Added a pre 10 with SN S953322 picked it up at a gun show. Can someone tell me if it could have shipped in 1947. If so, this will be my birthday gun!

Thanks for your help.

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I think your serial number is a digit short. As long as the first digits are "S953," then yes it is possible that the gun was shipped in late 1947.

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David Wilson

S953xxx suggests a late 1947 shipment. And it is not a pre-Model 10. Those came later (1948-58 period). It is a post-WWII M&P.

Someone just posted a letter today for S 955372 that shipped 11/04/47, so that's one more data point supporting my pre-poster's opinions.

S9602xx shipped Dec 47, my birthday also.




Charlie

Corrected the SN. Thanks for the feedback!

Serial numbers in that range were shipping in October and November, 1947, with no rhyme or reason to the order. All I can tell you is it was probably one of those two months. But if it got stuck in the vault and hidden, it could have been later.

I have developed a large database on these guns and I would appreciate getting more information on yours. You didn't even tell us the barrel length!

Any chance you could post a couple pictures? I'd like to see both sides.

Thanks!

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Thanks for the photos. Very helpful.

Did the gun come without stocks? Originally, it would have shipped with the early postwar Magna stocks, having the sharp shoulder and the medallion retaining washer made of pressed, blued steel. The right panel would have had the gun's serial number, minus the S, impressed into the walnut on the inside.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Yes the gun came with checkered non-diamond magna stocks not numbered to the gun and really do not fit very good. The right stock has the numbers 907766 stamped inside. The S&W medallion looks to have been gold originally with the high points now silver.

Does not having the 4 line address mean anything?

The absence of the smooth diamond dates the stocks to c. 1967 or later. So the number on them is irrelevant.

The four line address didn't start until sometime in 1948. I have never encountered an S prefix M&P that had the four line address. They just carried the Made in U.S.A. stamp that was started in 1922.

It is possible that some S prefix guns out there have the four lines. But if they do, it was probably applied by the Service Department when the gun went back in for repairs. This was a practice for a time, until Roy Jinks was able to put a stop to it.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

At least on my list, it seems that the 4-line addresses are not seen on either C or K-series K-frames until those having shipping dates around mid-1948. And I show no S-series M&Ps having 4-line addresses. The latest shipping date I have with a 1-line legend stamping (MADE IN U.S.A.) for a C-series M&P is 7/48.

I am still uncertain how a factory 4-line address could be applied over a 1-line legend by anyone without it being an obvious overstamp. But it would be easily done for any pre-1923 revolver on which there is no stamping.