S&W Letter Issue

[NORWICH CADET]

I have a Army S&W 1917 very very early 4 digit SN revolver that by mistake I got two separate letters from S&W on. The letters were identical except one had a shipping date to the Springfield Arsenal of 2/13/17 and the other had a date of 2/16/18.Thinking one date was a mistake or perhaps the revolver was returned to the SA for repair, I sent S&W a letter with copies of each requesting clarification. Unfortunately, I got a general letter giving a brief general background on the Army S&W 1917 with no mention of the specific issue I raised. I hate to keep bugging them- what would you do? THANKS

 

[bamabiker]

I'd keep bugging them. At $50 a letter I'd expect it to be corrected.

 

[DCWilson]

There were no (or very few) 1917s shipped before November 1917.

As an aside, February seems slightly late for a four-digit 1917. The ones I know about were shipped in December 1917 and January 1918. S&W was turning them out at the rate of about 4000-5000 a month. It's true that S&W didn't necessarily ship guns in serial number order, but in their military production the ship dates and serial numbers are better correlated than in their commercial production.

Resend your query with copies, and make sure they are marked to the attention of Roy G. Jinks, Historian. He'll get you straightened out, but it may take a few weeks. He's out of the country right now.

EDItED: Removed incorrect statement based on further info provided below.

 

[depicts]

Dave, I have a 1917, Ser # 1641 that I was told shipped in October, 1917. This was from an on line data base. It must have been in the very earliest production run.

 

[DCWilson]

Dave, I have a 1917, Ser # 1641 that I was told shipped in October, 1917. This was from an on line data base. It must have been in the very earliest production run.

Thank you. I have always been a little unsure about the timing of the earliest 1917s. I think the contract was signed about September and there was a set up period before production commenced in earnest. There are some very low numbers that were shipped in November, and I thought that indicated that major production did not really get rolling until then. But October shipments are certainly credible. There is a book by Pate that I need to get; it has complete serial number distributions for S&W military materiel in WWI, as well as other manufacturers' models. I understand that the on-line data bases may have minor errors.

And thumbs up on your revolver; that's a really nice one.

 

[NORWICH CADET]

Well, reflecting stupidity on my part, I looked at the S&W explanation letter and discovered there was a second page that I overlooked. It indicated that my Army Colt 1917 SN 8396 was shipped to the SA on 2/13/17 and the other 1918 date was incorrect. It also indicated that very early on when production first started some were not marked with final inspection markings as mine is. Does anyone know of an earlier shipping date than this? THANKS

 

[NORWICH CADET]

I mean shipped 12/13/17!!!!

 

[DCWilson]

December of 1917 makes sense based on the broad production history of this model. Based on the specimen shown above, your gun would be third-month production.