USFA manufacture date?

[jphendren]

Yesterday I picked up a NIB USFA Pre-War at a gunshow.  It is a .45 Colt with a 4 3/4" barrel, armory blue and CCH frame.  It also has some of the most knock your socks off 2-piece burled walnut stocks you ever saw.  It came in one of the older clamshell style boxes, with a hand written label on the end noting the features of the gun.  The serial number is 23,0XX, any idea how old this gun is?  Will USFA tell me, or would I have to pay for a letter? Oh, fit and finish on this revolver is perfection, just what I have come to expect from USFA.  It will get broken in with some Swiss blackpowder loads this coming week

Jared

[Capt. John Fitzgerald]

Jared,
From what I have read about from others here on the board, USFA is pretty good about telling you the date of manufacture if you give them a call.
Does your gun have a conical or concave firing pin?  Seven or eight years ago (I can't remember exactly when) USFA started using the conical firing pin on all standard models.  Prior to that, the concave pin was the norm.
CJF

[jphendren]

This revolver has the conical firing pin.

Jared

[Capt. John Fitzgerald]

That's good news!  USFA was well into the "entirely made in the USA" mode when they started using the conical firing pin on standard models.

[jphendren]

Nice to hear it is all USA made.  I am also curious if this one was blued and CCH'd by Turnbull?  I know that they now do their own Armory Bluing, but had read that prior to them getting their own furnaces they sent the Pre-War's to Turnbull.  This Pre-War looks just like a Turnbull, in the way that it is polished and so forth.  It is not as highly polished as my O.W. Ainsworth Model built in 2010, more matte looking.

Jared

[Doc Sunrise]

23xxx's that I have spread from 2004 into 2005.