Likely that less than 5% were targets before 1930. I do not believe that 10% was ever achieved until after WWII. Roy once shared a document that set a goal of 5% targets in the 1920s as well as a documented target production from 1931 to 1935 at an average of 5.9%.
S&W set their sights on the military market starting in 1899 and so named their K frames as the Military Model until 1914 when the Military & Police Model was introduced. Early target shooters were using S&Ws and Colts for target shooting in those early years and shooters were satisfied with the New Model 3 and the 22 Single shot guns for competitive shooting that lasted into the early 1910s. I hope to write another article in the SWCA Journal to chronicle the growth of the K frame Target models from 1899 to 1910 soon. I believe that the early numbers will be quite surprising to many.
The change between the 2nd Change and 3rd Change was pretty much identified as the 3rd starting at 146,900. The large overlap occurs between the 1st and 2nd Changes but not so much for 3rd. Of course, every engineering change has a certain transition period as referenced by the size of inventory at the time of the change and the availability of old parts, so most every serial number range has some overlap.
As far as the 6 1/2" barrel is concerned, the old SWCA database shows examples of that length showing up in serial number range from 144000 to 160000 shipped in 1910 and 1911. Again, Roy and Bob did their best to cover changes in barrel lengths, but in reality, the 4", 5", 6", and 6 1/2" barrels exist in all Change numbers. Late shipped, special orders, and excess parts inventory were all likely the reason why all these Change overlaps with all these barrel lengths showing up. I also do not believe that any premium exists for barrel lengths not listed in "The Book" unless it is other than those four lengths.
Oh, not to forget my 1910-1911 targets. First is 150057 and second is 154974, shipped 1910 and 1911 respectively.
