We've discussed this in the past. You might even want to page backward thru the archives of this section of the forum to read up on it. The only good article we've ever had on the subject was Roy's published back in 1989 in the SWCA Journal. A scanned copy or two is floating around. If you can find someone with it, they can email it to you.

The KC PD ordered and received two major shipments of the guns. The first was 250 guns that were produced during the time period where S&W was stamping a registration number on the crane cut. Maybe its important to note that collectors all consider a gun with a Reg # to be an RM. But then the 2nd major shipment, 200 guns, came after the Registration program had ended. With no Reg # in the cut, there is no way those can be considered RMs. Instead, the collectors just refer to them as " Pre-War Magnums". Still a classy title.

But be aware that on occasions Roy has stated that he doesn't consider any KC guns to be RMs. His logic is those guns sold at a significant discount. None came with cards to send back, and none were eligible for the Registration program. I must assume he also doesn't consider the other volume purchases to be RMs either, but it might hinge on the exact circumstances of the transaction.

For most of our purposes, if you see the Reg #, its an RM to us.

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Dick Burg