there, ^^^- your revolver is a .38 Special. Enjoy.0 -
quote:Originally posted by bilgerat57
Need a little help here. I have a blued S&W Model 10-5, 6 shot revolver. I'm wanting to be absolutely certain of the caliber. (I inherited this piece which accounts for my ignorance) The lettering on the barrel reads "38 S.& W. Special Ctg." Is this a .38 special or a .38 S&W or what? I'm not a fan of experimenting with ammunition so I would appreciate any help. [8D]
You're wise to ask the question.
As already mentioned ".38 special" and ".38 SMITH AND WESSON special" are just two different names for the same thing. Any .38 special ammunition (including "+P" defense ammo) should be fine in your gun.
".38S&W" (no "special") is a different, older, and weaker round, that was effectively made obsolete by the invention of the .38 special over 100 years ago. In practice, .38SW hasn't been in wide use since World War II. Unless you're shopping at a fairly specialty gunstore, you're unlikely to even find a box on the shelf. If you did locate a box of this ammo, you'd find that (assuming your revolver is in spec) that the .38SW rounds wouldn't even fit in the cylinder.
In terms of naming, 11b6r has this right. Most gun makers don't like putting the name of OTHER gun makers on their guns, so these things typically get abbreviated, or changed. For example:
.357 SMITH AND WESSON magnum, becomes .357 magnum on any gun not manufactured by Smith and Wesson.
.40 SMITH AND WESSON auto, becomes .40 auto.
357 SIG auto, becomes 357 Auto
45 Automatic COLT Pistol, becomes 45 Auto
.44 REMINGTON magnum, .44 magnum, Etc.
Now, you didn't ask about the actual revolver, but the Smith model 10, aka the "Military and police" revolver, is, I think, the longest continuous production centerfire pistol in the world, having been made (with gradual improvements over many years) since 1899! I believe more of these have been manufactured than any other revolver (period).
Needless to say, it wouldn't still be in production 115 years later if it weren't good. This is probably THE classic .38 "service" revolver, and its served all over the planet as a military and police revolver, including with US military, all sorts of American and foreign law enforcement. Its also an excellent choice for home defense.
If you're interested in dressing it up, the gun is built on the Smith medium "K" frame, and accessories like grips, holsters, and speed loaders are readily available, and relatively inexpensive.0
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