New to me S&W 686

[468]

Serial number AHU3XXX

Can anyone tell it’s birthdate?...any other productIon info?

Thanks in advance.

[osteodoc08]

Perhaps someone can tell you the birth year. I wish I didn’t get rid of my 686 no dash 8-3/8” I replaced it with a newer 586 that went back to Smith once or twice. It’s a good shooter now.

[too many things]

look up S&W web or call

[engineer401]

The book I have says it was made in 1986.

[rintinglen]

My best guess is that it was produced in the middle of 1985.

On page 400 of The Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson, they show "AHA" prefix numbers starting in January 1985, and "ALA" prefix starting in November of that year. However, nothing about this is written in stone. A block of serial numbers may be set aside for a certain model, but not all used at that same time, for example BCV-0000 - BHV 0699 be used in January for Model 49 38's but then the following numbers might not be run until the next year or even later. Whenever they needed more of that particular model, they might continue the serial number range, or they might just go to whichever is next. Not all numbers were used in any sequence, in fact they seldom did. Consider that AAA-0000 thru Adam Zebra Zebra-9999 encompasses 6,790,000 guns. S&W generally did not build that many revolvers per year.

[468]

Thanks for the replies. 1985/86 is close enough for me.