P
This gun is about 1920 - roughly. There should be no distinction, as to markings
between targets and non-targets. Other than additional machining for the adjustable
sights, there was nothing different in the manufacturing protocols.
Not all guns were always marked with the "B" for blue - maybe blue was the default
finish. I would think, and expect, that a nickel-finished gun would have been marked
with an "N" . The reason is that the unfinished parts were sent to the finishing
department, where they were more/less batch processed. So, the finishing department
needed to know which ones were to be blued, and which ones were to be nickeled. The
nickel finish was the minority finish, so those parts needed some kind of identifying
mark. Otherwise, its not clear how they could have kept track of what they were doing.
If its a factory nickel, I would expect to see an "N" on the underside of the barrel,
and one the frame under the grip straps. Its possible for the gun to be right without
that marking, but you would need a letter to confirm that. Ie, if there was something
special about the gun, it may have been hand-walked through the process, and would
not have all the usual markings.
The other possibility, that Roy mentions, is that the guns were marked "B" for blue, and
not marked for nickel. I suppose that rounds out all the possibilities !
I don't know what the start-date is for the trade-marking. And the logo does move
around from one side to the other, and sometimes is missing altogether. These are less-
important issues.
Later, Mike Priwer
