I was wondering what the first three letters of a serial number signify? I have a 1006 with the letters TFCxxxx

Since 1980 S&W started using a 3 letter serial prefix and a 4 digit number for their serial numbers for revolvers.

They started with AAA000.

In 1984 they started using them for all their pistols.

It would appear that your gun falls in the 1990 range. I have a close cousin 1006, TEUXXX, that appears to date from February 24th of that year.

My 1006 is a TFJXXXX...1989.

I have a 1006 I just bought from Gunbroker arriving in a few days, so I don't know the serial # yet. But was wondering how you can tell the manufacture date from the letter prefix? Is there a breakdown on what the letters mean somewhere, or did y'all just call S&W? Thanks.

There are tables in Supica and Nahas' excellent Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson, but there is some overlap between years, and differences between when the frame was made, and when it shipped. If you have the box, look for the 'Spec Ord' number on the end, which will give you the Ordinal Calendar date that it shipped out. In my case, it's 0055, the 55th day of 1990. The first digit is the last digit of the year, and the other three are the day of that year. When you get your new gun, post the prefix letters, and I'll look it up for you.

Mine is TET XXX.

So what year would that make it, other than denoting a famous "New Year" in Vietnam history ...

By the book, TETXXX looks like early 1990. Lots of serial ranges appear in 1989-90. Must have been great years for sales (or at least for production.)

Hi JCole,

Picked up my 1006. Unfortunately, it did not come with the original box. The serial # starts with TEW55XX. Thanks for looking it up for me.

TEW = early 1990

As a matter of fact, the book says TEP all the way to TFA was April 1990, but there may be a couple of months of overlap or discrepancy. If you want to know the exacy ship date, and where it went, as well as the original configuration of the gun, you can request a letter from Smith and Wesson via their website. It costs $35 and takes a pretty long time since they stay backed-up. A phone call to customer service might get the ship date alone; I'm not sure.

It costs $50 to letter a gun with S&W but I believe that if all you want is the shipping date, their customer service can give you that. Many folks want a manufacturing date for their Smith. Unfortunately, Smith has never tracked that information, only the shipping date. This is a problem with some less popular models such as the M58 because some on those may have sat on the warehouse shelves for a year or more before shipping. Similarly, guns were not shipped in numerical sequence so a gun with a lower serial number may have a somewhat later shipping date than one with a higher number.

Bruce

JCole: Oops, ... I goofed one digit.

It's actually a 4-digit # that follows the prefix, as in TET XXXX.

Sorry. Don't know if that changes the born-on year or not (?).

On the "great years for sales" point, that's within the 10mm's peak popularity years, which had begun with Colt's release of the Delta Elite in 1987, being quickly followed by other manufacturers, like S&W and Glock. Also, the FBI formally announced adoption of the cartridge and S&W's model 1076 in 1990, IIRC.

Nope, still the same, just a few pistols later.

Can you help on a 1st Gen 610 wheely? (If you can, it's BFA 29XX) Thanks!

Looks like 1990.

TaosG ...

Thanks!

That baby must of been fresh off the assembly line!

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, ... I lucked into a real early one (have had it now for some years).

My well-dogged earred copy of the Am Handgunner's "Special Issue" devoted to the 10mm AUTO is dated Oct, 1991.

The cover pic shows a 5" 610, along side Colt's DA "Double Eagle 10mm. And I knew some 610 wheelies had been in circulation before that issue hit the racks. Good to know.