Can someone tell me when a Safety Hammerless 32 with serial number 134541 would have been made?

Close serial numbers were shipped in late 1904 and early 1905. That does not guarantee your gun was shipped in that period, as S&W did not ship guns in serial number sequence. Only a factory historical letter will verify the exact date your gun was shipped. Ed.

I'm a dealer so my main concern was whether or not it was considered an antique or not. So, definitely made after 1898 then. Thanks for the quick reply!

Remember that the ATF uses manufacture date as the date used to determine antique status. Since S&W did not keep records of manufacture date except in the floor foreman's logs, they use the shipping date to estimate the age. Some frames of early S&W were all made prior to 1898 and are therefore considered antiques even though many did not ship until after 1898.

Not sure about the safety hammer less models but I know it is true for other models. IIRC, the other date factoid that I read is that ALL tip ups and top breaks are considered antiques. That is similar to the fact that all non model marked guns are now considered to be C&R eligible since this was done in 1957/8 and the 50 year requirement now takes us back to anything prior to 1967.

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James Redfield
LM #497

"..the other date factoid that I read is that ALL tip ups and top breaks are considered antiques." All Tip ups; YES. All Top Breaks; NO.

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Mike Maher #283

I had a Double Action Frontier 44-40 a couple of months ago that fell into the "frames before 1898" category. My understanding was all those frames were made prior to 1898. I just assumed the Safety Hammerless probably didn't fit into that category so I've ran the stolen check and logged it in.

BigG, Google: The Pre-1899 Antique Guns FAQ by James Wesley Rawles. He has a listing of serial number cut-offs for many gun makers. Per his findings: S&W .32 Safety Hammerless revolvers BELOW serial number 91,400 are antique.

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Mike Maher #283