Serial numbers by year?
- Thread starter smithrjd
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Targets Guy
US Veteran
If you have the box look at the box end label. It should have a four digit number indicating year and day of year (for example 0212 would be the 212th day of 2000). The first "T" I see in the 3rd edition of the SCS&W is TWT in 1986.
They did not use the three letter prefixes in order. Edition 4 may have more examples.
They did not use the three letter prefixes in order. Edition 4 may have more examples.
That 4 digit number is printed on the computer generated end label under the heading "SPEC ORD"
TBCxxxx was most likely 1988
TVAxxxx was most likely 1991 but the box will tell you exactly what date
BTW, 0212 as in the example above could also mean the 212th day of 1990 or 2010.
The 4 digit code requires that you at least know the decade/era that the firearm was manufactured in
TBCxxxx was most likely 1988
TVAxxxx was most likely 1991 but the box will tell you exactly what date
BTW, 0212 as in the example above could also mean the 212th day of 1990 or 2010.
The 4 digit code requires that you at least know the decade/era that the firearm was manufactured in
In this case, 1196 would be July 15th of 1991
It is the 196th day of a year that ends in 1
It is the 196th day of a year that ends in 1
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1992ish.........................
The very last pistol completed was serial#TZW9149 on July 23rd, 1993. 1993 was the last year for the Model 52-2
Your TYP-prefix 52-2 is extremely late in Model 52 production. Mine is even later with a TZT-prefix. In a factory letter that Roy Jinks mailed out in response to a Performance Center 952-2 pistol request, he indicated that the very first run of the no-dash 952 model was the direct result of the then-newly assembled Performance Center at the request of Bangers Distributors. He went on to say that the first job of the PC after opening up shop was to finish the very last production of Model 52-2 pistols.
Long story short... it's quite possible with these words from Mr. Jinks that you and I have Model 52-2 pistols that were built by the men who made up the Performance Center. Roy Jinks went on to say that it was the experience that these guys got from finishing 52 production that set them up to create the first Model 952 pistols.
What some folks may see as very late 52's with very low-key lettering font on the slide and a not flashy nor deep bluing of days gone by... are pistols that I see inspired the absolute most amazing and legendary semiautomatic pistols that Smith & Wesson ever created. The "Limited" series of 5/6-inch target pistols built by the PC between 1990 and 2007 or so are unquestionably the finest pistols that S&W ever made and likely ever will.
Long story short... it's quite possible with these words from Mr. Jinks that you and I have Model 52-2 pistols that were built by the men who made up the Performance Center. Roy Jinks went on to say that it was the experience that these guys got from finishing 52 production that set them up to create the first Model 952 pistols.
What some folks may see as very late 52's with very low-key lettering font on the slide and a not flashy nor deep bluing of days gone by... are pistols that I see inspired the absolute most amazing and legendary semiautomatic pistols that Smith & Wesson ever created. The "Limited" series of 5/6-inch target pistols built by the PC between 1990 and 2007 or so are unquestionably the finest pistols that S&W ever made and likely ever will.
