Is there anyone on site that can provide a serial number lookup?

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kmecjohnson

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I plan to call Smith on Monday, but would like to know the answer before then if possible. I would just like to verify the model number and year tied to a particular serial number...

Thanks, KJ
 
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With a model number someone with a copy of the standard catalog could tell which years it was produced an which serial numbers were produced during those periods. They could also give you an approx date that a particular serial number was produced.

So, if you provide a serial number and model number we can help/ If the gun has no model number we would need a good description because some pre model number guns used the same serial number ranges for various guns. N frames K frames and even calibers with in a frame size at one point each started with a 1 and went up, so there were various guns with the exact same number

The records for early guns no longer reside with S&W, but are in the possession of Roy Jinks the S&W historian and for a fee he will look up your serial number and provide when and where it was shipped

I really doubt you will have any luck calling S&W on anything except maybe fairly recent production
 
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Better to provide the model number and SN on the butt here. A picture would help. Someone will tell you what you want to know. S&W probably can't tell you squat.
 
If/when you go to the very beginning of this section, there's something called a "Sticky". I don't know what that means, but it tells you how to identify your gun. Once you do whatever it says to do, we're good to go and you're almost certainly going to get what you want--and then some. Until then we're as dumb as a rock, and as helpless as a newborn babe!

Ralph Tremaine
 
MelvinWalker said:
It means that message is "stuck" to the top of the messages as to not immediately get lost amongst the thousands of other messages.
Click to expand...

Sounds reasonable---perhaps even redundant---kind'a like the instructions for proper communication: "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, then tell 'em, and then tell 'em what you told 'em." That works pretty much every time!

Ralph Tremaine
 
Sorry for the delay, I posted this and got busy over the weekend. The reason for my question was I wanted to check a serial number and verify model number. The gun is a Model 1955 (pre 25), the serial number is stamped on the butt, the cylinder and in the crane cutout on the barrel. The reason I was skeptical was the serial number is out of bed compared to the normal range. I thought S143xxx was about as early as they come with that model.

S130832

Only thing SW could verify was a year range, 1954-55, not a model. Just one of SW normal abnormalities, or am I missing something?

Regards, Kevin J
 
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This is a pre model 25... Model 1955. First year would have been 1955, but I always heard the s/n's started at S143xxx...
 
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S&W completed and shipped guns out of serial number order as a result of their manufacturing process. Some of the earliest shipped 1955 45 Target revolvers have serial numbers in the S143000 range. Your revolver with serial number S130832 is a prime example of this as it did not ship until November 1957. A letter of authenticity issued by the S&W Historical Foundation will provide you the actual shipping date and location (cost is $100).

Bill
 
Thanks! I was looking for a 1st year model when I came across this one. Any thoughts on whether that oddity would help or hurt the value of the gun?

Regards, KJ
 
kmecjohnson said:
Sorry for the delay, I posted this and got busy over the weekend. The reason for my question was I wanted to check a serial number and verify model number. The gun is a Model 1955 (pre 25), the serial number is stamped on the butt, the cylinder and in the crane cutout on the barrel. The reason I was skeptical was the serial number is out of bed compared to the normal range. I thought S143xxx was about as early as they come with that model.

S130832

Only thing SW could verify was a year range, 1954-55, not a model. Just one of SW normal abnormalities, or am I missing something?

Regards, Kevin J
Click to expand...

So to be clear, they share serial numbers with other N frame pistols of the same frame configuration. For example, I have a pre-27 that is 136xxx that shipped on March 28, 1955. The serial number database would show the manufacturing date as 1954-1955. This frame could have been configured in several models/barrels/calibers.

I do think that having a first year serial number is desirable to some collectors. For example, a collector recently posted his first year collection of various models. Whether that translates to higher $$$ value is up in the air, but it certainly doesn't detract. For example, I have a .41 Magnum and I was thrilled to find out it was a very early model that shipped early first year. Because of that as well as the originality and like new condition, I would definitely ask a higher dollar amount for it if I decided to sell.
 
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Thanks for all the help!

If nothing else, that's a pretty late shipped 5 screw...

Regards, KJ
 
One must remember that there are shipping dates and manufacture dates. Obviously the manufacture date always precedes the shipping date. Due to several factors, not the least being how guns were stored in the "vault" awaiting shipment affects the shipping date. There are also guns that were part of the factory collection or loaned out to gun magazine writers that can show up with shipping dates well beyond what would be considered normal.

There is also the first in-last out effect when a run was placed in the vault. The earliest produced and therefore the lowest serial number guns were placed on the shelf first and therefore later guns were placed in front. When a stock clerk went to fill an order any gun at the front of the shelf would naturally be removed first and therefore have a shipping date earlier than a lower numbered gun on the back of the shelf.

So really, shipping date has no bearing on whether a gun is a first year model or a second etc. The dates that the historians provide either Roy Jinks or Don Mundell are not when the gun was made but when as a piece of inventory it left the factory.

Dates of manufacture were recorded in the floor foreman's daily log books so that the floor workers who were paid by the piece could get their paycheck. Unfortunately most of those logs are not available and therefore only the shipping records give us an idea of time frame.

One of the founding members of the S&WCA had one of these floor log books and was kind enough to share some of the information regarding a model that I collect but as I said these books are few and far between so we basically have to live with shipping dates.

I hope that helps.
 
Manufacturing logs of the 50s and 60s kept track of how many of a certain model were made on a certain date, but did not include the serial number, finish, barrel length, etc. For example, the factory designation for the 44 Magnum is NT-430, so the log would show how many NT-430 revolvers were made on a certain day. NT-357 for the .357 Magnum and KT-357 for the ".357" Combat Magnum. This level of information is useful in determining how many revolvers of a certain model were made in a specific time frame, but does not provide information about an individual gun.

Bill
 
Bill, I would never even attempt to go head to head with you as your knowledge regarding S&W's is 100 fold greater than mine.

I will however offer (and this is from memory) that the copies from the log books owned by the senior senator and founding member from California, Ed Cornett, did show serial numbers.

I will have to dig for them to verify this fact but will provide them here if I can locate them.
 
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