37 airwieght prodution year

[MG1867]

My in law just purchased a 37 air weight with a pined 3" barrel. The number on the butt of the frame is 219J60. Looking in the Smith catalog the serial numbers start with a J so this one has me confused with the letter in the middle. Any help on production date and other info would be appreciated. Thanks and enjoy the day.

 

[murphydog]

In 1971-'72 the model 37 among other centerfire J frames had this SN format, six total characters with the letter moving as the number changed, called the "floating J". This one is from 1972.

There is a typo in the SCSW, the SN appendix should read "1"J1-999J99 for these years. Hope this is helpful.

 

[MG1867]

Thanks that helps a lot. Was the 3" barrel a common length? I see in the catalog it was discontinued late 80's and the pinned barrels in early 80's.

 

[murphydog]

They were a minority of production; a rough guess based on observation would be 10-20% of the total.