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Title:	REVOLVER -  SMITH & WESSON REVOLVER M&P M1905 4TH CHANGE .38 SN# 346436
Maker/Manufacturer:	SMITH & WESSON
Date of Manufacture:	C 1920
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 2256
Measurements:	OL: 27.9CM 11" BL: 15.2CM 6"

Object Description:

SMITH & WESSON REVOLVER M&P M1905 4TH CHANGE .38 SN# 346436
Manufactured by Springfield Armory, Springfield, Ma. - Modified. Smith & Wesson M&P in .38 Special with blue finish, checkered wooden grips, square butt. Six-shot, single or double action. Listed as Model K Officer's Model with special sight.

Markings:
Frame: S&W logo.
Butt: U.S. 346436 ARMY.
Barrel: SMITH & WESSON. (Right): .38 S&W Special CTG. (Top): SMITH & WESSON, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. U.S.A. PATENTED/OCT. 8, 01, DEC. 17, 01.

Notes: Weapon issued to the Olympic Pistol & Revolver Team in June, 1919.

"1920 - S&W .38s SPECIAL SIGHTS - The Army brought 50 S&W ".38s with special sights' for the Olympic Games. They were shipped between June 9 and June 18, 1920, according to a June 24, 1920, endorsement to a May 22, 1920, letter. Four of them went to the Small Arms Division in Washington, D.C., and the other 46 went to the Olympic Rifle and Pistol Team in Quantico, Virginia. The revolvers were M&P models, blued finish, in square butt with 6" barrels. Regular target sights were on two them. On the other 48, a broad front sight (Partridge) and a non-target broad rear sight notch were provided. Government order was Procurement Order War Ord-PM-16109 (for 'special officer's revolvers'), dated May 19, 1920. Cost was $31.60 each. The requesting documentation quoted Captain Oliver F. Snyder, Ordnance Department, as saying, 'This was the revolver used by the A.E.F. Pistol Team last year, and it has fully demonstrated its superiority over all over existing models.' Snyder had been a member of the A.E.F. Pistol Team and was to be an official of the Olympic Games' Pistol Team.
A June 10, 1921, letter from the Commanding Officer of the Springfield Armory to the Ordnance Office stated that 30 of these revolvers were on hand and asked for disposition instructions. The Ordnance Office replied they could be sold to officers of the Army for $32.74 each. In March of 1924, two West Point officers who were training for the Olympics were issued two of these revolvers for practice purposes. The last mention of the revolvers noted by the author was in a September 1937 letter that stated 20 were sold as surplus from Springfield Armory at $10 each.
Serial number 346436, which is one of these 50 revolvers, is now in the Springfield Armory Museum. It bears the stamp 'U.S. Army' on the butt, apparently applied by the factory just prior to delivery since the mark is through the finish." - Charles Pate

References:
Jinks, Roy G. HISTORY OF SMITH & WESSON. Revised. Beinfeld Publishing Co. North Hollywood, Ca. 1992.
Pate, Charles. U.S. HANDGUNS OF WORLD WAR II: THE SECONDARY PISTOLS AND REVOLVERS. Andrew Mowbray Publishers. Lincoln, R.I. 1998.
Supica, Jim & Richard Nahas. STANDARD CATALOG OF SMITH & WESSON. 2nd Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 2001.