A letter from Roy Jinx calls my 8xxx serial number Schofield a model 2, cutoff being the 3000 something serial nubers. Were there any differences between the Schofield Model 1's and 2's, aside from the serial number and shipment dates?

Mainly the latch. The 1st Model has a flat sided latch. The 2nd Model has "protrusions" to make it easier to grasp.
The top of the latch has a scooped out area also. Other differences are the 2nd didn't use the recoil plate found in the 1st. The trigger is a different shape, etc. All minor changes but considered an "improvement".

__________________
Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Another difference is that 2nd models can sometimes letter as commercial shipments to distributors and not military shipped guns, as were all 1st model US Schofields. Ed #15

The language of model 1 and model 2 is a little confusing to me. It must be a reference to the first model and second model of the Model 3.

BloomingtonGuns, Dean's description above, of the 1st & 2nd models of the Schofields, is correct. What I think is confusing to you and other beginning collectors when it comes to S&Ws, is that numerous models of S&Ws go by a name, like Schofield, American, Hand Ejectors, Single Action, Double Action, New Departures, etc. and then each of the names may have up to five different "Models" as the guns were improved and changed during the production phases. Get a copy of Supica & Nahas's book " Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson, 3rd edit." It will sort out the different nomenclatures for you. Good Luck! Ed.

Thanks Ed. I am looking at a letter from Roy Jinks I found from a guy who had it posted on gunbroker. The letter refers to the Schofield model 3 and then goes on to refer to the first model made in 1875 and the second model made in 1876 and 1877. It seems from this that there is a Schofield Model 3 with a couple different models. That is confusing. A Model 1 and model 2 of a model 3. It kind of makes sence but why the name model 3? Why not just Schofield and then have certain models?

S&W kind of painted themselves into the corner, so to speak, when they came up with Model numbers. The first S&W was the Model One in .22 RF. OK. Then the 2nd model was the Army model in .32RF. Now it gets interesting , the next model was a smaller gun than the Model 2, but bigger than the Model 1, so S&W decided to call it the Model 1 1/2, in .32RF, although it came out after the Model 2. Are you still with me? - The Model 3 was already under development as a .44 cal. gun, larger frame than the Model 1, 1/2 or 2. It came out first as the American Model and then as engineering changes were made the nomenclature began to follow the Model name and not the numerical designations. All the .44 cal ( and the .45 Schofields) are 3rd Models, including the .44DA series and the New Model No. 3s. By the time the New Model #3s came about, target calibers like .32/44 and .38/44 were added to the Model 3 series. To make it more confusing, when the smaller frame guns came out at the end of the 19th century, they got individual names and changes were called Model 1s, Model 2s, Model 3s, etc.. This continued until about 1957, when S&W changed to straight Model numbers, with dash numbers after the Model number to indicate engineering improvements, etc. Hope this helps! Ed

Oh man that is clear as mud but I really appreciate the explanation.