Not to highjack this thread, but I just looked at this gun online and noticed that it's not marked "Long Range" on the lug (at least not that I can make out). That's interesting to me since I have an identical Ideal Grade 3" gun (ejectors, 32" barrels) that is marked (and not marked) the same way. Clearly a factory 3" gun with "Chambers 3 Inches" stamp and reinforced barrel lug, but no "Long Range" stamp. I've seen higher grade Long Range guns with the lug stamp and the engraving sort of surrounding it, so the stamp wasn't unique to Field Grades. The serial number on mine is about 10,000 earlier than this one and also finished a year earlier (Feb, 1924). I had it lettered with Dr. Jim and the ledger showed no "LR" code but "a '3' in one of the ledger columns that may have referred to the chamber length".
It would be great if we could narrow down when they started tagging them as "Long Range" in both the ledger and also on the gun, itself. So, somewhere between 69,000 and 79,000 they started referring to the option as "LR" in the ledger, but at nearly 80,000 they were still not stamped as such on the lug (at least in this case).
Can anyone else with a 3" gun from 1924-25ish comment on their gun's markings?