How to Get Approximately Build Date of a S&W Revolver

[RMS272829]

I have a couple revolvers that I have, I think, determined the build date of from using the Standard Catalog of S&W book. I have a couple N frames that when I reference the same book I only get a year and the starting serial number - no ending date and serial number. What other reference book(s) are available that will give a more through date vs serial number listing?
Yes, I know I can ask on this forum for the approximate dates, but I would like to be able to do it myself.

 

[Hair Trigger]

There is no published list of SN's and manufacture dates for S&W revolvers, or any of their firearms, for that matter. The SCSW has SN ranges for production years which can approximate the year the gun was made, but you can't get a specific build date from them.

Your only option to get closer than the year is to get a Letter from S&W Historical foundation. Mr. Jinks will research the records for your provided SN and can tell you what configuration the gun was sold in originally (barrel length, finish, stocks, sights, hammer and trigger). He can also tell you when the gun was shipped from the factory to a distributor or dealer. The ship date is what S&W considers the birthday. S&W's are not built or sold in serial order; a particular SN range also encompasses several different models, too. Once a gun comes off the line, unless it is a special order or in a group order (as for a PD), it can sit on a shelf for months before it is sent out from the factory. Later SN'd guns can therefore be delivered before earlier SN'd guns.

When you request a mfg date on the forum, you get responses based on someone looking it up in the SCSW, or from their own knowledge of a SN close to yours that they know the ship date for. Not knowing exactly when your gun was made is part of the mystique of owning a S&W. Good enough is good enough, just knowing within a year or so of when it came off the line.

There are certain features that can give hints into when one was made. Series numbers, P&R, type of stocks (such as the football cut or extended speedloader cut), lazy or non-lazy ampersand, barrel lengths, number of sideplate screws, etc. It's a PhD course to learn them all.

 

[mh51]

Joining the SWCA allows you to ask Roy Jinks for a shipping date. He will give you a month and year for no fee. Its one of the benefits of being an SWCA member.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

..., but I would like to be able to do it myself.

I admire your strong-willed independence, but even if someone had taken time to write a book, by reading their work you still wouldn't be doing by yourself.

Follow mh51's suggestion, less than the price of a letter, and you only have to rely on one other guy -- Dr. Jinks.

 

[colt_saa]

I have a couple revolvers that I have, I think, determined the build date of from using the Standard Catalog of S&W book. I have a couple N frames that when I reference the same book I only get a year and the starting serial number - no ending date and serial number. What other reference book(s) are available that will give a more through date vs serial number listing?
Yes, I know I can ask on this forum for the approximate dates, but I would like to be able to do it myself.

There are no other reference books. The SCSW is the place to go

Dates of manufacture were not recorded by the Factory in their first one hundred and thirty or so years of production. Smith & Wesson is a tool maker, not a collectible maker and as such the records seldom satisfy our thirst for information about our firearms, Occasionally one firearm will have a letter or note but it is the exception

Remember that during all of those years the records were hand written and kept in file cabinets or boxes or who knows what

It was not until Smith & Wesson computerized in the 1980s that more information began to be recorded and us collectors got a little happier .

If you have a Smith & Wesson firearm with a computer printed label on the box, 98%+ of the time the date of manufacture is printed right on that end label under the heading SPEC ORD. There are exceptions. Usually when the word SPECIAL appears under the FEATURES heading the SPEC ORD number has a different meaning

That first digit in that four digit number is the last digit in the year of manufacture, so you need to know the decade of manufacture which is usually not too hard. The remaining three are the day of manufacture in Julian format. In more recent years the Factory has just gone to printing the actual date on the label in readable format

Also during the years where certain State required a fired cartridge casing, the dated, sealed envelope containing the cartridge was usually created withing a few days of manufacture

Prior to these Modern, internet connected times we live in it was not unusual for Dates of manufacture (as obtained from SCSW's serial number lists) and shipping dates (obtained from Historical letters) being significantly different.

Most often it is just weeks or months but there have been examples of years between the two events and in some rare cases decades.

I have a revolver that was manufactured in the 1960s (C8836xx) but did not ship from Smith & Wesson until 1996, yes this is the rare bird but it happens

Relying on the information of a Historical letter of an adjoining or nearby serial number is in no way accurate when we are talking about the pre-computerized era. Things were just grabbed off shelves and seldom shipped in the same order they were manufactured

Today, Factories do not want inventory on the shelves and firearms often ship out shortly after manufacture so those events are much closer together

By The Way, We all owe Roy Jinks and other like minded folks a HUGE Debt of Gratitude for the records we do have. The Factory tossed their paper records in the dumpster. After all, that old information was no use to them. Mr Jinks personally recovered those records and preserved them for us. Other folks have done similar things to ensure that Collectors have a repository of knowledge to draw from

So if you get the chance at one of the Symposiums, buy Mr Jinks a glass of Scotch as a Thank You for the foresight and vision that he had on our behalf. He favors 18 Year Old Laphroaig

 

[dsk]

You can bet if the ATF wanted to know when a particular S&W was made they'd have the answer in a hurry.

 

[Trooper Joe]

I simply call S&W and usually get the mfg date while I am on the phone. I remember one time I was inquiring about an old M&P revolver and customer service did not have the answer. They simply transferred me over to Mr. Jinks who told me it was made in 1925.

Trooper Joe

 

[JP@AK]

I simply call S&W and usually get the mfg date while I am on the phone. I remember one time I was inquiring about an old M&P revolver and customer service did not have the answer. They simply transferred me over to Mr. Jinks who told me it was made in 1925.

Trooper Joe
Times have changed. The company eliminated the history department and forced Roy into retirement. You never know what you'll get if you call S&W today. Usually, it is a completely wrong answer.

Now Dr. Jinks is at the S&W Historical Foundation, so nothing is really lost for those who reach out to the HF and ignore the company for such matters.

 

[ordnanceguy]

The suggestion above to become a member of the S&WCA is a good one.

In addition to having direct access to Roy Jinks for ship dates one also is given access to the many S&WCA Model Databases now online that have been created over the years by dedicated collectors. While not usually able to provide a precise ship date for a gun not in the Database already, one can usually get a very good estimate of a ship date from examining close serial numbers in the Database, understanding that S&W did not ship in strict consecutive serial number order.

And it is worth keeping in mind that the factory did not generally record manufacturing or "build" dates. Rather, S&W used shipping dates. The BATFE has long accepted that method from the company.

Regards,
Charlie