I recently inherited a newer looking 642-2, and having trouble learning it's date of manufacture. It has a 1.78" barrel, short factory-issued hard rubber grips, serrated ramp front sight, trench-style rear, bearing serial number CTC9507. It also has "274" neatly engraved on the inside of the yoke. This is my very first Smith & Wesson revolver (very sad), and it fills a niche I wasn't even aware of! Every Google search for this info lead me to this website & forum, so it seemed logical to register and be one of "us" instead of "them"!