Centurian77
As the author of the piece you linked to, I would point out the following paragraph to your attention:
On December 13, 1955, management directed that the top sideplate screw was to be eliminated, making the .22/32 revolvers three screw guns. This change was initiated on the Kit Gun at approximate serial number 11,000. However, as with all S&W revolvers, these changes were phased in. Some frames forged before the change is implemented by the floor supervisor may already be drilled for the fourth screw, and some four screw sideplates may still be in inventory. All parts are used up, since company policy dictates against waste. Readers should keep in mind that roll stamping the serial number is one of the very last actions taken in the manufacturing process. Therefore, some four screw guns ended up having higher serial numbers than the first batch of three screw frames. In the entire history of S&W’s manufacture of handguns, there are no absolute serial number cutoffs on any engineering development. In some cases, we know the serial number of the first gun produced with a particular change, but that does not mean there will be no guns with higher numbers that have the earlier configuration. They show up all the time.
You seem to have found one of those anomalies.
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Pre-34, four screw, 2 1/2" barrel
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Really? It should be just 2". I just took two of them out of the safe and measured the barrels - exactly 2". The Model 19 snub has a 2 1/2" barrel, but not the Kit Guns.
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Not sure if it's an I frame or not.
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It is an I frame. Conversion to the J frame didn't happen until the Model 34-1 came out in 1960.