GF-84H Help

[T.A. WORKMAN]

Gentlemen,
I need a little help here. I picked this pair up awhile
back and am looking for some more info on the one gun.

GF-84H, ser# 162-15262, shipped 9/1986, NIB
GF-84HP,ser# 162-15377, shipped 9/1986, Cyl/frame stamped
S.C.P.D. See pictures please.

I called Ruger Records and as you all well know they could not tell
me who the gun was shipped to. I was able to pin point the
Maryland guns with the help of forum member Jeff Hoover with a
simular post, so I am trying it again.

I believe that the S.C.P.D. gun was made for the Suffolk Co. P.D.
anyone here know an Officer on the force who could narrow these
guns down? Thanks for any help in advance! Terry

 

[Terry T]

Terry,
My guess is that the GF-84H replaced the GF-84 in the last couple of years of production as the standard .38spl stainless Police Service Six. In other words, it was not a special order with the Heavy barrel. The GF-84 was a standard cataloged model from 1973 through 1988.
It would be interesting to find the highest ser. no. "light weight" barrel GF-84 (or GF-34 for that matter).

When you stated "Suffolk Co. P.D", which state were you referring to? Or is there only one Suffolk Co.?
Terry T

 

[T.A. WORKMAN]

Terry,
My guess is that the GF-84H replaced the GF-84 in the last couple of years of production as the standard .38spl stainless Police Service Six. In other words, it was not a special order with the Heavy barrel. The GF-84 was a standard cataloged model from 1973 through 1988.
It would be interesting to find the highest ser. no. "light weight" barrel GF-84 (or GF-34 for that matter).

When you stated "Suffolk Co. P.D", which state were you referring to? Or is there only one Suffolk Co.?
Terry T

I tend to agree with your observations also. I'll have to check
my regular barreled guns numbers.
New York, Md etc.

 

[Terry T]

Terry,
According to Chad's book, those shipping dates are a year too early for those ser. no. Something is amiss.
Terry T

 

[chet15]

Terry,
According to Chad's book, those shipping dates are a year too early for those ser. no. Something is amiss.
Terry T

Terry's dates are probably correct. The dates I use in the references are probably at least 85% off of Ruger's website/R.L. Wilson's book. I did this just to use some sort of standardization.
Where my dates are quite a bit improved are where Ruger has erred in their information on some of the dates for some of their models.
When putting the reference dates of mfg. together, if I had different sn's for all of the years in the dates of manufacture, then my info would be as out of whack as Ruger's...so had to standardize it at least somewhat.
All is not as it seems to be with Ruger's dates of manufacture. Too many guns have left years or even decades after they were supposed to.
Chet15

 

[Terry T]

Shipping after manufaturing date maks sense, before doesn't.
Love to get my hands on that computer database! :shock:
Might be able to reconclle all of these dates.
Terry T

 

[chet15]

Shipping after manufaturing date maks sense, before doesn't.
Love to get my hands on that computer database! :shock:
Might be able to reconclle all of these dates.
Terry T

Yes...but Terry's two guns aren't that far ahead of Ruger's dates (months at most). Its better than years.
Can't imagine the task of trying to get Ruger's orig. dates of manufacture together originally, with the way Ruger's firearms were built....this model group in this sn range, then this group etc. Would probably be a nightmare looking through potential hundreds of thousands of guns (i.e. 10/22) to get it straight.
Chet15

 

[Terry T]

Chad,
I’m a computer guy. I made my living building databases (until I retired last year). From the way the nice ladies in records answer the phone questions, I can surmise that they are using a computer data base that has at least fields for Serial Number, Catalog ‘Number’, and Shipping Date. It may not have casting date. That may be in another data base that was kept for ATF containing the dates that Serial Numbers were assigned to the frames. ATF doesn’t like unnumbered frames loose in a shop. The common link between the two data bases would be the Serial Number.
I’d simply let the computer do the sorting and counting by each field.

We need a recognized Ruger Historian to approach Ruger about the database. In the case of the Six Series Double Actions, we are talking something that has been out of production for over 20 years. With the change in administration and ownership, there may be an opportunity to get some of the records. The Pre-Computer records (I’d guess most of the Old Model data) may not be accessible and the newer stuff, say newer than 10 years, may not be available for ‘competition reasons’ but the ‘in between’ data would still be a gold mine for collectors.

On the other hand, let’s not release it until I can find all of the very low production double actions at ‘shooter’ prices.
Terry T

 

[chet15]

Chad,
I’m a computer guy. I made my living building databases (until I retired last year). From the way the nice ladies in records answer the phone questions, I can surmise that they are using a computer data base that has at least fields for Serial Number, Catalog ‘Number’, and Shipping Date. It may not have casting date. That may be in another data base that was kept for ATF containing the dates that Serial Numbers were assigned to the frames. ATF doesn’t like unnumbered frames loose in a shop. The common link between the two data bases would be the Serial Number.
I’d simply let the computer do the sorting and counting by each field.
Terry T

Yes....Sorting is definitely the way to do something like that...unless maybe there are hundreds if not thousands of out-of-serial number sequence shipped Ruger firearms of certain models that were shipped earlier than Ruger's database surmises (by a few months) or later...up to many years after Ruger's database surmises.
Not arguing with the theory there Terry, its just that I don't think there's any way for Ruger to do that effectively without creating even more confusion than they have today.
Examples: .44 flattop production generally ended about 1963 with most of the cleanup guns leaving in that year. But in 1974 serial number 10 left the factory and #13971 left the factory in 1976, so Ruger should have those sn's (or any others that left in those years) listed on their site for the years 1974 and 1976? or OM Super Bearcats mfg through at least 1981 (which our 91-57490 was?). There are a lot of other examples I can think of as well.
I remember a few years ago while keeping track of Ruger's changes on the 10/22 that there were bunches of 256- prefixed guns being shipped from the factory of models that had been discontinued years before...yet at the time Ruger's prefix for the 10/22 was advanced into at least the 350- prefix.
What I'm saying is, there would be such a huge overlap of serial numbers for each and every year of any given model that Ruger's dates of manufacture, would in effect be worthless for anybody looking up the "general" date of a gun's manufacture. As it is, Ruger's "dates" are probably 95% or better accurate for the dates listed. Its the other 5% or less of their guns that throw's the whole thing out of whack.
The way Ruger's OM era records worked anyway, the serial numbers were already pre-written in their "day books". A date would not get entered in there until the gun made it through final inspection (what we collectors also call the manufacture date). The only other date in there was the ship date.
Technically, once a gun gets a serial number, it has to be logged throughout the premises as a firearm. I suppose there are other "internal" records that keep track of this stuff, but I don't know how they do/did this.
Chet15

 

[Mike Armstrong]

I believe that there are several Suffolk Counties in the US. The "biggest" one I'm aware of is Suffolk County, NY, one of the two counties that make up Long Island. But isn't it kind of odd to call county cops a "P.D"? In the states I have lived in, (CA, NY, ID, OR, WA, VT, and WI) they were all called "Sherriff's Departments". Have you googled "S.C. P. D."? Is it perhaps South Carolina State Police? Although state cops are usually called "troopers", "state police," "highway patrol," or "department of public safety," not usually "police department." A puzzle, for sure.

(I have and S&W Model 64 marked "P.P.D." So where do I start with that one? Petaluma? Peoria? Paso Robles? Hmmmm.).

 

[T.A. WORKMAN]

I believe that there are several Suffolk Counties in the US. The "biggest" one I'm aware of is Suffolk County, NY, one of the two counties that make up Long Island. But isn't it kind of odd to call county cops a "P.D"?

Mike,
I have narrowed the gun to NY.

As to your comments, Please check out the link below!! You also might want to check out Maryland County Police Department!! I'll stop there,
thanks for your imput. I should have worded my post correctly I guess.
Terry


http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/police/