I have Model 59 A1705XX that shipped July 15, 1974, and Model 59 A1803Xx that also shipped July 15, 1974. I assumed that Mr. Jinks had made an error in one letter or the other, since both letters were requested and rendered at the SAME time, and the odds that two guns of the SAME model about 10,000 guns apart, acquired by the SAME guy eight years apart (almost to the day), would ship on the SAME day, seem astronomical, but Mr. Jinks maintains that both ship dates are correct per Smith & Wesson records.
Without lettering a particular gun, especially a low production model, the serial number charts are just a general guide. As proved by my Models 59 and the other examples cited above, absent a letter, the charts can be way off for a particular gun. For instance, my Model 59 A1705XX should have shipped in 1971 as an early first year gun according to the charts, but did not ship until three years latter. (The 1974 lettered ship date probably explains why the gun does not have smooth front and back straps as would be expected on such an early serial number. Why the three-year delay in shipping, and apparent building because of the absence of expected features, IS a mystery.)
In addition, I have seen many a gun "package" made up by sellers adding pieces that are not always correct for the ship date of the gun. As SmithNut suggests, that is also a possibility.
