Intro and question about snubbie

[Chuck in Indiana]

Greetings from the heartland. Last week, I asked my wife about where her dad's snub nose 38 spl. was. She didn't know. Dug through her closet, and found some S&W grips. Kept digging and there it was, with rubber grips, and a box of old military ball ammo. Looked to be in very nice shape, and I just had to shoot it. It's been over 20 years since I did some pistol shooting, but I really enjoyed it. Looking through the archives, I can't find the age of it for sure. The stock grips felt better to me..

But the serial number is different than what I'm finding.

Looking at the price of ammo.... I drug out the old Lee press, and ordered some stock to reload for it. Just what I need, another time consuming hobby..
At any rate, can anyone tell me the date of mfg?
TIA..
Chuck

 

[P&R Fan]

Sure can.
Catalog says 1971
Jim

 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thank you, sir..

 

[KLYDE]

Very nice.

 

[kaaskop49]

attn Chuck in Indiana

Chuck, please hang onto that gun. Otherwise, KLYDE will buy it and that'll mean another great snub will not make it's way out to me in Vegas. Otherwise, he's my buddy.

 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Chuck, please hang onto that gun. Otherwise, KLYDE will buy it and that'll mean another great snub will not make it's way out to me in Vegas. Otherwise, he's my buddy.

Oh, it's a keeper. It's the first time I've shot a .38 of any kind, and it's just plain fun to shoot. Surprisingly accurate, too, and even the trigger feels good. I *assumed* the short barrel would make it a 10 footer..

 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Chuck, please hang onto that gun. Otherwise, KLYDE will buy it and that'll mean another great snub will not make it's way out to me in Vegas. Otherwise, he's my buddy.

Oh, it's a keeper. Fun to shoot, and surprisingly accurate. Nice trigger, too. What's not to like?
What's it worth, btw? It's been 20 (or more) years since I was involved with guns.
No, KLYDE.. you can't have it.

 

[Tyree1867]

I may be mistaken but wouldn't a 2J serial # put it after 1983? Am I misreading my SCSW?

 

[JSR III]

P&R fan is correct. If you look at the charts, the 1969 to 1972 J frame serial numbers are 1 alpha and 5 numeric. From 1973 to 1983, they were 1 alpha and 6 numeric.

The OP's gun is a 1 alpha 5 numeric so it therefore does fall into the 1972 timeframe.

At some point shortly thereafter S&W revolvers went to a 3 alpha 4 numeric system starting with AAA 000. This transition took place from 1980 to 1983 so obviously the J frames were at the end of this range.

 

[linde]

I may be mistaken but wouldn't a 2J serial # put it after 1983? Am I misreading my SCSW?

The "floating J" period is confusing. I believe 2J9347 would be 1971 vintage. Note in the SCSW that the floating J with up to 5 numerical digits is 1971-1972. From 1973 until 1982 you'll find the letter J plus 6 digits and in 1982 and 1983 you'll see the J start to float again but always with 6 numerical digits.

And just to make things even more confusing, there are two typos in the SCSW J serial numbers. The 1971-1972 period s/n's should read 1J1-999J99 (not J1-999J99) and for 1983 it should start with s/n 1J18601 (not 1J1861).

Russ

 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Hey, thanks for the help. I wasn't making any sense of this serial number with my admittedly new guy search skills.
This forum and the expertise on it rocks..