Meaning of a "star" in S&W serial numbers ???

M

Magnum Wheel Man

New member
I just bought an old "Lemon Squeezer" on line, that has a star in the serial number... I thought I read somewhere that if a gun was returned to S&W for repair, that they added a star to the serial... I tried doing a search, & didn't come up with anything after going through 6-8 related threads...

is that correct ???
 
thanks... this is a 4 didget serial number... so it's pretty early... I'd guess in that case, the gun was sent back to S&W for repair of some sort...

does anyone know if you get a Jinks letter, if it'll list the repairs performed in cases like this, where the gun was marked as repaired ???
 
does anyone know if you get a Jinks letter, if it'll list the repairs performed in cases like this, where the gun was marked as repaired ???
Click to expand...

This topic was just on the S&W forums and the experts there said that the repair records are tied to a name, not a gun, so to get the records, you would have to have the owners name or at least the person who sent the gun into S&W at that time for the repair. Its rarely in the letter for this reason. I suppose on occasion they are able to find repair records without the person's name, but this apparently is a rare instance.

As Jim said, the star could mean almost anything, from something minor, like a trigger or hammer replacement, to a barrel replacement, mechanism exchange, reblue etc.

I talked to S&W about factory refinishes just about a month ago, and they said they discontinued marking frames completely for those who send their guns in. The type of marking and place can usually narrow down the send in to a specific period which helps the situation marginally anyway.
 
did you inspect the frame ? ,my S&W also has a star behind the serial,but the frame has an encirkeld P and 4-22 , that's the date when the gun was refinished,I send my letters of request to Mr Jinks and see what he has to say
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They later went to a diamond, around 1970, I think.

I have a K-22, bought in 1955, and by the 1970's I had shot it so much it began to loosen up and misfire because the firing pin was worn down. I returned the gun to S&W through my dealer, asking that it be repaired to factory standard. They contacted the dealer saying that they could reblue the gun for $17, and if I wanted that done, to send the money. I sent the check so fast the envelope smoked. Two weeks later, I got the gun back. They had not just repaired it: they had stripped it to the frame and completely rebuilt it with all new parts, including a new barrel and cylinder. And reblued it. And stamped diamonds by the serial numbers. All for $17. I thought it was a good deal.

Jim
 
Thanks for the info guys...

RO... I haven't recieved the gun yet, but will do a full inspection once it gets here...

I already had a 38 S&W "lemon squeezer" & just bought this one, in 32 S&W, to add to my collection... so I don't have it in hand to be able to speculate wheather the star indicated a repair or a refinish ??? from the pics, the finish looks "good" but not really nice, so I'd suspect a repair... but won't be able to better guess, until it gets here...

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