Hello All. This thread (though its a tad dated) has been very informative. Thank you. I'm going to attempt to provide a summary of all the comments above in hopes to verify I was tracking the conversation correct. Below I have a question that seems to challenge some the info in my summary... and I simply would like to see if somebody like Texas John Ringo might be able to verify I'm clear on the info.
Colt Pre War Single Action Army:
Generation 1, About 1873-1941, ser. No. [no letters] XXXXX, production was stopped in 1941.
Colt Post War Single Action Army – New Model:
Generation 2, 1956 - 1976 : Removable bushing, ser. No. 0001SA - 79,999SA
Generation 3, 1976 - 2002 : NO removable bushing*, ser. No. 80,000SA - 99,999SA. Serialization reached 99,999SA in 1978. The SA suffix changed to a prefix beginning with SA01,001. Serialization reached SA99,999 in 1993. Colt then started with the ser. No. S02,0001A.
Generation 3 [LATE], 2002 - Current : Starting at approximately ser. No. S34,000A [late 2002], Colt reintroduced the full length cylinder bushing that was eliminated in 1976.
The reason I'm asking is that I have a friend with eyes on SAA that appears to be Generation 3 with ser. No S 8,226 A. This particular gun has a removable bushing that seems to have been produced well before the speculated ser. No. S34,000A when the removable bushing was reintroduced in 2002/2003.
I'd appreciate any input/thoughts here...
Cheers!