I too love these guns and am bringing this thread back up again. I mis stated a figure in my last post as that number has been established for so long it just rolls off my fingers. Bekeart received 294 guns not 292. This is a recent correction after going back into the records and doing extensive research by our fearless leader.
The six Bekeart shipments were June 7-30 pieces, June 22-60 pieces, June 28-60 pieces, June 30-60 pieces, August 31-50 pieces and October 13-34 pieces. Hence 294 guns shipped.
To clarify, the guns were not assembled in any serial number order. They were in fact assembled by stock sequence number. In other words, the first .22/32 HFT assembled bears stock sequence number 1 on the bottom of the left stock panel but there is no way of knowing what serial number that gun has as that information was not recorded.
The guns shipped to Bekeart in the first 6 shipments shown above all fall between 138,227 and 139,275.
The lowest know serial number is 138,226 but did not go to Bekeart.
The second 1,000 guns produced appear to be in the 163,000 range with the lowest number in my database being 163,198.
The third 1,000 guns produced appear to be in the 207,000 range with my lowest recorded gun being 207,998.
139,262 has stock sequence number 1016, 163,198 has stock sequence number 1168 and 207,998 has stock sequence number 2117. This would seem to indicate that the first 1,000 were in the 138,000 to 139,000 range, the second 1,000 were in the 163,000 to 164,000 range and the third 1,000 were in the 207,000 to 208,000 range. 208,403 is my highest serial number with a stock sequence number and that number is 2398.
Following those I have serial numbers recorded in the 220,000, 230,000, 240,000, 250,000, 270,000 290,000 360,000, 380,000, 408,000 409,000, 420,000, 440,000, 495,000, 525,000, 533,000 and 534,000 ranges. Recessed chambers occured somewhere around 525,600. The first one I have recorded is 525,991 shipped in December of 1931.
534,506 (the highest number I have recorded) was shipped in June of 1940.
Just to reiterate that serial numbers are all over, 525,730 shipped in December of 1933 and 525,991 shipped in December of 1931.
The stock sequence number is stamped on the left stock panel and the serial number is penciled on the right stock panel.
I hope this clarifys some of the questions about Bekearts or .22/32 HFT's, if not, ask away and we will continue our education.
