Just picked up a model 49 no dash with grips numbered to the gun. Gun looks new without a scratch on it. S/N 9J717x, can someone kindly provide the shipping date? Thanks in advance.
Looks like your serial number would fall in the 1971-1972 time frame........if I'm reading the 4th Edition correctly. The experts will be along to clarify.
That one would be shortly before the J prefix started in 1969. I suspect it would be a 1968 shipment, but only a letter can tell you for sure. The non-J numbers ended at 786544, sometime in 1969. Most likely this decision was driven by the passage of the 1968 Gun Control Act.