Old (pre M10?) Date of Mfg....

Federalis · #1 01-27-2020, 09:10 AM

I will post some pics later but looking to date a 6-inch pre - Model 10 (?) revolver SN C-1114. Inherited it from my 103 + year old Grandmother's estate. Looks pretty good but I think it may have been re-blued at one point. Either way a great shooter just curious when it was born....

murphydog · #2 01-27-2020, 09:32 AM

The C prefix started in 1948, so one that early-numbered almost certainly was made that year.

Absalom · #3 01-27-2020, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murphydog

The C prefix started in 1948, so one that early-numbered almost certainly was made that year.

Yep, guaranteed. By the end of the year manufactured serials were somewhere around the C40-thousands. Of course the ship date could be less predictable and might be in 1949.

JP@AK · #4 01-27-2020, 02:36 PM

The first Charlie numbered gun was assembled on March 22, 1948. As Absalom stated, numbering reached approximately C40,000 by the end of the year.

In my list I show two guns with confirmed ship dates that have only four digits after the Charlie. One shipped in July and the other in November, 1948. Interestingly, the one with a much lower number shipped in November. But we know S&W never made any effort to ship guns in serial order.

Here is something of far greater interest than the possible ship date for the OP's gun: Does it have a one line or four line address? I'd lay odds on it being a one-liner. I have verified a one-liner as high as C84xx. I consider it highly likely that C1114 will prove to have a one line address.

Federalis · #5 01-27-2020, 03:09 PM

I will look tonight and take some better pics, the address on top of the barrel looks to be two lines???

DWalt · #6 01-27-2020, 03:33 PM

I believe the 4-line and 1-line refer to the stamping on the front right side of the frame below the cylinder, not on the barrel. The 4-line address allegedly began in the low C3xxxx range. C41622 definitely has a 4-line stamping.

The 1-line address is not really an address - just "MADE IN U.S.A." I suspect that is what you will see.

Federalis · #7 01-27-2020, 03:36 PM

Here are some bad pics of this old revolver....

DWalt · #8 01-27-2020, 03:41 PM

Yours does have the so-called "1-line address", as expected. The grips are incorrect for that time, it should have sharp shoulder diamond magnas. Is there a SN stamped on the back side of the right grip panel? You are correct in calling it a pre-Model 10.

BTW, those grips on it (from the 1930s) are fairly desirable items. Keep them.

Federalis · #9 01-27-2020, 03:52 PM

Will do on the grips, I'll get some more pics tonite... I still think it looks like it was re-blued at sometime, but I'm gonna have a real gunsmith take a look just for grins....

Federalis · #10 01-27-2020, 03:53 PM

Yes there is a sn on the inside of the grips... I'll look at it also tonite, this little revolver is very interesting....

JP@AK · #11 01-27-2020, 04:38 PM

Federalis

You have found a relatively unusual example of the postwar M&P. It is early in the C prefix run, it still has the patent information on the barrel and it has the one-line address. Both the one-line address and the patent dates went away fairly soon after your gun came off the assembly line. We don't see these very often.

What you have learned here about those 1930s stocks is correct. First, they are not original to that revolver; second, they have some value of their own.

From what I can see in your pictures, I don't believe this gun was refinished. But pics can be deceiving.