I have the S&W 'bible" but this is a bit confusing. I have a 60-4 with a BNE prefix. That looks like it put it as being built in Feb. -Mar. 1993. I read somewhere that the special order number pinpoints the DOM. Mine is 2174. The explanation is that the first digit is the year (1992). The decade would be obvious. The 174 means the 174th day which would be in June. I'm not sure I buy that explanation on the special order #.
'nother S&W date thing with a twist?
- Thread starter Racinbob
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Keep in mind that Smith & Wesson serial numbered semi-finished frames before they were made into completed guns. When they took frames out of inventory to make them into guns they didn't necessarily draw out the oldest ones first, nor did they take them in any particular order. The only way to straighten out the confusion is to pay a reasonable $50.00 fee and have Roy Jinks go back and find the original shipping record.
Why would that be a special order gun? The 60-4 began in 1990 and the BN series would date to 1993. Perhaps Fuff will correct me, but AFAIK those serial numbers are just that, and have no meaning.
In the old days, S&W (and all other makers) numbered each model (or each frame type) in its own series. That confronted LEO's with a problem since tracing a gun was impossible unless one knew the make and model; the former was usually marked, but the latter was often not. So, after GCA 68, the (then) ATTD ordered that the serial number be unique to a maker's line. One response was the Ruger number prefix; another was S&W's letter prefix. But keeping track of the numbers by model costs money, so S&W, with plenty of computer horsepower, simply assigns revolver serial numbers as the guns are made, without regard to model. So, ABC1234 might be a K-22 and ABC1235 a Chiefs Special. It doesn't matter and it makes record keeping a lot easier.
Jim
In the old days, S&W (and all other makers) numbered each model (or each frame type) in its own series. That confronted LEO's with a problem since tracing a gun was impossible unless one knew the make and model; the former was usually marked, but the latter was often not. So, after GCA 68, the (then) ATTD ordered that the serial number be unique to a maker's line. One response was the Ruger number prefix; another was S&W's letter prefix. But keeping track of the numbers by model costs money, so S&W, with plenty of computer horsepower, simply assigns revolver serial numbers as the guns are made, without regard to model. So, ABC1234 might be a K-22 and ABC1235 a Chiefs Special. It doesn't matter and it makes record keeping a lot easier.
Jim
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