GTA
Airguns by Make and Model => Vintage Air Gun Gate => Topic started by: 78gCollector on April 26, 2025, 04:15:37 PM
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I recently picked up a Smith 78g that caught my eye due to the markings on the slide. Typically, the Smith pistols have the model number stamped above the serial number on the left side and manufacturer info on the right side. This one has the markings reversed. I've got a few too many 78g and 79g pistols in my collection, and I have been working on a database of them for almost 3 years. Between the pistols I own and the 700+ in the database, this is the only one I've come across with the markings reversed.
Smith must have used jigs during the stamping process, so how was this one set up wrong? Or was it done this way on purpose for some reason? The pics below show both sides as well as a comparison pic with a pistol within 3k of the serial number.
(Of course Smith did mark some earlier pistols incorrectly, stamping 80g on the slide of a batch of pistols starting in the 43k serial number range. They then overstamped most of them with 79g, so the model number looks a little messy on these.)