Alpo
Member
When did Smith start marking the caliber on the guns?
On another board someone posted a picture of a gun he had been given and wanted to know the caliber. It was a breaktop double action.
One of the responses said that, "if it's a real Smith and Wesson it will have the caliber marked on the barrel".
I went and looked at mine. I have a DA 32, a 32 lemon squeezer, a DA38, a 38 lemon squeezer, and an 1881 DA.
The only one with a caliber marking is the 38 lemon squeezer, which is a fifth model made around 1930. All the others were made prior to 1900.
The Standard Catalog, 3rd edition, says that the fourth model 38 safety hammerless 'barrel may or may not be marked ".38 S&W CTG," '.
And since the fourth model was made from 1898 to 1907, and 1900 was in that 10-year range, this leads me to believe that they started marking calibers right around 1900.
Does anyone know for sure?
On another board someone posted a picture of a gun he had been given and wanted to know the caliber. It was a breaktop double action.
One of the responses said that, "if it's a real Smith and Wesson it will have the caliber marked on the barrel".
I went and looked at mine. I have a DA 32, a 32 lemon squeezer, a DA38, a 38 lemon squeezer, and an 1881 DA.
The only one with a caliber marking is the 38 lemon squeezer, which is a fifth model made around 1930. All the others were made prior to 1900.
The Standard Catalog, 3rd edition, says that the fourth model 38 safety hammerless 'barrel may or may not be marked ".38 S&W CTG," '.
And since the fourth model was made from 1898 to 1907, and 1900 was in that 10-year range, this leads me to believe that they started marking calibers right around 1900.
Does anyone know for sure?
