Posted by SGT on October 16, 2006, 10:05 am, in reply to "Re: more bad luck"
Frame stamps seem to be a constant source of confusion on very early Hunter Arms era guns. Pre-1913 FW framed guns will not have the "FW" frame stamp; and instead often feature an even more confusing "R" stamp suffix, for which no one knows the significance. It seems that frame type prefix stamps came into use around 1918-19, most likely after the Hunter Arms Company bankruptcy. Astute collectors learn to ID frame sizes by the difference in features between the two; the most easily used ID method of which is to simply count lockplate screws, one for an R frame and 3 for FW frames.