I have one refinished gun---a late 50's matte blue K-22-----my first brand new, store bought S&W. There was only one problem-----the matte blue. I could have the bright blue----if I wanted to wait six months. I didn't!

The gun is marked with the S <> (no B) and 460 (no space and no dot). I had supposed either the S or the <> meant bright blue refinish----or maybe as the star, it means it's been back for unspecified service.

Now that I think about it, it means more than simply refinish because along with the refinish request, I asked them to go through it and make it as perfect as they could----and they did!! After all these years it has no turn ring!! Actually, it does---the turn "ring" is about a fat 1/16" long, right at the lead into the bolt slot at each cylinder. Other than that, it still looks like a brand new gun!

Ralph Tremaine

As far as the date code goes, I've had one other refinished gun which carried a five digit number---with no spaces and no dots. The number could have been a complete date. The mystery deepens, because it could have been two different dates.