696 no-

[BillBro]

It's of no real importance so call it curiosity. I stumbled across a few threads by a number of 696 owners who were discussing manufacture dates and special order codes etc. Something about the three letter serial numbers being hard to nail down but that the special order numbers representing a year and month manufacture or ship date.
They were discussing the fact that the no dash models beginning in December of '96 but if what they're saying about the special order number is correct that would put my no dash would have been the 318th day of 1996 which was November 13th. So what precisely does the "spec ord" represent? The one on my 696 box is 6318. Does that represent the 318th day of '96?
The SN of my 696 is CBN85xx. I'm beginning to come to grips with the fact that S&W SNs don't necessarily mean a whole lot but opinions are appreciated.

 

[Alk8944]

So what precisely does the "spec ord" represent? The one on my 696 box is 6318. Does that represent the 318th day of '96?
The SN of my 696 is CBN85xx. I'm beginning to come to grips with the fact that S&W SNs don't necessarily mean a whole lot but opinions are appreciated.

Usually the Spec Ord number is a Julian date. The first number is the last number of the year and the remaining are the number of the day in the year. The problem is you need to have an idea of the decade the gun was made. The 6 could be 1986, 1996, 2006, 2016 etc. Here is a link to Julian date calendars: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/mpes/pdfs/Julian_Calendar.pdf

There are exceptions where the Spec Ord number really is a special order, but those normally are not only 4 digits.