[Grumpyautoman]

To Jim Hauff; Hi!! My name is also Jim and I am a new member! I was just going through the threads regarding the H&R Defender 38. I saw your photos of them and was trying to see if any matched the defender that I have.I didn't find one that exactly matched mine but the second and third variation ones were close. If I give you the info that I have mabe you can help me figure out what i have and what I need for a new pistol grip. It's a one piece grip with one screw on the lower third of the butt.Anyway I don't have any paper work on this pistol as I got it from my father many years ago.It is a top break defender 38 with a 4 inch barrel and adjustable front (for elevation) sights and adjustable rear (for windage) sights.It has a thin hammer and the back end is tapered down to nothing.It has the little ball welded to the back of the front sight and no finger hole on the trigger guard. The rear sight is mounted above the frame break latch and has the concave ends bolted onto both sides of the latch. The S/N is 3828 and is stamped on the left side of the butt and on the front of the butt behind the trigger guard. It is also on the front of the cylinder and the extracter(Last 3 digits only 828).It has the auto extractor which ejects the cases when you break open the frame. I has the slab sided barrel and the company name and address is stapmed on the top of the barrel. On the left side it says DEFENDER 38 and on the right side in small lettere it says 38 S&W CTGE. The sreial # on the left side of the butt has an O above it and an M H below it. The pistol grip on it is broken and is the wrong one anyway. It dosen't cover the whole butt (the front part) and is missing the bottom part below the bolt.It seems to be smaller than it should be. I don't have any pictures but I do have a digital camera and will take some and try to send them to you if I can.The gun itself is in excellent condition and has little or no rust. the finish is a polished blue and is in excellent condition. So if you can ( or anyone for that matter) can help me find out what this is I would appreciate it. I have fired it several times it works well. it's just not very comfortable to hold for more than 5 rounds.Hope to hear back from you or anyone who thinks they can help.Thanks for listening (or reading), Jim D