That's been my understanding for a loooooooooong time------"It's impossible to tell the date of manufacture." Well, maybe---or maybe it depends on what sort of letter you're talking about. This is from a letter responding to an inquiry about a couple of 3rd Model Single Shots----#'s4807 and 4826, The inquiry supposed these two pistols might very well have been made on the same day---or thereabouts. It also supposed 4807 had been in a factory collection/display (as claimed by the auction house) for 4 1/2 years or so---which would account for the gap in ship dates (4826 shipped June 24, 1911---and 4807 left on November 11, 1915). Now neither of these questions were of the burning variety until 4826 came to live here---about 20 years after 4807 arrived. I'd never had such close kin before, and it started me wondering about when they were made---and the auction house hype---and that seems to be what it was. This letter says "There is no indication that this handgun was ever part of the Smith & Wesson office display." I have no idea what sort of indication there might be if it was part of the display.

Well, anyhow---this was supposed to be about knowing when stuff was made. Guess what?!!! I know when these guns were made---at least when they finished making them. I also know when they were "entered into the shipping vault". I know these things because the letter told me. #4807 was "---part of the production run of 31 units completed on May 9, 1911 and entered into the shipping vault on that date." #4826 "-------was in the production run of this model completed on June 21, 1911 and entered into the S&W shipping vault on that same day." The letter goes on to say "This certainly establishes that they were not in the same production lot of Perfected Single Shot Pistols."

That it does---that it does. It also certainly establishes someone can find out when some of the stuff was made---on fairly short notice as it happens. This letter's from March 21, 2018. The inquiry was mailed on February 28, 2018.

Ralph Tremaine

Oh, and speaking about knowing when stuff was made: I was in a dither about what was reputed to be an honest to God .44 HE 3rd Target about 20 years ago. I knew there were some out there that wouldn't letter as such, but I didn't know how to tell which was which without a letter---and I had no time to get a letter. So I called some folks--Ed Cornett---who seemed to know pretty much everything about everything, Larry Gaertner---who I figured would know about these guns in particular, and Roy Jinks-----who's Roy Jinks!! I got educated pretty damn quick, and Roy told me the serial number "looked good"---and also told me the gun had been made in 1938. (??!!) The end of the story is I turned loose of a big wad of money, got the gun, and then sweated out the letter. It was like the man said---it "looked good".