1006 10mm Label question

[Frank Black]

I would think S&W would want to box & label a finished product once. If they manufactured it & then it sat around for months, or longer, before shipping it would have to be boxed & labeled in some fashion for storage & accountability. Seems the "manufactured & boxed date" would make better sense especially if a production change or revision came out after it was manufactured so those affected could be identified.

I suspect the overwhelming majority of products shipped to a distributor or a dealer where it sat around more. And the warranty starts on the consumer's purchase date which could be even a lot longer.

I don't see where the "shipped from the factory date" is meaningful, on the box, or why they would have wanted to do it that way. Thoughts?

The "built & boxed on" date makes more sense rather than it being the "shipped on" date.

 

[ken158]

I guess we get back to the age old question as to what the Spec. Ord. Code (SOC) is supposed to represent.

Is it the actual build date (i.e., the day a factory armorer finished building the gun) or the shipment date (the day the built gun left the factory for wherever).

Obviously guns could've been built much earlier in time than they were actually shipped. They would've been boxed up, put aside until an order came in, then labelled after receiving an order, and then shipped.

If that's what the SOC means, then you could've had very early 1006 models built in late 1989 but not shipped out until 1990-91, depending on the volume of orders received.

I cant answer all of your questions but having been in the factory "storage" room where I saw shelves and rows of handguns boxed and ready for shipment, they all had labels on the boxes (how else could they do an order pick?) So, I would expect the SOC was the date the finished product was boxed.

 

[Frank Black]

I cant answer all of your questions but having been in the factory "storage" room where I saw shelves and rows of handguns boxed and ready for shipment, they all had labels on the boxes (how else could they do an order pick?) So, I would expect the SOC was the date the finished product was boxed.

Makes sense.

 

[KAC]

When I attended the S&W Armorer's School in 1980 everyone there had the option of purchasing the Model 10's that each worked on. I would assume that the same applied to those who attended a Field Class, especially a class that workd on a specific handgun.
KAC

 

[ACEd]

I would think S&W would want to box & label a finished product once. If they manufactured it & then it sat around for months, or longer, before shipping it would have to be boxed & labeled in some fashion for storage & accountability. Seems the "manufactured & boxed date" would make better sense especially if a production change or revision came out after it was manufactured so those affected could be identified.

I suspect the overwhelming majority of products shipped to a distributor or a dealer where it sat around more. And the warranty starts on the consumer's purchase date which could be even a lot longer.

I don't see where the "shipped from the factory date" is meaningful, on the box, or why they would have wanted to do it that way. Thoughts?

.

Seems reasonable - unlikely the Box End Spec Ord Code would reflect Ship date - more likely Date Boxed or Date Label Created for Box or possibly Assembly or Test Fire date. You can get Ship Date Info from Roy which is generally after decoded Box End info by anywhere from same day to years later.

As to "Manufacture Dates" obtained from SW, they can be anywhere from before to AFTER Box End Spec Ord decode. In one case I had a response to a Manufacture Date request from SW that they were providing Ship Date - so I am guessing they have access to real or scheduled Manufacture Date and actual or scheduled Ship Date which would explain why an inquiry could produce a "Manufacture Date" later than the Box End code.

As to the Spec Ord dates with Nxxx where N may still be the year, but xxx is greater than 365 (random observed xxx=382 to xxx=991), the majority of those pistols seem to be unique in some way - some Box End marked "Special", others are PD marked (4006 Sunnyvale DPS Spec Ord 6694, Prod Code 104401 SKU 0 22188 04401 x Box End marked "Special" but no obvious unique features other than LE marking) and others you have to get your hands on to find they are Decock Only (one in my possession observed) or Night Sights on a pistol that is not listed as available with Night Sights or Mag Safety Delete, etc. Maybe xxx is last 3 of Contract or Purchase Order for something unique?

Sometimes the Spec Order code is common to Product Code & SKU (i.e. 4013TSW Spec Ord 8391, Product Code 148391, SKU 0 20188 48391 8 and 5906 Spec Ord 8823, Product Code 148823, SKU 0 22188 48823 4 Decock Only but otherwise unmarked). This seems to be common in the Spec Ord 8xxx range with Product Codes 148xxx (later LE or Special Order purchase contracts?).

 

[Sevens]

I have had a half dozen local city PD issue boxes from 2011 to 2015 and the box end label has exactly the same month/day/year as the silly included case from test fire.

Yes, 2011-2015 is newer than the guns we are discussing currently, but still more data for the discussion.

Btw, maybe also relevant that 2012 was still showing the four digit number with first digit representing a year and last three representing a Julian date, but by 2014 the four digit code has been dropped and replaced with a 6-digit number that is actually a "typical" date, such as one I am looking at now that says 081815, which is Aug 18, 2015

 

[ACEd]

I have had a half dozen local city PD issue boxes from 2011 to 2015 and the box end label has exactly the same month/day/year as the silly included case from test fire.

Yes, 2011-2015 is newer than the guns we are discussing currently, but still more data for the discussion.

Btw, maybe also relevant that 2012 was still showing the four digit number with first digit representing a year and last three representing a Julian date, but by 2014 the four digit code has been dropped and replaced with a 6-digit number that is actually a "typical" date, such as one I am looking at now that says 081815, which is Aug 18, 2015

Slightly off original topic, but 6 digit dates seem to have come in late 2013 (Houlton production somewhere between July and December 2013) Observed 3953TSW UCV5897 3197 (3197 = July 16, 2013) FC 7/17/2013 and 3914DAO UCW3387 120913