[ithacaartist]

Eric,

Yes and no. Ron Wood posted some great pics and info on this! This is what I remember, I hope my recollections are not "alternative facts"!

The earliest ones had grip frames that were about 1/10 of an inch longer, and barrel extensions to match. The aforementioned dimension happens in the area of the chamber, so the early ones had longer threaded portions behind the flange, thus will not fit on a later barrel extension for a short frame and short threaded bit, and vice versa--unless creatively adapted.

The shorter frames became the norm fairly soon. If I'm not mistaken, the Swiss guns from Bern and the Mauser Parabellums were also made with the longer grip frames and barrel extensions. I have one '06 AE that is short frame, and another that is long frame, both are numbered in early Commercial style, so without looking it up, I think maybe the transition happened along there somewhere...

You may recall an occasional post about guns with mixed grip frame and upper assembly, where the shorter receiver from a later gun has been cobbled together with an older, long frame--or the other way 'round. The result is that the receiver is either proud of the frame by a noticeable bit, or tucked back into it the same amount, both of which look pretty goofy.