Year of Manufacture for S&W Model 14....

[philthephlier]

K141XXX. Anyone have this info? Thanks in advance.

[Scharfschuetze]

Should be 1952.

[dubber123]

If 1952 is correct, I think technically they might call it a Pre-model 14 K-38, as I don't believe they stamped model numbers on them until 1957. I think the last one I got was a 1952 also. Nice guns.

[dale2242]

Does your K38 have the wide or narrow rib?....dale

[philthephlier]

Does your K38 have the wide or narrow rib?....dale

I don't know. I don't have another to compare it to. It is a five screw. It has the target hammer and serrated trigger. Ejection rod is the old style. It is not my gun. It belongs to the pastor of our church and we took him out shooting yesterday and the ejection rod backed out and locked the cylinder. I was able to borrow a leatherman from a fellow shooter on the line and I gently screwed it back in and we were able to continue shooting. The gun was bought by his grandfather in Hawaii in 1952 so the info from the first responder is likely accurate. The gun is nicely engraved and appears to have been shot very little. I took it completely apart and the original lube was crusted all over the internals. I detail cleaned it, did a mild action tune up and lubed and reassembled it, polished out 2 side plate screws that were buggered and reblued them and the ejection rod. World of difference. He couldn't believe it when I gave it back to him this morning. Nice 14's are hard to find and he has a good one. It had the tiniest amount of endshake and I have the .002" shims but I couldn't find them in my shop. One of them would probably put everything in like new condition. Bluing was almost perfect.