Howdy Bill, and welcome aboard from ol' Wyo.

My 87J974 and also 89J740 both shipped in March 1972. S&W didn't ship in serial number order, but I'd guess there's a good chance the Chiefs Special you mentioned shipped somewhere close to these two.

In that "roving J series," so named by S&W Historian Dr. Roy Jinks, for each serial number with two digits before the J there were only 999 revolvers made so the company ran through the serial numbers relatively quickly.

__________________
Wrangler of stray Chiefs
Bob