How's this for a model number!

[Mbrgr1]

I asked a seller to forward a pic of a model stamp on a particular gun for sale, this is what he sent.

Glad I got that straightened out!

A little birdie tells me it was originally a model 17, something went sideways at the factory and it sat around for a few years and then was shipped as a model 48, which it still is.

I don't see a 4 in there, but who knows........

 

[Truckman]

I see something that sort of resembles a 4, but in the second digit...And maybe a 7 in the first digit...The dash is pretty clear...Could this have been hieroglyphics, perhaps for the ancient Egyptian market?......Ben

 

[IWK2HT]

Looks like a mess up, looking close I can see a 53 but no 48.
You might try checking the length of the cylinder

 

[StrawHat]

It will be interesting to hear what Roy or Don say about this one!

Kevin

 

[Hondo44]

Is it a dash 3 .22 LR or 22 mag? Does it have an extractor rod shroud?

 

[S&WshooterFIN]

Sometimes changing the colors might help.
This is still something about Ancient Egypt

 

[Tom S.]

For comparison, here is another 17-3:

 

[Retired W4]

Looks like someone snuck some Jack into the factory on a Friday afternoon.

 

[Tom S.]

Looks like someone snuck some Jack into the factory on a Friday afternoon.

Or the party before Christmas. Been there, done that!

 

[taz666]

What does the serial number call it?

 

[Retired W4]

What does the serial number call it?

A K frame from around 1971, I think.?

 

[Mbrgr1]

Well.....

Is it a dash 3 .22 LR or 22 mag? Does it have an extractor rod shroud?

It's a normal looking 8 3/8 22 magnum and marked as such on the barrel.


It started out as a 17, was set aside for some reason (perhaps the hieroglyphics?) and then reworked and sold as a model 48 to Dakin Sporting Goods in Bangor ME Feb 20 1973, the same store where the Brady gang shootout happened in 1937.


Thanks to Roy for the follow up from my ship date request.