I got my letter on my greatgreat grandpas 32 hand eject it is a M-1 first issue cylinder latch on the top the S%W cataloge said that this was first issue then thay changed to the latch on the bottem the ser number is low 32xx the letter said it was shipped in 1899 i think that is odd that after a change like moving the cylnder latch from top to the bottem the frame would have not been used and shipped sooner or is this how S&W did things

It is very typical in the gun industry that when a new design is introduced very few are actually shipped the first year (or two and sometimes three). As the Model of 1896 was S&W first hand ejector design with a swing out cylinder it took time to get the assemblers trained and then for people to accept having to work the ejection rod themselves. Older S&W guns were top breaks with auto-ejection of the cartridges when you opened the action. Having to work the ejector rod yourself was probably seen as a step backwards by many people, even if it did result in a solid frame that was much stronger than the earlier top-break guns.