Recent content by ACEd

Slightly off original topic, but 6 digit dates seem to have come in late 2013 (Houlton production somewhere between July and December 2013) Observed 3953TSW UCV5897 3197 (3197 = July 16, 2013) FC 7/17/2013 and 3914DAO UCW3387 120913

Seems reasonable - unlikely the Box End Spec Ord Code would reflect Ship date - more likely Date Boxed or Date Label Created for Box or possibly Assembly or Test Fire date. You can get Ship Date Info from Roy which is generally after decoded Box End info by anywhere from same day to years later...

As I understood it NYPD purchased pistols on the Approved list (presumably at a good price) and the Officers selected and purchased from NYPD. 5946 Approved for On Duty carry, 3914DAO for Off Duty. Not sure about Detectives, Senior Officers, but last thing an Undercover would want is a NYPD...

I believe SW discontinued 3rd generations from their catalogs around 2003 but they would continue to manufacture 3rd gen pistols to specific Purchase Orders in Minimum Quantities (mostly LE contracts) thru 2013 or possibly later.

No - Double Strike capability is NOT a normal configuration for the 3rd gen DAOs

As far as I can tell, both 5946 and 3914DAO were produced for NYPD up thru at least 2013. I believe there was a previous post somewhere back in time with a list of Approved NYPD pistols which changed over time. I assume they were delisted and replaced by the lighter "plastic" pistols. The...

I have never seen a 3914DAO with an Import Mark - lots of other 3rd gen coming back Import Marked, but of 50 3914DAO I have documented, no Import Marks.

Email SW [email protected] with model and full s/n - they can give you a "Manufacture Date" which may in reality be the date the pistol was boxed or shipped - but it is the "official answer" If you ask, they can / will sometimes give yo 6 digit Prod Code, but thats about all.

There are lots of oddities in the 3rd gen system - the most obvious is the 6906 which should really be a 5913 or possibly a 6903 as it is a compact double stack 9mm with an Aluminum frame. Ref 3906/3913 and 4506/4516/4513TSW - there are others. The 4006 is a double stack stainless frame so the...

As I understand it NYPD approved 5946 for Duty use and 3914DAO for Off-Duty use. Most of the 5946 NYPD had conventional S/N marking, but when SW moved 3rd Gen Production to Houlton, ME circa 2010, the markings changed especially in the Holton pistols with UCx prefixes. Most of the UCx Houlton...

The Spec Ord Code of 1035 would imply Feb 1991 - Also can track lots of TFH, TFJ, TFK prefix 3rd gen pistols running from mid 1990 to very late 1990. As to the 108281, there is at least one more 1006 TFJ sold "Used" with a 608281 product code

Midway generally has the factory 4006 mag springs but not currently shown - I have also purchased the 10rd variants from them - keep an eye out there but they do have the Wolfe Springs - or Numrich or buy the Wolfe springs direct from Wolfe - they used to be available in standard or 5% stiffer...

Holes look like SW, but that is about all - no logo, odd finish, workmanship? Have you tried different rounds - 9mm, 40SW, 45ACP, 10mm?

Great score! You may already know this, but the yellow followers are early 4006/4046 mags while the blue followers are later mags (or have had followers replaced). There were at least 4 variations of mags with blue followers. The 11rd restricted mags marked LE only, the 11rd mags NOT marked LE...

May be something as simple as a more or less random number at top of a manufacturing order sheet going out to the floor - In the 1960s Chrysler used to have a 6 digit number at end of fender tag that was simply a random manufacturing order number - everything else on the tag decoded including...