Are my eyes fooling me? Is it a 5 or a 6?





Just bought this. It'll be here in a few days. Maybe someone here has a screen with better pcture quality than mine.

Thanks!

I think it's a 6

Well, to my 60 year old eyes...looking at a photograph...on a computer monitor...using a magnifying glass...it looks like a 6.

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No life story has happy end.

Thanks gentlemen!

I was going through roughly the same ocular gymnastics and thought it is probably maybe could be a "6" also. I could just be patient & wait until the gun actually gets here. But, where's the fun in that??

Note that the large knob cutout is a single depth cut, so the gun was manufactured after 1927. The serial number 518824 would have been manufactured about 1925, and the barrel would have had a dual-depth cut for the larger mushroom-shaped ejector knob. The first digit is necessarily a 6.

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David Wilson

Thank you sir!

Read the serial number off of the cylinder, provided it was not replaced. Larry

I'd say 618824. That would put likely shipment between 1929-31, possibly a little later. The closest on my SN list is 6141xx which shipped in 10/1930.

Try a toothbrush with a little solvent to clear grime and oil. Worked before and cant hurt. Of course when you take possession. A pic of entire gun might help clarify.

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

I believe it's a 6.

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2B1ASK1

To me it's clearly a 6 also, especially on the barrel. The upper left corner of a 5 is a very sharp corner.

When you get it you can confirm the other four locations match our assessment. Always use optical magnification including a flashlight when looking at or for serial numbers to observe the information accurately.
Especially in these locations:

Yoke - on rear face visible thru a chamber with a flashlight
Extractor star - backside
Cylinder - rear face
Right stock - back side

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Jim
S&WCA #819

I vote 6.

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James Redfield
LM #497

[QUOTE=policerevolvercollector;138711035]Are my eyes fooling me? Is it a 5 or a 6?





Just bought this. It'll be here in a few days. Maybe someone here has a screen with better pcture quality than mine.

I got out my trusty old magnifying glass, think it could possibly be a deep stamped 3 or 5 on the butt? Will try to add pictures of ser.#'s from a 1919 MP of mine. Some of the same digits to compare. Hope this will help.

Attached Images

	butt.jpg (36.8 KB, 43 views)
	serial.jpg (42.1 KB, 38 views)
	cylinder.jpg (36.6 KB, 38 views)

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Just a shooter

I have very good corrected vision and it looks like a deeply stamped 3 or 5 to me also, it just doesn't look like a 6 at all. Understanding the rest of the tell-tales as mentioned above would lead you to want to believe it is a 6 but if its a 6 it was stamped with a die that doesn't match the characteristics of the rest of the series, like cursive as opposed to print.
I've been wrong before...purchasing a '49 Harley that had the engine boss shaved and restamped. When I asked the guy why the numbers looked as ****** as they did, he just shrugged and said "They did them in a hurry with no regard to whether or not they were in a line."

I'm stuck on six, and I will continue to believe that until the cows come home -- which is an oblique way of saying "all day," to use the term in the sense it carries in the lifer wings of our leading penitentiaries.

I don't say "six" because I can read it unambiguously, but because I deduce it. My thinking remains what it was in post no. 5 above.

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David Wilson