Was there a particular year,or simply when they ran out of them?
I don't think any records exist on the subject. What we know or think we know is kind of conjecture and logic. You'll get a lot of hedging and uncertain terms used when we discuss it.
Basically, we know gold boxes came on the scene right after WWII. The K22s seem to be the earliest ones for a few reasons. First they were probably leading the way with "modern" production in things like the short action (K22 seconds had them first.) We also know that M&Ps retained the maroon box for the first couple of years after the war. From that point, maybe 1948 (OK, probably) there was a transition over to gold boxes.
Your question specifically targets 357s. Those weren't produced in numbers for a while. They were hot sellers. We also can track K22 gold boxes into the 1954 period when we know they changed over to the dull or black/blue boxes. We used to discuss this all the time here. Smithnut preferred to call them pastel, not black. His theory is they faded to black (might be right, too.) We know that when K22s got into the K200,000s, the black boxes appeared. I don't recall seeing any 357 black boxes. We also know that some of the slow moving models like the K32 retained the gold boxes into the 1960s.
To complicate matters more, the guns weren't always shipped in serial number order. The hot sellers were produced in greater numbers and its logical to assume those were the ones to run out of the stock of Gold boxes. When S&W reordered boxes, they didn't order gold ones once they changed to the other ones. By the model number changeover time, as they ran out of boxes the new ones were an even different style of blue.
S&W didn't keep good records, or at least Roy says they didn't as to the kind of box a gun was shipped in. He's often stated they were in the business of selling firearms, not leaving good tracks for collectors a half century away. What we do know is when we find a gun in a box, we need to pay special attention to indicators its wasn't original to the box, or maybe it was. Its about the only way we can learn at this late date.
It looks like the changeover was gradual and took place one model at a time. It also appears some lower number guns/frames were put in newer style boxes while some higher ones got homes in the old style. This could all be related to them not building/finishing guns in numeric order.
