Does anybody have any idea as to when a M27 with serial number N1996XX might have shipped. The numbers in the book are a bit mixed up with no way to clearly determine a date.
Doc
Let's be very clear on this. NO ONE can give you a month and year of shipment for any S&W revolver without first doing a search of the associated shipping records. Anything else is pure guesswork. This is especially true with the N prefix numbers.
N prefix numbers were assigned in blocks to specific model production. Within those blocks they were normally used in
rough sequential order for assembly but then normally went into the vault for future shipment, which was not in serial order.
But the blocks of numbers themselves were
not used in sequential order. They were used as planned runs of a particular model entered the assembly process. So, for example, a run of Model 57 revolvers might be assembled before a run of Model 28 HPs, even though the HP frames might carry serial numbers lower (even significantly lower) than those on the .41 magnums. (You can see this system reflected in the footnote on p. 398 of SCSW 3d.)
As a result, the N serial numbers and associated dates in the Standard Catalog are
approximations only. They are not reliable beyond that level. What I can tell you is that N199xxx
was scheduled for use in 1975. The serial number span scheduled for 1975-1977 went from N190000 to N430000. The scheduled span for 1978 started at N300000. Notice the overlap! Short of a factory letter, there is
no way you can know even approximately, and definitely not with any degree of certainty, when it was actually shipped, let alone when it was assembled.
When someone says, "I have one with a serial number only one thousand numbers higher than yours and it shipped on xyz date," it really tells you
nothing with respect to your gun, particularly if the two numbers in question are not on the same model. This is generally true with all S&W revolvers, but it is especially the case with the N prefix N frame revolvers.
