Production date?

Dwight Gruber · 10-07-2011, 11:50 PM

Old Model production cannot have begun before May, 1900--that is when the Swiss accepted the Parabellum as their service pistol and finalized the design. The U.S. Test pistols starting in the early 6000 serial number range were delivered Octobrer 26. Fastest trans-Atlantic travel at that time was one week, shipping likely took a little longer. No way to know how long production actually took. An unscientific look at the numbers suggests that your serial number probably falls into a rather large statistically grey area which could either be late 1900 to early 1901, if you were to press me I might lean toward 1901 but I would not let you claim it on my authority.

--Dwight

10-07-2011, 11:50 PM	#1
Dwight Gruber User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,908 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1,330 Times in 435 Posts	Old Model production cannot have begun before May, 1900--that is when the Swiss accepted the Parabellum as their service pistol and finalized the design. The U.S. Test pistols starting in the early 6000 serial number range were delivered Octobrer 26. Fastest trans-Atlantic travel at that time was one week, shipping likely took a little longer. No way to know how long production actually took. An unscientific look at the numbers suggests that your serial number probably falls into a rather large statistically grey area which could either be late 1900 to early 1901, if you were to press me I might lean toward 1901 but I would not let you claim it on my authority. --Dwight