I recently picked up this 19-4 4 inch nickel at a gun show. It came with box, tools and paperwork and a mystery. I have read that S&W revolvers were test fired at the factory with a round in every other charge hole. This gun has only a burn ring on every other cylinder hole. Now since the serial # puts it at 1978/79 production is it possible that after 47 years it may have never been fired? The cylinder shows a very light turn line with a light wear mark on the hammer possibly from handling over the years ? It had a light yellowish glaze on parts of the nickel that cleaned up with some Flitz. Now the second part of the mystery: the gun has no Mod 19-4 stamp in the frame yoke cut. The serial # is there. The reason I ask is that I own three other 19-4,s , a 2 1/2 in blue from 1977, a 4 in blue from 1980 and a 2 1/2 nickel also from 1980. They all have Mod 19-4 in the yoke cut. Is it possible this one made it out of the factory without a model marking ? The box is labeled 19-4 and serialed to the gun. I will attach some pictures.
