I've noticed several postings where the poster says " Checked with S&W and got a manufacture date, etc" Interesting, as the factory does not have any records of the manufacture dates for S&Ws prior to around the 1920s, so I'm assuming the date quoted by a factory staffer in Customer Service is the shipping, or sold, date and is in response to the question "When was my S&W made?" and somehow in the response, the ship date, which are the only records the factory has, becomes the manufacture date. In the case of this .38DA, posted above, the manufacture date is late 1899. Ed.