OK, here we go! The very first Smith Carbines produced, and issued, were the ones made by the Mass. Mine is in visibly better physical appearance than 10601 and, aside from handling marks, appears unfired with pristine bore, original iron domed bottom nipple, no peening in hammer cup and all color case visible in the nipple hole bottom.Īny enlightenment including direction to historical experts will be much appreciated. The Smithsonian has 10601 with swivels with a notation of 1863 issuance to a cavalry unit, via the SLFLD ORD DEPT ISSUANCE BOOKS. It seems to me that there could be first and second models with the same serial numbers.This is probably an over simplification on my part. AND that both blocks started with 1 and ran consecutively. While at the Oct Nationals, I listened to an apparently knowledgeable man share that there were TWO runs of Smith carbine serial numbers, one for the'first' model with the swivels, and a second block of serial numbers for the later model without swivels.
