Yesterday I saw a 657-2 Hunter for sale on GunBroker. I have one of these guns and was wondering what the serial number was on the gun and wrote the seller. Received a reply back stating that the serial number on the gun for sale was BHB4xxxx.

The one that I have is #5 made and has a serial number of HTR00005. It is also unusual in that it has a fluted instead of smooth cylinder. I have been told by some of the collectors on this forum that some of the early Hunters did have fluted cylinders.

So the question is, why do you think that the early guns had a special serial number that was not continued... And does anyone else with a -2 Hunter have the HTR serial number. Just wondering if anyone knows how many were made before Smith change back to the standard numbering.

Thanks...Bob

This is my gun...a really great shooter...6.5" barrel.

That s/n dates to April 1991.

The HTR series guns shipped in February of 1991, they were called "Classic Hunter", unfluted cylinder, Target Stocks, product code 103820, and it's said only 2000 where made.

The gun you saw is from that same era, just a few months later. I'm guessing the gun was popular so S&W cranked out some more with plain Jane s/n's. And, maybe the difference between a "Hunter" and a "Classic Hunter" is the unfluted cylinder.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

When I first bought this gun I posted it here on the Forums and one of the members posted a S&W add for the introduction of the gun that showed it with an unfluted cylinder. Someone else posted that there were some shipped with fluted cylinders but the standard was unfluted...