Police Trade-In 442-1

[22lrfan]

I was in our local police supply store a few weeks ago and was told they were going to be getting some 442's in. They finally got them so I went by today to get one. $321 OTD.

After getting it home I pulled out my SCSW to try to figure out how old it was and that's when things got confusing. It's clearly marked 442-1 and SCSW says -1's were made from 1996-2001. The triple alpha prefix is "CTZ" which doesn't match these years at all. Also the date code on the box is 3073 which wouldn't be right for 96-01. I finally figured it out after looking up the product code on the box. It's 150544 which the SCSW says was a special production with no internal lock mfg in 2008, 2010 and 2011-2015. The CTZ prefix and 3073 date code work for a March 14, 2013 date.

After going through all that I went to take some photos of it. When I looked under the foam in the box I found the envelope with the fired case. It's dated Mar 14, 2013. I felt like a dummy, I should have checked the box first.

 

[Boogsawaste]

That thing looks like it's hardly been touched! I would have bought one without thinking at that price.

 

[22lrfan]

Some had holster wear but some looked like new. I may go get another one next week. They still had at least 20 of them.

 

[L-2]

Post 1,
442-1 models are presently still being made and didn't end in 2001.

Here's the current webpage:
https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/j-frame-150544

 

[MajorD]

Great gun for a great price! My latest score was a 442 in near mint condition ( no box) that included 2 speedloaders 2 speed strips, and 3 boxes of factory ammo ( one of 130 FMJ and 2 of 158 LRN) that I picked up for $350. Only downside is it does have the lock

 

[photoman]

I seem to recall seeing somewhere the 150544 being on the LAPD approved backup gun list. Also, the 150544 is the "no lock" version.

 

[Doug M.]

Which would be why it is on the LAPD list. IIRC, LAPD is one pf the agencies that forbids models with the lock.