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S&W Hand Ejectors: 1896 to 1961 All 5-Screw & Vintage 4-Screw SWING-OUT Cylinder REVOLVERS, and the 35 Autos and 32 Autos


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Old 09-29-2014, 08:38 PM
03FXSTI 03FXSTI is offline
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Question about my Brazilian 17 Question about my Brazilian 17 Question about my Brazilian 17 Question about my Brazilian 17 Question about my Brazilian 17  
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Why do all the numbers match except the ones on the crane, and inside the frame where the cylinder closes? At first I thought the crane was added to the frame after production, but then I saw that the number inside the frame there matches the crane.
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Old 09-29-2014, 08:52 PM
opoefc opoefc is offline
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You are confusing the assembly/work numbers with the serial number. They have no connection. The numbers on the crane and inside the frame, etc. are the assembly/work numbers. They are used to get the same parts back together after the gun has been fitted and then disassembled for bluing or plating. Once the gun leaves S&W, those numbers have no meaning and only the serial number on the butt, barrel, & cylinder is used to record shipping info. etc. Ed.

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Old 09-29-2014, 09:42 PM
03FXSTI 03FXSTI is offline
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Ah, I see, thank you very much. Is it considered a good thing if all numbers match? If they do, should the piece remain un-snubbed?
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Old 09-30-2014, 12:50 AM
opoefc opoefc is offline
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All numbers matching vs. not matching usually puts a gun in collectable condition vs. just a shooter, and the market recognizes that effect. A Brazilian Model 1917 must be further judged on condition to make it collectable vs. a shooter. Most of these guns show wear and sometimes abuse before they were reimported to the US market. I would not suggest snubbing a nice condition Brazilian, a well worn and abused Brazilian would make a good candidate for a quality alteration of the barrel length, however it's still a heavy revolver and concealed carry can be difficult. Ed.
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Old 09-30-2014, 05:08 AM
Hondo44 Hondo44 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 03FXSTI View Post
Why do all the numbers match except the ones on the crane, and inside the frame where the cylinder closes? At first I thought the crane was added to the frame after production, but then I saw that the number inside the frame there matches the crane.
Assembly (Work #s): 3 to 5 digits, are on the yoke, yoke cut in frame near the hinge, and inside of the sideplate; pre war and early post war; the frame # in the yoke cut, changing to the left side of grip frame after model #s were assigned and also serial #s were stamped in the yoke cut at that time. You know they are assembly #s because of those 3 locations that always match on guns that are original, and that’s the only usefulness for them after guns leave the factory: still used to this day, long after serial number locations decreased.

Here's the story of the entire process in brief from 'the man' himself: which includes where in the process the work numbers were stamped in the three locations:

"I will give you a general outline of the manufacturing process up to about the 1957 period when the soft fitting department was eliminated. The company is divided into departments, forging, frame, barrel, cylinder, small parts, heat treat, stocking department, soft fitting, polishing, finishing, hard fitting, test range, final inspection, and shipping. The flow is roughly in that order.

"Bar stock is forged into frames, barrels, hammers, triggers, and side plates stamped from flat stock. These parts are all trimmed and sent to the appropriate department. In each department the parts are machined to a finished stage.

"In the frame department once the frame is partly finished a yoke is fit to it and the yoke and frame are stamped with a work number. The frame is then sent to the man who fits the side plate which is swaged onto the frame and the side plate is given the work number in the slot cut for the hand. The yoke and side plate are over size so the frame with these parts in position are sent through the machining operations so that they are blended together.

"When the frame is finished it is sent to the stocking department where a pair of stocks are fit to the frame. Once the stocks have been fit, the frame, yoke and the stocks are stamped with a serial number. Only the frame will have a letter prefix if one is assigned to that model. The frame is then sent to soft fitting and the stocks to finishing and when they are done to the inspection department.

"In soft fitting the frame is fit with a finished barrel, cylinder, and internal parts. The barrel, cylinder and extractor star are stamped with a serial number. The gun is disassembled and the small parts placed in a bin and sent to hard fitting. The frame, barrel, and cylinder are sent to polishing then to get a blue or nickel finish.

"Once completely finished they are sent to hard fitting, where the gun is assembled, the fitter stamps his mark in the yoke cut, and its inspected by the floor inspector. From hard fitting the handgun goes to the range where it is test fired and marked with a prick punch mark in the lower front corner of the cyl window, usually.

"From the range it goes to the inspection department where the first inspector finds the right numbered pair of grips and puts them on the handgun. It then goes to final inspection where all the features are inspected for proper function. Then it is packaged and moved into the vault. From there it goes to the distributor."

Roy G. Jinks
Historian, Smith & Wesson
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