Quote Originally Posted by IditarodJoe View Post
Thank you Dick. The best sense I can make of it is as follows:

The excerpt from the December 6, 1876 letter from Lt. Col. Benton to the Chief of Ordnance appears in Frasca's book without context, so it is possible that the discussion related to a proposed future change to the gas ports. The change may have been approved sometime in 1876 or 1877 but, if s/n 77640 is a reliable indicator of early use, it would seem it wasn't actually implemented until late 1877 or early 1878. I don't see how the accounting method would have any direct bearing on this, but if the Army was experiencing serious financial constraints (due to lack of appropriation), then implementation could have just been put on the back burner until funding came through.

I read that the armory generally tried to maintain a stock of around four months supply of receivers. Does anyone know at what point the receivers were actually stamped with serial numbers? In other words, would that four month supply of receivers have been serialized while in the warehouse or would they have waited until they were pulled for production before stamping them?
According to OM22, numbering occurred just prior to final gauging and before case-hardening - so - they would have been 100% complete, ready for assembly, when stored. I can pin the change a little closer, as I own 77593 (*see www.picturetrail.com/sa4570af) which has the deep cuts. For many years, it was the lowest one known, but Jack Lewis (Cowans Auctions) finally "beat" me by 5 or 6 - don't have his exact number at hand. The marking method may be tied to the accounting method more than you would think. Recall that the stock cartouche also changed at this time, going from the small oval (ESA) to the large oval (ESA/1877). Guns in this area also have the transition stock with thick wrist and narrow inletting.

*sorry - picture posting process on this site SUCKS - worst of any board I frequent.