The Old Fuff is having a bad morning, first because of problems with #!!## worthless Windows, and second, because of loosing out on an auction because of it.
But anyway, you can get into great debates over Colt D-frame generations or issues. My version is of course the right one, and I’ll defend it to the death, but when it’s all over I’m likely to be more wrong then right.
The first generation/issue was made before and during World War Two (1927 to 1948) and can be identified by a half-moon front sight and a short ejector rod. Many were made on Police Positive Special frames that had a flat butt with square corners. See X-Breath’s picture in earlier post, and this is what “sm” has (the lucky dog). Serious collectors will kill to get a mint one. After about 1933 the bottom corners of the butt were rounded, but off and on – especially during the war, they made a lot of Detective Special’s with the older square butt. It should be noted that the first serial number didn’t start with “1” but rather in the 331,000 range because they were numbered in the same series assigned to the earlier Police Positive Special.
The second generation/issue starts around post-war production in 1948. The front sight was changed to a ramped style, the ejector rod lengthened to almost the front of the barrel, the hammer spur becomes serrated rather then checkered, and checkering on the cylinder latch was eliminated. In later production the front sight was widened slightly. Up until about 1955 the stocks were made of “coltwood” brown plastic. Thereafter, checkered walnut. This version continued until 1966.
The third generation starts in 1966 when Colt made a big change by cutting off the lower part of the handle and went to stocks of the same shape, but the wood wrapped around the bottom of the metal. This became the so-called “short frame” version. Other then the frame and stock changes these guns were identical to late production 2nd generation revolvers.
The forth generation/issue was introduced in 1972 and continued to the end of production. The changes included different stocks with a filler behind the trigger guard, and a heavy, ribbed barrel with an underlug that surrounded the ejector rod.
If anyone wants to dispute what I say, go ahead – but be aware that it isn’t a good day… :banghead: :banghead: