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Old 05-12-2011, 12:52 PM
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PALADIN85020 PALADIN85020 is offline
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I have made some minor modifications to the original draft, giving the end of the L-series serial number range (L9861), and dropping the 342Ti from the .357 mag category into the .38 special lineup.

I cannot address serial number ranges by year or when finish/numbering protocols might have changed; existing references are not that exact. I suppose rough yearly interpolations could be made from the fact that about 40,000 guns might have been made from 1952 to 1974. With Smith & Wesson, it's anybody's guess, and I'm sure that production was not equal in all years and some serial number blocks might not have been used.

The number-of-words limitation imposed by the space available in The Blue Press will not allow further elaborations. As to finishes and trigger types, I've observed a lot of variance in various specimens, but would hesitate to apply any generalities on serial ranges/dates of manufacture. It's fairly well known that the stocks for the Centennials were different based on a smaller semicircular cutout in the grip frame, but elaborating on this fact might take up more space than I have for a centerfold article with picture unless I do some trimming in other parts of it. We'll see.

Perhaps someday someone with an extensive collection or access to factory records (Roy Jinks?) could put together a very interesting book on the Centennials with all their permutations. Unfortunately, I'm not that guy and my objective is simply to paint the breed with broad brush strokes.

I very much appreciate all the comments and corrections, most of which I have been able to incorporate into the draft article, which is essentially revised currently in the original post. Thanks, guys, for your sharp eyes and expertise! Any other observations would be most welcome before I put the article to bed.

John
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Last edited by PALADIN85020; 05-12-2011 at 01:28 PM.
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