32-20 M&P

[mtu164]

I bought an old M&P 32-20 in a pawn shop several years ago. It is a 6 inch bbl. in pretty nice shooter grade. I cast bullets for it and have enjoyed shooting it . The other day, I pulled it out to wipe it down, and while looking it over I finally noticed that the barrel and cylinder have a different serial number on them compared to the frame number . Don't know I missed that when I bought it. Anyway, the gun serial no. is 950xx , and the barrel no. is 670xx , as is the cylinder. There is also a tiny "B-F"stamped in front of the bbl. number on the bottom flat and on the cylinder under the extractor. The extractor number matches up to the cylinder and barrel. The yoke serial number matches the gun.


What does the B-F stamping signify ? The wear on the frame and bbl and cylinder match up , so I believe the swap was made very long ago. The barrel pin shows no marks, so whoever made the swap was very good. What are the chances this was done at the factory ? I can find no marking under the grips or anywhere else that would show it has been back to the factory.

 

[Plain Old Dave]

If by "frame number," you mean the number inside the crane where modern Smith's have the serial number, that's an assembly number.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

 

[Muley Gil]

If by "frame number," you mean the number inside the crane where modern Smith's have the serial number, that's an assembly number.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

The serial number is stamped on the butt of the revolver. If your grips cover the butt, remove them to see the SN. The SN on the butt should match the number on the underside of the barrel and on the rear of the cylinder.

If there is a small "B" preceding the barrel number, that indicates the revolver shipped with a blue finish.

 

[Absalom]

Your wording does indeed indicate that you mistake the assembly number for the serial, since all other areas (barrel, cylinder, extractor) match. The same assembly number can be found (not always) on the yoke, next to the yoke on the frame (where Colts have their main serial) and sometimes even on the side of the grip frame under the grip panels.

But as Muley pointed out, the components you listed need to match the primary serial on the bottom of the grip frame.

 

[mtu164]

Can anyone help me out with my original questions ? In my post I gave the guns serial number. It is as I stated, stamped on the frame of the firearm. Also gave the serial number stamped on the barrel. Both five digit numbers. I was hoping that someone shed some light on the gun. I assume that someone screwed in a 32-20 barrel a long time ago. The serial number on it and the cylinder show to be earlier than the guns serial number. I did not include the assembly number as it wasn't part of my question.

 

[merl67]

Just for clarification this is the location of the gun in question's frame serial number.

 

[merl67]

And this is the assembly number location

 

[Absalom]

Can anyone help me out with my original questions ? In my post I gave the guns serial number. It is as I stated,.... I did not include the assembly number as it wasn't part of my question.

The problem, and possible misunderstanding, originated with your intial post, where you talked about the “yoke serial number”. Since Smith & Wessons of that period (and for decades after) do not have a yoke serial number, I’m still not sure what you were talking about, if not the assembly number.

Late edit: Good point by Tom. If you were talking about the serial on the side of the yoke arm, sorry for the misunderstanding. Very few people even know about that one. As you can see from the various posts, it helps to reference the butt serial as such and not as the frame serial, or people will not believe you

The barrel/cylinder serial of 67xxx would be about 1914/15, and should have the .32 WCF CTG stamping, which was adopted shortly before. A factory-swapped barrel would not be marked with a different serial than the gun. From 1910 on, they also date-stamped such factory reworks on the grip frame. And while a B on the barrel flat, as has been mentioned, means “blued”, I’ve not encountered an F with it and don’t have a suggestion for its meaning.

 

[Tom K]

I bought an old M&P 32-20 in a pawn shop several years ago. It is a 6 inch bbl. in pretty nice shooter grade. I cast bullets for it and have enjoyed shooting it . The other day, I pulled it out to wipe it down, and while looking it over I finally noticed that the barrel and cylinder have a different serial number on them compared to the frame number . Don't know I missed that when I bought it. Anyway, the gun serial no. is 950xx , and the barrel no. is 670xx , as is the cylinder. There is also a tiny "B-F"stamped in front of the bbl. number on the bottom flat and on the cylinder under the extractor. The extractor number matches up to the cylinder and barrel. The yoke serial number matches the gun.

To IDENTIFY your Gun >
Pictures of your gun would help. Just to make sure we're all on the same page here, when you say the "frame number" you mean the serial number on the butt, correct?

The numbers stamped on the frame at the yoke on older guns are assembly numbers and are meaningless. The serial number of this gun is NOT 36000.

On guns of your vintage the serial number is stamped on the yoke, but it's on the flat parallel to the front of the cylinder. It can usually can be seen only by removing the cylinder, or by looking down a cylinder chamber with a strong light. It may be difficult to see with the small diameter of a .32. Here's an example of a yoke serial on a Brazilian 1917 .45ACP.

What does the B-F stamping signify ? The wear on the frame and bbl and cylinder match up , so I believe the swap was made very long ago. The barrel pin shows no marks, so whoever made the swap was very good. What are the chances this was done at the factory ? I can find no marking under the grips or anywhere else that would show it has been back to the factory.

Are you sure the marking is B-F? B would indicate a Blue finish. Might the second marking be a horizontal diamond? That usually indicates a factory rework of some kind, often a barrel replacement. And while S&W usually stamped the side of the grip frame with a rework date and a star next to the serial on the butt, that isn't ironclad. Sometimes it just didn't get done.

If you really want to dig into it, you need to get a factory letter to determine the original configuration of the gun. Once you have that and a SWHF membership, you can get any factory records that may (or may not) exist about the gun.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-wesson-historical-foundation/

 

[Absalom]

Methinks two focused close-up photos, one of the barrel flat with the B-F and one of the butt with the serial, would have saved a lot of words here

 

[mtu164]

I will try to figure out how to post pictures , but I can't promise anything. I am not computer literate. I used a big glass, and the stamping on the flat on the underside of the barrel is " B-F " in small lightly stamped letters and the serial number 670xx. the cylinder has the same serial number on its face. If you push the extractor up there is the same B-F stamped on the cylinder under it. The extractor star has the 670xx stamped on it, with the number 41 stamped across from it.
Okay, I just took the grips of to check again for any markings. This time I found the same B-F stamp on the side of the frame , between the pin that holds the grips in position and the mainspring holding notch. Also a "Y" next to them. The B-F letters are very small , just like the ones on the barrel. On the opposite side of the grip frame is the number 41 , just like the number on the extractor. So now I have the "B-F" stamped on the frame, the cylinder, the extractor and the barrel. These letters are very small and well applied , appearing to be factory. The assembly number on the yoke and frame are the same.

 

[Muley Gil]

Is the 670xx number stamped on the butt?

 

[mtu164]

No. It isn't. As per the original post, the guns serial is on the frame. That's the number on the barrel and cylinder.

 

[Muley Gil]

What number, if any, is stamped on the butt? The first picture in post # 9 shows a number on the butt. Your revolver should have one there also.