Model 1868 serial/breechblock date correlations?

[Lead Snowstorm]

Greetings all,

As I attempt to expand my early trapdoor collection, I recently came across two Model 1868s. The first was on Gunbroker and looked very nice, but for the seller (very honestly) describing mold on the stock. Whether foolishly or wisely I decided to pass, but I'm glad he got his buy now price.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/880325004

This rifle had a serial of 35058 and an 1870 breechblock.

Meanwhile, I came across another 1868 listing, about 300 numbers later, but with an 1869 breechblock - an interesting juxtaposition.

Do the serials and breechblock dates correlate in any significant way on this model? Apologies if I'm covering old ground, but I couldn't find an answer searching either this site or the 1868 section of The .58- and .50 Caliber Rifles and Carbines...

[Dick Hosmer]

I've always based my thinking on the published production totals.

1868/1868s are VERY rare, likely no more than 150, perhaps not even that.

Since 1868/1869s come next, and they made about 16K that year, I would expect 1869 blocks to stop by about 17-18K, allowing for the inevitable slop-over.

Lastly, the (most common) 1868/1870 should account for the rest (about 36K) of the 52K made. Interestingly, for whatever reason, I have never seen, or even heard of that I can recall, a serial over 50K.

The forgoing is based on a perfect world which does not exist. If a rifle needed a new block during an overhaul, SA would not have thought for even a millisecond about putting an 1869 block in a later gun, as the parts were completely interchangeable. Most purists would want the block marking to be "correct". If purchasing a mixed-date arm, I'd really want the patina to be a perfect match, so that you could credibly blame it on SA as opposed to Bubba. While I really wasn't looking very hard at all, towards the end of my acquisitive years, I never ran across an 1869 nice enough to match my 1868/68 and 1868/70. That IS one of the very few guns that I would buy today, but only under extraordinary (real nice and real cheap) circumstances, like at a yard-sale!

[Lead Snowstorm]

Makes perfect sense! This 1869 block does seem to match the rest of the gun pretty well, although the price would be pushing north of $1300 with shipping...

[Carlsr]

I purchased my 1868/1869 from Al at 1300.00 pluse shipping in the 1400 serial range. Looks to have been in a closet for most of its life.

[Edatbeach]

Dick - is your annual production and serial number tally by calendar or fiscal year?

[Dick Hosmer]

In all honesty, I simply follow Al's chart. I don't believe it makes a huge difference in this case. I'm very thin on RCOs for that period. We all know about the '68s, and see WAY more '70s than '69s. I also suspect there was probably a fair amount of slop, but apologies to all for such a non-scholarly answer. I guess it needs some refinement - perhaps '69s are less common than the figures would imply.