Spec Ord ?

[claygrazer]

I know the four digit number on the box of newer revolvers indicates the date of manufacture by year and number of day for that year. Does the Spec. Ord. number on older boxes give the same information? For example, the blue plastic box for my 625-4, SN CCF29XX, has Spec. Ord. 7260 on it. This would indicate the 260th day of 1997, or September 17, 1997. This would place my 625 at the very end of the dash 4 run, just before the dash 6 change. My dash 4 has a forged firing pin mounted hammer, but a MIM trigger, so this seems about right. Is this the proper interpretation of Spec. Ord.?
Clay

 

[claygrazer]

I know the four digit number on the box of newer revolvers indicates the date of manufacture by year and number of day for that year. Does the Spec. Ord. number on older boxes give the same information? For example, the blue plastic box for my 625-4, SN CCF29XX, has Spec. Ord. 7260 on it. This would indicate the 260th day of 1997, or September 17, 1997. This would place my 625 at the very end of the dash 4 run, just before the dash 6 change. My dash 4 has a forged firing pin mounted hammer, but a MIM trigger, so this seems about right. Is this the proper interpretation of Spec. Ord.?
Clay

 

[KurtC]

You are interpreting everything correctly.

 

[claygrazer]

Thanks Kurt. This will help me answer the date questions I have for my guns with boxes. It would seem that this fact would be mentioned is the SCSW. If it is, I have not been smart enough to find it.
Clay

 

[skeezix]

The Spec. Ord. number on the computer-printed labels of the one piece cardboard boxes (the immediate predecessor of the plastic boxes) also indicates the DOB.

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[Denver Dick]

I don't know, it seems most of the time the "Spec Ord" is the DOB, but there are sometimes I question it. I order a S&W letter on each S&W pistol (17) and revolver (9) when I purchase it. I have received most of the letters at this time. Most of the time, the ship date given by Roy Jinks is in line with the Spec Ord date, but every once and awhile it's not.

This is interesting. Here is the end label on my 681 made for the CRPD. According to the SCSW 3rd Edition, the CRPD 681 revolvers were made in 1989 and yet the Spec Ord is 2162, indicating 1992, a three year difference from the SCSW (I don't have Roy's letter on the 681, yet).

Of course, I guess it can always be said that either there's a misprint on the label or perhaps Roy made a mistake in his letter or there's an error in the SCSW.

Personally, I generally buy into the Spec Ord date being an indicator of the DOB, but sometimes, I must admit, I have a doubt or two.

 

[skeezix]

I always "validate" the Spec. Ord. number against SCSW-3. If the year/month are the same, I assume the Spec. Ord. number is the date the gun was packaged (or the label was printed).

 

[s&wchad]

Originally posted by skeezix:
I always "validate" the Spec. Ord. number against SCSW-3. If the year/month are the same, I assume the Spec. Ord. number is the date the gun was packaged (or the label was printed).

That's how I interpret it too. On newer guns, the fired case label should be very close to a born on date, but they didn't all ship immediately. Like MOONDAWG said, some guns sat on the shelf for years. You would expect those guns in high demand didn't sit on the shelf very long.

 

[Denver Dick]

MOONDAWG wrote:

The "Ship date" is not necessarily the date it was made, only the date it left the factory.

Some S&W's have sat on factory shelves for years before they were shipped.

That's correct, and most of my letters indicate ship date 3 to 9 months after the Spec Ord. However, a couple have ship dates before the Spec Ord date. I guess Roy could have been off a year.

I do have a problem, however, believing that my 681 which is one of only 465 made for the ConRail Police Department in 1989 (according to the SCSW) was "labeled" three (3) years after the year of its production. But, like I said, every once and awhile my faith in Spec Ord is shaken.

 

[Grinder]

DD,
On guns with labels marked "Special", the Spec ords don't jive.
There must be a code, but I haven't heard of anyone breaking it yet. If you get a letter on a "special", then we'll have a good start

 

[Denver Dick]

Grinder wrote:

On guns with labels marked "Special", the Spec ords don't jive.

That's very interesting because I have another S&W that is marked "Special" under features. It's a 3913 and the label appears below.

As you can see, the Spec Ord is 7308. Yet, according to Roy's letter on this pistol, it was shipped to the Los Angeles Police Athletic Revolver Club on November 25, 1996, almost a year earlier than the Spec Ord. The only thing that seems to make it "Special" is that it was shipped with night sights.

This is the one I was thinking of when I mistakenly wrote "a couple" in my post above. I had forgotten it was "Special" until I just read your post. Hum . . . .

 

[claygrazer]

I checked my 547 box label and it does not have any number I could interpret as a date code. I also checked the box for my S&W 41 target 22 pistol, and it too is missing any kind of date code. I think the 41 is from the early 1970's. The new 642-1 boxes do not have Spec. Ord. on the label, just a four digit number. Those numbers coincide exactly to the day with the dates on the enclosed fired casing envelopes. I guess S&W is pushing the new 642-1's through the factory as quick as they can. They don't want those nasty non-lock frames polluting the factory atmosphere.