I have noticed some ads state the grips have the same serial number as the gun. Is there a specific period of time or series of revolvers that were numbered? Do the original grips vs a set of period correct set of grips alter the value significantly?

Yes. From the very beginning of the hand ejectors and lasting until sometime in the late 1970s (I don't recall exactly at the moment).
Early hand ejectors had the serial number penciled on the inside of the right panel on wood stocks. I've been told they used pencil on the hard rubber stocks as well, but I'm aware of some (including one that I own) in the first decade and a half of the 20th Century that had the number stamped into the rubber stock panel.
Sometime in the 1920s, they stopped writing the number with a pencil on the wood stocks and started pressing it into the wood with die stamps. I've seen it both ways in that decade. By at least a year or two into the '30s no more pencil marks seem to show up.

I think it will always make a difference with some people. Others are happy with period stocks and others are happy with anything that looks good. But on a highly sought-after collector piece, having the original numbered stocks can make a real difference. Like most guys, I will be more comfortable paying a slight premium to the market if the stocks number to the gun. If they are not correct, I'll tend to dicker a bit more over the price.

I hope this helps a bit.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Good question Jon.

I've wondered this and have been told grips are original, see it is written in pencil. Well I remember the 1st day in 1st grade, everybody brought in a #2 pencil.

Add; thanks JP@ak.

I should have added that in the model number era (post 1958) only Magna stocks were numbered to the gun. Target stocks were not. In the very earliest days of K frame target stocks, there were a few that were stamped with the serial number of the assigned gun, and I believe this may have been only on the Combat Masterpiece. In any case, the practice ended very soon after introduction and did not carry over on other models.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Stocks were numbered much later than most people think. My 1982 M63, non pinned, has numbered stocks. Big Larry

Many of the DA top-breaks had the serial scratched into the grip, not penciled.

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Thanks to all, great info.
Seems like it was the "practice" during a period but maybe not written in stone?

No, written on wood!

Seriously, there was a reason for it. For most of the period we are talking about, service stocks (including postwar Magna stocks) were hand-fitted to the frame so as to obtain the most perfect fit possible. Once a set of stocks was shaped to fit a particular frame, they were numbered to keep them from getting mixed up with a pair that were not shaped to fit that frame. So it was standard practice, not hit or miss.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Gotta love the humor!

Since the grips were produced for a K frame gun, wouldn't all of the K frames be identical negating the need for matching a grip to a gun?

I have a Combat Masterpiece that dates to 1975. Written in what appears to be ink near the top of each grip panel are the last three of the serial number. Also, "stamped" near the bottom of one panel in larger text is 7056 and on the other only about half on the panel appears to be 7197. Would these stamped numbers be from a specific lot or what would they represent?

Actually there is an amazing difference in grip fit between K frame revolvers. Only the grips that are numbered to the frame are the exact fit. Knowledgeable and experienced eyes can usually spot the mis-fit of non-numbered grips quite quickly. The horn doesn't quite fit right or the bottom of the grip doesn't match the frame. Sometimes it really sticks out.

john....those numbers sound like part numbers that were sometimes stamped on stocks.

Bill

Answered correctly by stu1ritter.

I believe those are part numbers. These normally appear on stocks that were sold as replacement stocks. At the time they were marketed in blister packs. Very seldom, if ever, do part numbers appear on stocks that shipped with the gun.
In your case, I suspect someone after the fact added the last three digits of the serial number in ink. This would not have been the practice of the factory.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

In your case, I suspect someone after the fact added the last three digits of the serial number in ink. This would not have been the practice of the factory.[/QUOTE]

The gun was purchased new by me and has worn the same stocks since birth. Really confused since different numbers on each panel.

Attached Images

M15 grip panels 004.JPG (150.0 KB, 91 views)

I'm going with "the factory didn't do it that way". Just because someone bought a gun that was represented as brand new doesn't mean it came from the factory that way. There is a remote chance (keep the remote part in mind) that someone at the factory in the shipping department swapped out the original grips for a set of "replacement" grips prior to shipment. The gun could have started with target grips but needed magna's to fill the order.

But just as that is possible, its much more likely that kind of vandalism took place at the distributor or at the gun shop. Its also possible the gun started life with a spectacular grain and someone wanted them on a different revolver. So whoever it was at that stage of the process just bought the replacement panels and took the good/great ones.

In the old days (olden days?) the process went something like the unfinished frame had the unfinished grip panels installed. Then the skilled workman too a few seconds to sand the full assembly. The wood, being soft, gave in to the belt sander. It resulted in a perfect match. Then the wood went to the varnish shop and the metal to the final polish/bluing/plating. After you've seen enough 1930s (example) revolvers, you can tell the ones that look like God himself intended them to be there. Those with minor misfitting problems can usually be picked out from arms length.

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Dick Burg

As others have stated, stocks were numbered with the serial number so they would stay with the frame that they were fitted to. When S&W stopped soft fitting their revolvers, this practice was no longer required.

The photos above show a black washer that is severely worn. Perhaps there was a problem and one stock panel had to be replaced and hence the non matching numbers. That is purely a WAG on my part and I have not heard any prior discussions that attempt to answer this question.

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James Redfield
LM #497

I guess I could buy any of those explanations ,although........, if someone were to cannibalize the original grips for whatever reason, (exceptional grain, etc), would they take the time to put the serial number on the stocks? Just thinking out loud.

Well, whatever the explanation, it is pretty clear those are replacement stocks. The part numbers are factory, the partial serial numbers on the inside of the "horn" are not.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318