[Dragoon]

I was examining one of these yesterday, with serial # M87x47 showing on the trigger guard, which I calculate to indicate manufacture around 1950. It had the one piece oversized wood grip, which when removed. revealed a curiosity - the last two digits of serial number on the side of the grip frame had been clearly (albeit not entirely successfully) overstamped, being altered from "32" to "47" & so I began wondering what in the manufacturing process might make this necessary?

 

[Dragoon]

To make sense of this, I suppose it would be necessary to know in what order some of the steps in the manufacturing process occurred. For example, was the trigger guard stamped with its corresponding number before or after attachment to the frame?

I can come to one conclusion regarding the frame overstamp itself. It's pretty obviously not an afterthought, & I say this for two reasons. First, the size & style of the numerals stamped over the originals are a match for the rest of the serial number, & this can be confrmed by the good fortune of having 7's to compare. Also, the overstamp was clearly done prior to the bluing of the frame. So I don't think this can be a correction made at some stage late in the gun's production.