I have acquired what was confirmed by the serial number to be a smith and Wesson 1868 model 1 second issue 7 shot revolver. My dad this passed down from his dad. Where can I go back tract the history (ownership) of this hand gun. Pretty good condition. Photos I've seen posted seem to confirm this model. Any ideas.

Welcome to the Forum. You can order a factory historical letter for the gun from the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation's historian, Mr. Roy Jinks, that will tell you the date the gun was shipped from the factory to a distributor and the configuration of the gun when shipped. There's a link on this Forum to the application form to order a letter. Cost is $75. From that date to when your grandfather obtained the gun the history is probably not obtainable unless he recorded any info. to be passed down in the family. Ed.

Welcome. There is only one way to know when a S&W was shipped and that is by the letter. The factory had an inventory and orders were filled by grabbing one or more out of inventory and logging the date they were shipped. There were no shipments made in serial number order. Some models that were very popular, shipped as fast as they were made, but no guarantee that a particular gun shipped the same year as another one with a close serial number. Get that letter if you need to know.

The Model 1, 2nd Issue was popular during the Civil War, and up to around 70,000 they shipped quickly. After the was demand dropped and serial number order went out the window. A few examples indicate close serial numbers shipped as much as 7 years apart.

As Ed states, if the gun was passed down within your family, you can probably figure out prior owner who were your ancestors. If not, there is no way to obtain the early owners, since the factory almost always sold through distributors and no distributor records have ever been found.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

Concur. There is No way to trace the lineage except through your ancestors.

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Mike Maher #283