If you really want info on specific 3rd generation Pistol Manufacture Date, email [email protected] with model and full s/n and ask for Manufacture Date. This will probably work for late 2nd generation pistols with triple alpha S/N prefix and transitional pistols.
Depending on person that responds, you may get year or year & month or possibly Year, Month, and Day. There are various interpretations of Manufacture Date. It may be Actual Date Assembled, Date Label Created and Boxed, or possibly Date Shipped.
It may or may not match a decoded date based on box end 4 digit Spec Ord Code - in my experience they are generally close but not an exact match.
And in one case I got a really odd date - and on asking a second time a bit later I got a different response - it turned out based on a query to Roy that it had been sent back to SW for modification to put a new slide with an adjustable sight on an early 3904 that had the original flat sight - hence it had 2 "Manufacture Dates" in SW records.
If you also ask for the 6 digit Product Code, about half the time you will get that too, again depending on the person responding.
Also be aware that s/n prefixes alone do not date a pistol. My understanding is the frames are serialized when they are made. Spares may be produced, particularly for repeat order LE contracts.
Unassembled frames may be set aside based on lack of immediate demand or for contract spares.
As such I have 2 VJP35xx pistols same prefix and 16 numbers apart that SW dates manufacture as 11 years apart (1998 and 2009). But the more common situation is a 2 to 3 year spread for a single prefix.
And it appears that beginning about 2015 and as late as 2021, SW has gone thru several parts purges assembling 3rd generation frames which existed unassembled in warehouses long after the recognized "end" of 3rd generation pistols. The majority of these seem to be 3914DAO (NYPD) in 2014-15, 5906 in 2019, and 5946 in 2016 & 2019.
Depending on person that responds, you may get year or year & month or possibly Year, Month, and Day. There are various interpretations of Manufacture Date. It may be Actual Date Assembled, Date Label Created and Boxed, or possibly Date Shipped.
It may or may not match a decoded date based on box end 4 digit Spec Ord Code - in my experience they are generally close but not an exact match.
And in one case I got a really odd date - and on asking a second time a bit later I got a different response - it turned out based on a query to Roy that it had been sent back to SW for modification to put a new slide with an adjustable sight on an early 3904 that had the original flat sight - hence it had 2 "Manufacture Dates" in SW records.
If you also ask for the 6 digit Product Code, about half the time you will get that too, again depending on the person responding.
Also be aware that s/n prefixes alone do not date a pistol. My understanding is the frames are serialized when they are made. Spares may be produced, particularly for repeat order LE contracts.
Unassembled frames may be set aside based on lack of immediate demand or for contract spares.
As such I have 2 VJP35xx pistols same prefix and 16 numbers apart that SW dates manufacture as 11 years apart (1998 and 2009). But the more common situation is a 2 to 3 year spread for a single prefix.
And it appears that beginning about 2015 and as late as 2021, SW has gone thru several parts purges assembling 3rd generation frames which existed unassembled in warehouses long after the recognized "end" of 3rd generation pistols. The majority of these seem to be 3914DAO (NYPD) in 2014-15, 5906 in 2019, and 5946 in 2016 & 2019.
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