In 1940, Harrington & Richardson began the practice of affixing a letter prefix to their serial numbers, this advancing alphabetically in each succeeding year. Wartime production (1942 through 1945, or letters C through F) for civilian consumption wasn't unheard of but was exceedingly limited. It should be mentioned that this would exclude the 1930's vintage Sportsman target revolvers, for which D prefixed serial numbers are often misconstrued. In this instance the prefix didn't indicate the year of manufacture but rather denoted that a gun was the double action version.
So what was H&R doing by 1946? Well, they were ramping up to resume full production of their normal commercial models. Below are pictured two such.
The top one is a 922, a very utilitarian solid frame 9 shot DA/SA. 22, serial G110X. Interestingly, H&R didn't catalogue the 922 from 1943 through 1947, but here we have an example anyway.
The other is a 970 starter's revolver, serial G45X. This is clearly built on the exact same frame as the 922. It's probably the case that H&R stamped these serial numbers sequentially regardless of what the final model was to be.
So what was H&R doing by 1946? Well, they were ramping up to resume full production of their normal commercial models. Below are pictured two such.
The top one is a 922, a very utilitarian solid frame 9 shot DA/SA. 22, serial G110X. Interestingly, H&R didn't catalogue the 922 from 1943 through 1947, but here we have an example anyway.
The other is a 970 starter's revolver, serial G45X. This is clearly built on the exact same frame as the 922. It's probably the case that H&R stamped these serial numbers sequentially regardless of what the final model was to be.
