Need DofM, etc, on Two K Smiths

[Pilgrim86314]

Good morning from a new member in Central Arizona, where it is sunny and 70F.

I've been a gunny for years, beginning with the Border Patrol in El Paso in 1968, then bouncing around the country with the BP and various elements of the now-defunct INS, all involving badges and guns. Now long-retired, I refer to myself as a veteran of another war we lost.

The first gun I'd like to a year of manufacture and any other data on is a Model 19 that I stumbled into at a gun show a while back. It has all the target equipment (trigger, hammer, sights, and an adjustable overtravel limiter.) It looks as though it just came out of the box, with a deep, beautiful, unfired, unmarred blue finish. In fact, it is so good that I wonder if it was professionally reblued, but the engraving shows no signs of having been polished.

S/N 56K8xxx, stamped on the butt and inside the crane recess. In that recess is also a stamp: MOD 19-4. If that indicates a 4" bbl, it is anomalous The barrel is measured at 6". Rebarrelled? Or what? That may play into the thought that it was refinished.

I bought it first, because it was a great deal, and second, because it is the gun that nearly all of us new guys in the Patrol lusted after back then. Not so much the 6" bbl (although I did.) Most guys wanted the car-handier 4" bbl. There were a few Mod19s for issue to senior officers, but my first issued revolver was a vintage Colt New Service in .38Spl.

K 196xxx is stamped on the butt and on the face of the cylinder in the K22. Same fashion in both places - long space between the K and the numerals. I've had it hanging around my safe since the '80s and have never given it the love it deserves. It's in very good shape: dull blue with a few handling and shooting marks, but no rust or signs of abuse. It's outfitted with a 6"bbl, target sights, trigger, hammer, and an adjustable overtravel limiter.

Any info and thoughts will be welcomed.

Pilgrim

[John D]

Check the thread at the top of the page titled SERIAL NUMBER/etc...lookup

[Pilgrim86314]

Thanks for the response, John.

I don't see such a thread at the top of the page - but then, my wife says I can't find ice in the freezer.

Pilgrim

[44 AMP]

The serial number sticky thread is at the top of the page in the REVOLVER subforum. This thread is currently in the GENERAL handgun forum, so you won't find the S&W serial number thread at the top of the page, here.

I will move this thread to the Revolver forum.

Next, "19-4" is the model number. You can read it as "model 19 -4th change".

After S&W adopted model numbers for their guns (in the 50s) subsequent engineering changes to the gun (or some of its parts) were reflected in a new model number, using the original model number and adding a "dash number" to it. Original guns are known as "no dash models" and later revisions of the gun all have a dash number, -1,-2, -3,-4, etc. some S&Ws are up to -8 or higher..

Your gun is a Model 19, but its full name is Model 19-4. The dash numbers have nothing to do with barrel length, at all.

The markings under the crane vary with model and year of manufacture. GENERALLY, guns from the 60s on up have the model number and serial number there, BUT when this system went into effect differes with different models and older guns may have only the model number and an assembly number, or sometimes, not even the model number.

Numbers stamped on parts (including the frame) that do not match the serial number of the gun (found on the butt) are "assembly numbers", a code system that only applies inside the S&W factory as the gun moves through its assembly stages.

The model 19, like the model 29, 27, and 57 were "flagship guns", they got the finest polish and the "best" blue. S&W calls it "High Lustre Blue".

IF S&W reblues a gun, they mark it with a star (*) usually near the serial#, identifying the gun as factory reblued.

Odds are nearly certain your high polish 19-4 has not been reblued or rebarreled, simply one not used enough to take the "shine" off the factory finish.

Hope this helps.

[Jim Watson]

The name of the gun is Combat Magnum.
Model number 19-4 made from 1977-1982.
56k etc probably made in 1979

K22 # K196 something was made in 1953.
The dull blue finish was a time saving measure to get commercial guns back on the market for several years after the war. Mine has a dull frame and cylinder with a bright replacement barrel.

[FITASC]

You can contact S&W historian, and for a fee, he will research your gun and provide as much info as the factory has. IIRC, it now costs about $100

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

As previously stated, MOD 19-4 denotes the fourth engineering change of the Model 19. Nothing to do with barrel length.

I am a little bit confused about the Serial Number you have listed.

S/N '56K8xxx' does not look correct to me.

According to the Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson, production for the year 1973 was 4K1628 - 4K54104; 5K6617 - 5K73962.

Production for 1974 was 4K54105 - 4K99999; 5K73963 - 6K58917; 7K1 - 7K26043.

Production for 1953 was K175638 - K210095. Your K-22 was produced in that year.

[L-2]

Post 7 and anyone/everyone else,

S&W does have some 56K8xxx serial numbered guns. Here's an exerpt from my "book" showing years and s/n range:

1977 10K0001-24K9999
1978/79 25K0001-56K9999
1980 57K0001-91K6800

Supica, Jim; Nahas, Richard. Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson (Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson) (p. 489). Gun Digest Media. Kindle Edition.