For those who like .22RF cal. N frames, there were 10 Triple locks made in .22RF cal. by S&W with 10 round cylinders. ( See "American Rifleman, Nov. 1953 ) The pictured gun in the Rifleman is a service sighted gun, that appears to have 8 chambers in the cylinder however in conversations with Carl Hellstrom at the time, he noted a special order for 10 target models. They had a drift rear sight and he surmised that they were probably intended for the Bisley matches in England where adjustable rear sights were not permitted in their matches. Also see a followup letter in the Dec. 1988 American Rifleman., p. 14. Question for Pre-WW2 N frame collectors: How many different calibers were manufactured by S&W for Pre-WW2 N frames, both steel & alloy ? ( I have a list of 14 cals.) Ed.

Hey, Ed,
I'd be interested in such a list. Can you scan and post the AR article? The chance of running across a Rifleman from '53 is about zero.

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

delcrossv, It's not an article, it's letter to the editors, with photo of the gun. I don't have the equipment to copy & scan, etc., but I think the American Rifleman magazines are downloadable for the NRA, I've been told. Ed

Thanks Ed, I'll look into that.

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

I just did a very quick search and was not able to find a downloadable issue.

Kevin

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Unshared knowledge is wasted.

Elvis has it.

You can almost always find back issues of TAR on ebay. There are several Nov '53 issues up for auction now.

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

Is inside this bird here.

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Expect the unexpected

I think about this revolver...laying on a closet shelf or in a cardboard box in the garage...and the current owner absolutely clueless as to what it is and more importantly what it's worth.

There was a family in upstate NY a few years ago that had a painting grandpa brought back from a business trip to Italy. It hung on the living room wall for 40 or 50 years. After the old man passed, they took it an auction house with art appraisers on staff to ID it. Turned out to be an unknown Michelangelo with an estimated auction value of $250,000,000. It was unknown in that pencil sketches existed, but nobody knew if he ever did the painting. He did and it wound up in NY. BTW the family donated it to an Italian museum saying it never should have left Italy.

The 22 RM isn't quite worth that much, but it would fetch a boatload of money. Someday somebody will walk into a gun shop with it and want to sell it. If the shop owner knows what's what he'll offer $500 for it, wait a few months then send it to a big auction house. If the shop owner is unknowing, he'll buy it for $500 and sell it for $1,000. Eventually somebody will get it who knows what it is or finds out before selling.

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No life story has happy end.

Whoever is fortunate enough to find this gem, I would put a down payment on it but not conclude the sale until I had a certified authenticity verification from S&W.

That would depend on whether the price was $800 or $80,000.

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Front sight and squeeze

You can get that in advance.

The serial number has been posted.

Pay for the letter.

And then... Good hunting.

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Expect the unexpected

Nah, I found Bogie's Colt pocket auto inside the black bird, not the .22 Registered Magnum

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