I found what I think is a 1905 target ser. 1218XX. The grips are correct dished non medalion service and the finish looks orginal, though heavily worn. I am trying to look up info on this before I buy it and I can't figure out what seperates a 1905 first change from a second change. The Book says they over lap in serial number and the 2nd just has "slight changes" It is being offered to me for a little under 500.
What do you guys think?
Thanks,

The quick and dirty check is look at the extractor/ejector/whatever
"star". If it has a hole in it----to accomodate the pin in the cylinder----all of which locates the "star" laterally (so to speak), it's a second change. The first change has no hole/no pin----and is similarly located by the "points" of the star, which are radiused and fit into similar (but reversed) radii in the cylinder--------------which strike this non-machinist as a God awful, tedious, and expensive machining operation-----------especially when one little hole and one little pin works just fine-------------but apparently not so fine as to preclude replacing them with TWO little holes and TWO little pins somewhere down the road-----which is another story for another time------if/when anybody cares!!

And somebody else needs to tell it, beacause I have no idea when it happened.

Ralph Tremaine

And, in the for what it's worth category, my first change target is #116420-------and the icing on the cake is it's a 5". (!!)

For $500, who cares whether it's a first or second change target? Just buy it!

Ralph is correct: locator dowels for the ejector star absent -- first change; locator dowels present -- second change.

There is some interesting additional stuff down inside, but you'd have to take the gun apart to see it. For example, the first change has a keyway milled in the frame and a boss on the rear face of the trigger rebound slide to restrict its possible travel range. Absolutely unnecessary. In the second change production the keyway and boss were left out.

Quite possibly there were guns produced that had both the rebound slide keyway and the dowels in the cylinder, or lacked both those features. I have no idea how those guns would be designated. (Maybe first and a half change, varieties A and B?) But it is clear that over a fairly large range of serial numbers the guns we call first changes and second changes were produced side by side.

__________________
David Wilson