M29

[Maj Dad]

A friend recently died and left me holding the bag as his executor, the only good thing being the bag is overflowing with guns. I haven't been able to access all of his safes yet, but I have a list of some of them he made years ago. One of them is a M29, with a listed serial number of 1816883. I don't have the pistol with me to verify the number, but around 1988 I had an FFL and returned it S&W for him to be refinished after rusting in a wet holster (it came back almost as new - I was very impressed), and I may be able to look in my old records copies I made when I returned them to the ATF. Anyway, if it is a valid number, I am curious as to it's ship date, and if not, I will try to find my records, or better, find the gun...

Thanks, and if there is a better forum or thread to ask this, please let me know!
Cheers,
George J.

[hkcavalier]

Pretty sure the serial should start with an S or an N, or a three letter/three number combo if newer e.g. ABC123.

S181688 would be a pretty early 29 while N181688 would be early 1970s. N816883 would be early 1980s. I don't think there could be a S816883.