To perhaps clarify what has been posted about dash numbers and serial numbers being out of sync, I once called S&W with a question and was told that frames are serial-numbered as they are manufactured but are not used for production in numerical order. In the case of slower-selling models, the two numbers could be years out of sync.

Another piece of information I was given is that a 1994 computer crash resulted in production and shipping records prior to that date being lost so the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson is considered by S&W to be as close to gospel as we can get. For example, there were just three 686 Classic Hunters shipped after 1994 but before I became giddy with the thought of owning one of just three made, the person on the other end explained the lost records.

Ed