Date stamp on S&W 586 wooden grips. Date of manufacture?

[schuetzen]

I just acquired my first S&W (Model 586-1).  I removed what appears to be the original wood grips to install a Hogue grip and noticed a date stamped on the inside surface of the wooden grips "MAR 25, 1987".  Making the assumption that these are the original grips, is this known as a reliable date of manufacture of this 586-1?


I paid $475.  It looks in great condition except were it appears to be dropped once and dinged.  Was that a reasonable price?

[Hammerdown]

Hello
The 586-1's were only made One Year being 1987. In 1988 they came out with the 586-2's. That said your revolver has a very short window of production. That does not mean that they only shipped them in the one year window span of 1987 it only mean's that Dash series was offered in the one year span. I have seen guns ship as far as Five years past their production changes if there was not a high demand for those models. The only True way to know when your gun shipped is to spend the $50.00 required to obtain a Factory History letter. Sadly, Stock's are like guns they are made up ahead of time so no date's on the rear panel can be conclusive as to when they were made. We Must remember that S&W was in Business to sell gun's Not keep collector's Happy. I hope this helps, Hammerdown

[schuetzen]

Hello
The 586-1's were only made One Year being 1987. In 1988 they came out with the 586-2's. That said your revolver has a very short window of production. That does not mean that they only shipped them in the one year window span of 1987 it only mean's that Dash series was offered in the one year span. I have seen guns ship as far as Five years past their production changes if there was not a high demand for those models. The only True way to know when your gun shipped is to spend the $50.00 required to obtain a Factory History letter. Sadly, Stock's are like guns they are made up ahead of time so no date's on the rear panel can be conclusive as to when they were made. We Must remember that S&W was in Business to sell gun's Not keep collector's Happy. I hope this helps, Hammerdown

Thanks for the info.

[Hammerdown]

 Hello
You are welcome. The 586-1 engineering change was to add the radius stud Package and allow for a floating hand which index's the cylinder for firing. I was curious if the date stamp on the back of your stock's is from around the time span of when it was offered as a dash one being 1987 ? If so, I would say your gun left S&W around 1987 time span. The Introduction of the Model 586 was the last effort that S&W made to offer Police departments a durable side arm in a revolver. Being that it was made in the new then offered L-Frame The factory felt it was heavy enough to be durable to withstand the higher pressures of the .357 Magnum rounds. They had introduced the Lighter Frame Model 19's which were built on the smaller K-Frame Platform for a lighter weight gun for the Police department's, but continued Magnum round Punishment proved them to be too light as some suffered forcing cone cracking. Previous to that S&W Offered the Larger -N-frame Model 28's Known as "The Highway Patrolman" for police use but many complained of the massive size and weight, Hence the Birth of the 586 L-Frame revolvers. Sadly by the time the factory offered the model 586's most Police agencies had all ready switched to Bottom Feeder semi auto Pistols...  Regards, Hammerdown

[schuetzen]

Hello
You are welcome. The 586-1 engineering change was to add the radius stud Package and allow for a floating hand which index's the cylinder for firing. I was curious if the date stamp on the back of your stock's is from around the time span of when it was offered as a dash one being 1987 ? If so, I would say your gun left S&W around 1987 time span. The Introduction of the Model 586 was the last effort that S&W made to offer Police departments a durable side arm in a revolver. Being that it was made in the new then offered L-Frame The factory felt it was heavy enough to be durable to withstand the higher pressures of the .357 Magnum rounds. They had introduced the Lighter Frame Model 19's which were built on the smaller K-Frame Platform for a lighter weight gun for the Police department's, but continued Magnum round Punishment proved them to be too light as some suffered forcing cone cracking. Previous to that S&W Offered the Larger -N-frame Model 28's Known as "The Highway Patrolman" for police use but many complained of the massive size and weight, Hence the Birth of the 586 L-Frame revolvers. Sadly by the time the factory offered the model 586's most Police agencies had all ready switched to Bottom Feeder semi auto Pistols...  Regards, Hammerdown

I just heard that S&W is reintroducing the 586...

http://www.guns.com/smith-a-wesson-bringing-back-the-586-distinguished-combat-magnum-8064.html

[DeckH]

Call S&W customer service.  Give them the serial number and they can tell you when the firearm left the factory.   I have have done this on 2 occasions.