I originally posted this in the wrong forum, so here goes...

Hello,

I have tried to look up the serial numbers for two old revolvers for a friend.
I looked in the Smith book and keep coming up with wrong years. At least on the K 22 Masterpiece. They both are "Pre" model number guns, with the second one being a 38 spl. M&P (pre-model 10).

The S/N for the K-22 is K662*** and the M&P is 5168**. No alpha pre-fix on the M&P.
I come up with 1966 for the K-22 which is the model number (model 17) era. This gun has no model number on it anywhere!
The number "17" is not found on the revolver, anywhere at all.
The 38 spl M&P has a real broad range from 1915-1942 spanning the S/N range of 241704-700000
What am I missing?
Any help would be appreciated.

Ceapea

Do you have the k-22 in hand? Im thinking there's an extra digit in the serial number.

If the K-22 has the K with a six-digit number beginning with a 6, the year sounds about right.

The .38 M & P SN data in the book are not very detailed. SN 400000 shipped in about 1920 and 600000 in 1930, so your friend's probably shipped toward the middle of the decade. Hope this is helpful.

__________________
Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Thanks.
No, not right now. But I did see it for myself yesterday, and the number is correct. Strange!

Thanks to you, also.
The M&P info is slightly less confusing. Like I mentioned above, I held the K-22 yesterday and the frame only has the serial number on it, at the yolk and on the bottom of the grip frame. I don't remember any special numbers on the cylinder though.

Maybe one slipped through without the model # stamp?

With hundreds of thousands of revolvers coming down the line over the years, sometimes a model number was skipped in the stamping process. Sometimes the wrong number was stamped. It happened rather frequently, actually. Most folks do not deduct or add value due to such an occurrence. Some dealers will jack the asking price on such a "rare and unusual error gun" but they are trying to fool buyers.

__________________
No life story has happy end.

I assume the K-22 has a three screw frame. It most likely missed the stamping of MOD. 17-2 in the yoke cut. The serial number would only be stamped in the yoke cut and on the butt (possibly under the extractor also). This didn't happen often, but is found every now and then. It was not a critical manufacturing step and if found on inspection, S&W would not have returned the gun for stamping of the model number.

Bill