Earliest dates for Internal Lock & latest dates for for forged parts

[kwheezy2000]

Hello,

I have recently started looking into the history of new frame S&W's and I was curious what the earliest ship date of an internal lock of any frame size that you have seen an example of. I am also interested in knowing the latest dates that you have seen forged internals on an example(as opposed to MIM), again any frame size. I was told that the Performance Center continued to use forged parts, even after the main production had switched to MIM.

What peaked my interest is pictured below, it's an N frame with the IL and what I believe to be forged parts

EDIT: also interested in the first example you've seen of a ball detent lock up on the yoke, instead of the ejector lockup.

 

[Kernel Crittenden]

...what the earliest ship date of an internal lock of any frame size that you have seen an example of....

July of 2001 was the first gun I saw with the Internal Lock System (ILS), and it was on a J-frame. By 2002 pretty much all the standard production had transitioned to the lock. Of course, there's always a few exceptions, for what ever reason. Some PC guns held out a little longer.

You may not be aware, but the first guns built on the "New Frame" with MIM parts and frame mounted firing pins did not have the lock. There was a window of time of about 5 to 7 years, depending on the frame size, where new frame guns were made and the lock was not yet introduced.

Also during this period you have new frame guns mostly with MIM parts, but some with forged parts made to work with the new frame design. I have a M640-1 with the new "J-magnum" frame, but a forged hammer & trigger. Your PC gun is also a good example of that. There was even one dash number of the M64 that had a MIM hammer and a forged trigger as standard.

Regarding how long the PC used forged parts, I haven't tracked that very well. I'm sure there's a PC guru that knows. They may still use (some) forged parts today, AFAIK.