I have one with serial number 165xxx.

S&W did not keep the greatest records on these. As the story has been told on this Forum, S&W did not even know they had these frames and parts until they were discovered during some major house cleaning after WWII ended. Keeping track of inventory was apparently never their strong suit. So any serial number information available from the factory for the 1946 shipment is probably none too accurate.

I'm sure the author gave the best information he had at the time the book was published. Over time, new information becomes available.

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