Need some help identifying the model and value of this S&W .38 snub

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

As to value, that depends on the exact model variant, the date of manufacture, and condition.
Was your dad the original purchaser? Does he have the box and papers? Does he have a receipt from the store he got it from?
Assuming it's a 30 year old gun with no box or papers, in just "good" condition, it's got minimal collector's value, but this is a good gun to carry for personal protection. It's a gun you can use today. A lot of people would pay $400 to $450 for that, ballpark estimate.
The fact that it's a J-frame, round butt, means there are hundreds of kinds of aftermarket grips for it. Bigger grips, rubber grips, finger-groove grips, fake pearl or ivory grips, pink grips for ladies, purple grips for millennial metrosexuals, even fancy cocobolo wood or laminated wood grips. I've got a set of Crimson Trace lasergrips on my S&W .38 snubby.

 

[Leatherhead]

A model 38 "Bodyguard" was always an aluminum alloy frame gun.
Therefore, it could not have a bright nickle finish like this. It could only get a dull satin / gray finish.
This one has to be the Model 49, which has a steel frame.
Regular carbon steel, not stainless. It was offered in this mirror-bright high polish nickle plated finish.

Where are you coming up with this sort of incorrect info? Did you make it up?

P.S. I'm not a S&W collector or historian

This is where you should have stopped with any advice.

As to value, that depends on the exact model variant, the date of manufacture, and condition.
Was your dad the original purchaser? Does he have the box and papers? Does he have a receipt from the store he got it from?
Assuming it's a 30 year old gun with no box or papers, in just "good" condition, it's got minimal collector's value, but this is a good gun to carry for personal protection. It's a gun you can use today. A lot of people would pay $400 to $450 for that, ballpark estimate.
The fact that it's a J-frame, round butt, means there are hundreds of kinds of aftermarket grips for it. Bigger grips, rubber grips, finger-groove grips, fake pearl or ivory grips, pink grips for ladies, purple grips for millennial metrosexuals, even fancy cocobolo wood or laminated wood grips. I've got a set of Crimson Trace lasergrips on my S&W .38 snubby.

Look at your first sentence in your last post. Why hand out advice if you aren't a collector or historian...and seem to have no clue what your talking about?







Here is a pic of a Nickel Model 38. Not my picture, not my gun. The only way to tell the difference in a Model 38 and a 49 by viewing it in a picture is the 'Airweight' marked on the right side of the barrel.

Maybe I should hand out incorrect legal advice and just preface it with "I'm not a lawyer and have no idea what I'm talking about....but..."

 

[Junior_357]

I can't see anything in the picture other than it is a shrouded hammer J-frame with a somewhat shiny finish. I can use lighting to make a blued gun look like nickel, and a nickel gun look blued.

And since I am neither a historian nor a J-frame aficionado...I will take my buddy :LH's advice and stop right here...

But I would like to know what it is when the OP gets a better look at it...

 

[charlie hotel lima]

I'm not an expert on S&W's, but I do have a couple..one of which is a very nice M38 I got from a "dude" in Griffin.. so, to me, it looks like a nickel plated model and that must mean it's an M49, but wait, they did make nickel plated aluminum M38's..according to the catalog..I am pretty sure it's a .38, tho.

 

[BanjoJohn]

Well, hell, I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express.

 

[cmshoot]

A model 38 "Bodyguard" was always an aluminum alloy frame gun.
Therefore, it could not have a bright nickle finish like this. It could only get a dull satin / gray finish.
This one has to be the Model 49, which has a steel frame.
Regular carbon steel, not stainless. It was offered in this mirror-bright high polish nickle plated finish.

According to Fjestad's Blue Book of Gun Values, both the M-38 and M-49 Bodyguard were available with a nickel finish. The nickel finish was discontinued in both models in 1996. The M-49 itself was discontinued the same year; the M-38 was discontinued in 1998.

In my street cop days, I bought a bright nickel finish M-38 off of one of our detectives and gave it to my wife. It was factory original, alloy framed, bright nickel finish on all metal parts except the hammer and trigger, which were case-hardened. I've seen several others over the years. My wife later traded hers towards a blued West German Walther PPK.

 

[charlie hotel lima]

I agree..the trigger in the photo looks stainless to me. But it could be the angle/lighting thing. We'll eventually get to the bottom of this..Possibly a 638 ?

 

[Junior_357]

I agree..the trigger in the photo looks stainless to me. But it could be the angle/lighting thing. We'll eventually get to the bottom of this..Possibly a 638 ?

Nah...looks like faded case hardening to me. Just based on the area right where the trigger enters the gun. But then again that could be a lighting thing as well...

 

[mikey357]

I'm not an expert on S&W's, but I do have a couple..one of which is a very nice M38 I got from a "dude" in Griffin.. so, to me, it looks like a nickel plated model and that must mean it's an M49, but wait, they did make nickel plated aluminum M38's..according to the catalog..I am pretty sure it's a .38, tho.

Wonder who THAT might be??? As far as the OP's gun goes, I feel CONFIDENT in saying it's some kinda' five-shot J-Frame Bodyguard...Probably a Model 38, 49, 638 or 649... ....mikey357

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Well, live and learn. I don't think I've ever seen a bright finish on an alloy-framed S&W, and I've been hanging out in gun shops for 30+ years. I've long ridiculed the dull satin nickle or "glass bead" finish that both Colt and Smith put on their guns, and I was unaware that some of the small revolvers got a bright nickle treatment over the alloy frame.

Here's another one, like new in box with the paperwork, from a seller on another site. Definitely an "airweight" model 38, per the seller.

And now that I'm looking into this, I see examples of high-polished S&W J-frame SS .38 snubbies, too. Bright stainless, not "brushed" or "satin" or "matte" or whatever they call that minimally-reflective surface of their stainless steel guns.