I've taken the time to digest all of the arguments, pro & con, for counting later Syracuse gun production (after the deal to sell the company was finalized and before any "new" gun designs were instituted in Fulton, at sometime in early 1891).

I know that Mr. Williamson here has theorized that all "real" Syracuse hammerless gun production ended sometime (midyear?) in 1898 at SN 23553, but there were (according to Houchins and confirmed in Mr. Stubbendieck's latest book on Production Records) at least 1,362 additional guns recorded that were produced over those roughly 2 1/2 intervening years. These guns do not have "LC Smith - Maker" stamped on their top ribs, but they were as much a part of the total Syracuse production as any of the guns produced during the "official" years (1886 to 1898) of hammerless gun production (as these later guns were all based and built on the same Alexander T. Brown designs and all used primary components [wood, barrels & actions] largely sourced in Syracuse, NY prior to the sale of the company to the Hunter Brothers). Arguments otherwise, at least here so-far, have not been comprehensive to my mind, or fully persuasive.

The arbitrary date and serial number cut-offs proposed here are neither logical nor practical, given the vast unknowns we're already aware of in the formal company records remaining from that period of history.