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02-17-2011, 03:56 AM
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Can You Identify This S&W .22 Revolver
G'day
Can anyone please help me I dentify this .22 cal Smith & Wesson Revolver?
Any information would be appriciated.
Cheers
Pete
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02-17-2011, 04:19 AM
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Welcome to the Forum. This appears to be a fixed sight pre-war K frame with a 5" barrel and a centerfire hammer. One possibility is it has been converted from a .32/20 or .38 Military & Police. Is the right barrel stamped .22 Long Rifle?
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Alan
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02-17-2011, 04:30 AM
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If indeed it is a 22 CALIBER revolver it has been converted.
My bet is it is a 32 caliber.
The serial number will be a help in identifying its origin.
Regards
Allen Frame
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02-17-2011, 04:36 AM
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Welcome to the forum. That's certainly interesting.
I can tell you at a glance that the gun is a 1930s era K-frame revolver, but then things get uncertain. During the 1930s S&W produced a model called the K-22 Outdoorsman, a .22 LR K-frame revolver with adjustable sights and a frame-mounted firing pin. Your gun has fixed sights and a hammer-mounted firing pin. The US Coast Guard ordered some fixed-sight K-22s in 1935 for use as training weapons, but they are rare and I can't imagine they would have firing pins on the hammers. I have never seen one.
Does your gun have any evidence of gunsmith modifications? For example, could it be a .38 whose barrel and chambers were lined to convert it to a .22? I guess there would also have to be modifications to the firing pin and frame channel to make it strike the rim of a .22 case instead of the center. Also, the front sight on your gun has been heavily modified to work with the lighter .22 round. If this is a conversion from a .38, I think this gun would have shot way low with the original half-found front sight.
After WWII S&W made a short-action fixed-sight .22 revolver on the K-frame called the Post Office Model (eventually called the Model 45), but yours is a long action revolver from before the war.
Can you share a serial number, or at least the first three or four digits? If this gun has all original parts, the same number should be found on the flat underside of the barrel, the rear face of the cylinder, the underside of the ejector star and the rear-facing surface of the yoke; it might be tough to read those last two without taking the yoke and cylinder off the gun.
Definitely an interesting specimen.
EDITED TO ADD: I see Allen is thinking along the same lines that I am.
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David Wilson
Last edited by DCWilson; 02-17-2011 at 04:39 AM.
Reason: typos
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02-17-2011, 04:58 AM
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Wow! I didn't expect such a quick response.
Thanks for your replys.
There are several stampings on the barrel and frame as follows.
The barrel is stamped 38 S.W CTG on one side only
On the top of the frame is S&W Springfield FEb6,/06, Sept14/03, Dec22/14
The serial number is 966014
The only other thing I can say is it is both single and double action.
Cheers
Pete
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02-17-2011, 05:11 AM
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OK, it started life as a slightly different model from what I thought. .38 S&W is a different chambering from the more familiar .38 Special, and a few hundred thousand lend-lease guns were produced for Commonwealth countries in that caliber during WWII. With that serial number, your gun was produced in late 1941 or early 1942. It was undoubtedly converted to .22 LR after the war.
How does it shoot?
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David Wilson
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02-17-2011, 05:19 AM
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Thanks for the info DCWilson.
I knew you guys would be able to help.
I'm not sure how it shoots as I have never fired it.
This pistol has been inherited by a bloke I know.
He does not like guns and has offered it to me.
I wanted to find out what it was so I could offer him a fair price for it.
I have never seen a Smith & Wesson like it before.
Any idea who would have done the conversion and what a fair price might be?
Cheers
Pete
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02-17-2011, 05:58 AM
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There was a British company called Parker-Hale that did a lot of conversions of military arms into something more appropriate for a civilian market. I seem to recall that at least some 38 -> .22 conversions came out of their shop. But if the proper barrel and chamber sleeves could be obtained, I bet almost any halfway competent machine shop could do the work.
Assuming the action is sound and the gun accurate in its current configuration, I'd probably value it at USD 200-250. I have no idea how that would translate to a price in NZ.
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02-17-2011, 09:42 AM
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I have seen a couple of these. They all started out as 38 S&W "Victory Models" that were converted after the war. All were from Great Britain and not the U.S.
I'd pay $200 for one to play with but sellers always ask about 4x that much.
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02-17-2011, 01:55 PM
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I have several variations of these in my Victory model collection. They are, as said above, conversions from the Pre-Victory & Victory Model WW2 era revolvers, usually done by the British gun companies from surplus guns sold by the military after WW2. The pictured gun appears to have been refinished at least once and rebarreled, so it's value is limited to shooter value, or as an oddity. Most of the conversion done in England have adjustable rear target sights added. Ed.
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02-17-2011, 11:38 PM
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I'm looking at my Parker-Hale No. 62 Catalog. They show what they call "renovated war surplus revolvers" on a couple pages. The catalog states they are ex Military Smith and Wesson revolvers, I assume .38 S&W caliber. Both a 5" and a 6" are cataloged. No pic's of the specific items however.
Last edited by minconrevo; 02-17-2011 at 11:39 PM.
Reason: add info
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Tags
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ejector, gunsmith, k frame, k-22, k-frame, military, outdoorsman, s&w, smith and wesson, springfield, victory, wwii |
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