Letter received. See post no. 12 below for new details.
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A few weeks ago a new forum member asked for information about a .22/32 revolver that he had picked up at a good price. Here's the link.
Bekeart Restoration Resource
He thought he had a Bekeart that needed some work, but as the thread developed it turned out he almost certainly had a Prewar .22/32 Kit Gun. The OP decided to sell it in the classifieds rather than work on it, and after 24 hours passed with no interest expressed by others, I told him I would take it. I would like to thank whgraham for a fast and painless transaction; communication was excellent.
The story now goes in a different direction, so I will start a new thread for the gun's condition and history.
The gun indeed had some serious finish issues, including pitting and rust on the right side, both faces of the trigger guard, and around some cylinder flutes. It may have lain on a damp surface for some time. The left side is better. The action felt good, and bore and chambers are clear.
The lowest side plate screw was frozen into the frame, preventing sideplate removal. The thumb release nut was also frozen. I took the stocks off and dropped the gun in a bath of Kroil and acetone, testing the screw and nut every few days. After a month I was still unable to budge either fastener and resigned myself to drilling out the screw and just letting the thumb release assembly stay as it was. The screw head was already bad and got worse as I worked on it, but last night it finally budged. I managed to remove it and get the sideplate off.
There was rust inside, but it wasn't as extensive as I had feared it might be. Much of the frame's inner surface was not affected by rust, and what was there came off without too much trouble. The shiny lockwork was rust-stained in spots, but not actually corroded.
I don't have any before pictures, but here is the empty frame after I cleaned it out:
The bolt is still in place because I have been unable to remove the nut that holds the thumbpiece onto the bolt. The interior surfaces are not bad, but you can see the extensive pitting on the barrel exterior.
The left side is better, but is still affected with skin cancer in a few places:
One of the questions in the previous thread had to do with the serial number on the barrel. Here's a macro shot that shows the number more clearly than previous photos: 530286, same as the frame and cylinder.
This photo also shows some physical surface damage to the gun. It looks as though someone tried to pry the ejector rod out of position, perhaps because he didn't know how to open the cylinder or the thumb release was frozen at some earlier time. There is also some tool damage on the front of the frame where the yoke closes against it.
The frame number is behind the trigger guard, as it is on all later I-frames when the butt will be covered either by Regulation Police stocks or, as in this case, the extension target stocks.
Here is the lockwork after reinstallation, now oiled against recurrence of corrosion:
The only thing that didn't feel good was the hand spring tension when it was reinserted into the trigger -- very stiff. But when the entire interior mechanism was reinstalled, cycling it a couple of times freed up the stiff hand and it now works as designed.
There was some shallow corrosion on the top strap that made me worry about what was going on under the adjustable rear sight. I took that off and found that rust there was fortunately very light. I was extremely pleased to find that the tiny sight screws had not been affected by water exposure; they turned easily. I cleaned up the frame channel and underside of the sight assembly and reinstalled it.
Finally, here is the cleaned and freshly oiled gun with the stocks on, ready for a range trip.
I'm not going to pretend that extension stocks on an I-frame with a four-inch barrel make for an attractive package, but this gun fits fairly well in my hand and should be a good shooter specimen of an uncommon model. There is no push off. Timing is fine. Endshake and rotational play are almost non-existent. Lock-up is good.
HISTORY
Roy Jinks informed me that the gun shipped in October of 1938, but it probably sat in inventory for as much as a year. I have 530151, just 135 away, which shipped in May of 1937. Both guns have the unmarked sideplate and the small logo on the left side. Beginning in 1938, new production carried a large logo on the sideplate.
A handwritten note by a former owner tells a little of the gun's history. It was bought for personal and commercial protection by a man named Paul Webb, who with his wife owned and operated a neighborhood market in Raleigh, North Carolina. The date of purchase of the gun is not recorded, but was probably in the early 1950s, maybe late 1940s. (It is possible that Webb bought the gun new; he was born in 1907, and despite the economic plight of the times might have been in a position to buy a functioning store in 1938.) Paul Webb died in 1957, and the gun came into his wife's possession at that time. The note with the gun is an "affidavit" that she wrote in 1975 on the advice of a Raleigh police department Lieutenant. She had felt threatened when she was followed by two men on the street. The exact circumstances are not clear, but she wrote an account of how she came to have the gun in case she ever had to use it for protection.
Mrs. Webb died at least 10 years ago, if I have correctly identified her in the SSDI records, and I do not know where the gun was until the man I bought it from picked it up at a gun store about six weeks ago.
EDITED TO ADD: After further research, I have determined that the Mrs. Webb I was looking for died in 1990. The next step is to see if she had a child who might have inherited the gun.
A Distressed Prewar Kit Gun Returns to Shootability -- Updated: See post no. 12
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