I need some help getting a "date of manufacture" on a pre-model
27 (pre-war) serial # 60896 not a "registered"---4" bbl-blued
early diamond grips

I think the closest you can get with a general inquiry is "probably 1940." You can order a history letter from S&W for $50 that will give you the exact shipment date and the identity of the recipient -- usually a hardware store or regional distributor, but sometimes an individual or a law enforcement agency.

A problem with dating is that S&W recorded shipping dates, not manufacture dates, and did not even follow a policy of shipping in serial number order. So we know that many guns in the 60xxx serial number range shipped in 1940, but any one gun could have shipped in almost any month from January to December.

That sounds like a great revolver. Can you show us pictures? We love pictures.

__________________
David Wilson

Around Jan. 1940. #60896 is a close serial number to a batch of .357 magnums shipped to the Kansas City Police Dep't with 4 in. barrels & blue finish. A factory historical letter will be needed to authenticate the gun and add far more value to the gun than the $50 cost of the letter. Ed.

hi
I have serial number 60880 which is 16 numbers off of your gun and mine was in the shipment to KC in Jan of 1940 like Ed said.
I am sure yours is in the same group.
Jim Fisher

The KCPD was the biggest single purchaser of the 357s made after the registration program ended and the war started. Good bet that's where yours went.

Here is one of the K.C.P.D., non-reg., guns, January,1940, 610xx, on top of a RM that went to the Evansville,IN. PD in May 1939.


Just a small fix for ya'


Ned