meatball, you can go to the above link, faq's and help, it will give a list of the year your rifle was made and the pre-fix letter before the serial number on the side of the sb-2 frame, i think its got to be a N before your serial number,making the handi-rifle made after 1999, to get fitted with a new barrel marked with the * you were asking about,, if its a N or higher you should be ok