I didn't know what a Kit Gun was when I found my first one a couple of years ago, and I didn't really intend to start collecting them. But as I found one or another on which the price was right, I slowly got to the point where I had more of them than any other model. Half a dozen more got away because I didn't think the price was right, or somebody else at auction kept on bidding past my limit.

This evening it seemed like time for a family photo, so here's a snapshot. I should have used a tripod but didn't, so the image is a little blurry. This was primarily an experiment in photographing groups. I'll redo this pic some day when I figure out lighting and high camera mounting a little better.

There is another one that has the oversize extension stocks that are familiar from the Heavy Frame Target (Bekeart) style revolvers. But I couldn't easily fit it into the photo.

The gun on the bottom right is an "honorary" Kit Gun. It started life as a Heavy Frame Target in 1923. In 1946 it was returned to the factory for work, and it emerged with a new recessed cylinder and four-inch barrel. The new parts were numbered to the frame. The stocks are obviously post war (coarser checking and rounded corners to the checking field). But in its current configuration it matches the standards for the prewar Kit Guns.

The other six (seven, including the absent KG with the two-screw stocks) were shipped between 1937 and 1940.

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David Wilson

David,

That's a beautiful and amazing sight! Just imagine walking into a hardware store or gunshop in 1940 and having such an array of Kit Guns to choose from. That's an awesome collection of I frame Smith classic 22/32s. Every option is represented if one counts the unshown target gripped example. I'll show my humble example for the sake of illustration.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

No wonder I don't see PW Kit Guns around here... David is pulling them all over to the left coast!! Nice assortment you have there, Brother Dave, so now will you let a few of the survivors out there get away for the rest of us?

On a serious note, though, how about doing a rundown of specific special features on each one, sort of like Hondo44 did a while back with that spread of I-frames he showed us, so we can use it as a search tool as we encounter the elusive kit gun?

I think I'm falling for the idea of a kit gun with the Regulation Police type stocks. They seem to balance the 4" barrel nicely. Are all 4 of yours relieved on the backstrap for the wedge coming up from the bottom, or do you also have the grip that just fits over a standard round butt frame?

Regards,
Froggie

PS Is that a King front sight on the second one from the left, bottom row?

David your pictures & posts on these little guns have got me thinkin' I gotta' look for one too!

Gunshow season starts next month and I'm adding a little different .22 to the wish list, other than K-22's.

BTW, what's the engraved name (?) on the 3rd from left - bottom row?

GF

Thanks, all. I am actually thinking about writing a study of the variation seen in prewar Kit Guns, which is why I was experimenting with new photos last night.

Jim, thanks for posting an example of a KG with extension stocks. My specimen is actually kind of distressed, as it went through a period of poor care at some point in its life. I posted a thread about it a few months back; the internals are fine, but it looks a little rough on the outside, with pretty deep pitting on a portion of the barrel. May I disagree with your use of the adjective "humble" about your gun? That's a nice one. If you haven't done so already, may I ask you to PM me with the serial number for my data base?

Froggie, all the square butt guns have rebated frames, but one of them (second from left) was originally intended for round butt grips. You can tell because the serial number is on the bottom of the grip frame instead of on the forestrap above the strain screw. The frame was semi-carefully modified to accept Regulation Police stocks at a later date, then the raw surface was blued -- cold blue, I assume, as the rest of the gun has the original finish. You can see file marks where the material was removed so the RP stocks would fit. Yes, that is a King reflector sight on the barrel. This is the most-modified KG I have. You can't see it very well in the photo, but that hammer is also not in original condition. I believe the spur from a K-frame hammer was welded to the original KG hammer. I don't know if that was an ad-hoc repair or a deliberate enhancement.

Gail, the sideplate inscription reads Dudley Kingsbury Wright. I think I know who that is, but he would have been in early double digits in 1937 -- too young to buy a gun for himself. Perhaps the gun belonged to an uncle with the same name, or perhaps this was a family gift -- a boy's first handgun. There are other men in the US with the same name (or a similar one), and I am planning to contact them to see if I can nail down its history. Needless to say, I will be lettering this one to see where it started out. The man I think the gun belonged to was an attorney in Santa Ana, just 20 miles up the road from me. He died over 10 years ago. I bought the gun out of Washington state, so if it was ever in California it moved around some.

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David Wilson

David,
Great looking family picture you have there. I know nothing about the Kit Guns, but was wondering a couple of things. First, I noticed that the large S&W trademark is on the right side of some of the guns and missing on the others. Is it on the other side of those guns and was this just a change from one period to the next? I noticed that Hondo44's gun has the small trademark on the left side.

Second, have you lettered any of the guns? With a growing collection like you own, it may be interesting to see where they were originally shipped.

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

David

For an LA guy, your thread should have at least one kitgun shipped to
LA.



This was shipped/presented to Congressman Cecil King, I think in
about 1948. It was shipped with the smooth rosewood grips, and
his signature inscribed on the gun. Its a pre-WW2 gun, shipped
special after the war.

Regards, Mike Priwer

Took me 30 years to find a nice pre-war Kit Gun, now Dave says he collected all those beauties in a couple of years!

I need to stop coming to this Forum. Makes me and my collection feel inadequate.

Larry, when Kit Guns first went into production, sideplates were blank. The company logo was small and on the left side of the frame. A new marking instruction came down from the head office, and sometime in 1938, if I remember correctly, large logos began appearing on the sideplate. This is not peculiar to Kit Guns. A lot of models had small left side logos become larger sideplate logos in the late 1930s.

I have lettered most of these, but not all. The ones I know about were either single gun shipments, or one of a two-gun shipment, to different places: New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle. One gun was shipped to King Gun Sight Co. in San Francisco. I don't have one that was shipped directly to an individual, but I recorded a couple in my data base where that actually happened.

Mike, thanks for reminding me of that gun. If I could get an early postwar transitional KG, the Cecil King and Edward R. Murrow revolvers would be the ones of primary interest to me.

I consider myself fortunate beyond belief -- and probability! -- to have come across this many prewar KGs in a short period of time. I congratulate anybody who has managed to score one of them anywhere. Those who are looking for one should keep their eyes on GB and GA, where prewar KGs turn up three or four times a year. But beware of pricing: most sellers have read the Blue Book and mistakenly believe every Kit Gun should bring at least twice what market history says their prices should be. I haven't paid anywhere near the Blue Book price for a single one of those guns in the photograph. That doesn't mean I got them cheap, in an absolute sense, but I got them at way less than what the Blue Book says they are worth.

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David Wilson

Here is another one, which I do not own. It lettered with these grips,
as I recall from the auction site.



One of the interesting aspects of some of these kit guns is the front
sight blade. It was formally known as the USRA sight. Internally, the
factory also called it a "step-out" front sight blade, so named becaues
of the step at the top of the blade.

Mike Priwer

Thanks to everyone for sharing these special .22s. They are elegant with very high "cool" factor.

Regards,

Dyson

Would late '30s pearls have had gold medallions? Not arguing; I just don't know.

I knew this gun's serial number, but it is identified as having checkered extension grips. Clearly something is askew. I need to go back and check my source on that. I hope I can find it.

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David Wilson

i've posted this pic before, but for those who haven't seen it--this transitional Kit Gun was shipped in 1953. The supplied "sight adjusting tool" is of particular interest.




This gun would likely have been David's, but the seller wouldn't ship it to California!


Tim

David, what a great selection! The others here have a high drool
factor, as well.
You know, when I first saw this Forum, like so many others, I
simply had no idea what I was getting into. You know the routine;
first, maybe an antique, just to see what all the fuss is about, and
then the snowball rolling downhill, etc., etc.. Here I thought I had
rimfires under control with a handed-down Woodsman! Then, I just
had to have a Bearcat. Then, the Forum took over my self control,
(never was too strong, anyway. A Heritage Masterpiece which didn't
fit, then a M63, 4", and a Taurus 94. Both were good,but didn't fit
my little spider fingers. Now I've got a 3" M317 which is just
about perfect for me, and then the roof caved in. When I got a
chance to get a Kit Gun from an impeccable source, I was
lost again
Not that I'd ever part with the ones I have; I just didn't heed the warning signs. Here's what I "couldn't live without"!
Then, there's the little ones.... I wonder what's next. TACC1

Attached Images

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David, You've been busy! Thanks for an interesting post about a model I seldom see at shows around here. I did own one once but passed it along to a friend when I discovered they were a bit small for my hands. They sure do look neat, though!

Jerry

Here is a picture of the Edward R Murrow gun. Apparently it was in the
same auction as the other one I posted earlier. According to the RIA writeup, it has
"ED MURROW" engraved on the right side, probably the side plate. How the gun
went from RexFirearms to Murrow is not known.



Mike Priwer

David, Great bunch of kit guns! Thanks for starting this thread.

Mike, Those are some wonderful kit guns with some provenance. Thanks for the pics!

Chad Gripp
SWCA #2323

Gee Mike, I've never seen a post war Transitional Kit Gun in person and never see more than one in a single thread but you have two of them, and both with provenance!! Unreal. Congratulations on those two beautiful rarer-than-pre-war Kit Guns!

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Jim
S&WCA #819

David,
Wonderful collection! Makes me want to get one!
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

I have been learning so much about Kit Guns, after this weekend , I own one. I found a NIB 34-1, nothing special compared to some of the gems here, but its a start. Now I dont know what to do, I love collecting N Frames, K Frames, then the Model 41's started, then the M17 addiction. This "kit gun" phase is going to hurt my bank acct for sure.

I feel your pain.

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David Wilson

Jim

I own only the Congressman King gun. I saved the auction pictures of
the other two, for several reasons. They were/are both very nice
examples of kitguns that appear to be of the same vintage as the King
gun. They all have the same front sight, which I found very interesting.
I had considering trying to buy the Murrow gun, but there was no
apparent way to make the connection back to the factory. Ie, had he
ordered it through Rex, that would have been different.

All this means that both of these other guns are out there somewhere !

In a similar vein, I was offered a gun from the estate of Raymond Burr.
It was nice gun, and definitely his, but it was not shipped to him.
It went to a dealer, and some time later, to Burr. I passed on this
one, also.

Regards, Mike Priwer

Would be nice just to have one of them! Wow fantastic collection of KG's Thank you, Jerry G

I figure I'll kill 2 birds with one stone in bumping this excellent thread to say congratulations to the winner of: S&W Pre-War 22/32 Kit Gun AWESOME RARE NO RESERVE : Curios & Relics at GunBroker.com

I did not expect the gun to get quite that high. I thought maybe $3500, but dang. Whoever won it should be very pleased with it, absolute beauty.

If that went high; this one was just stolen:

Smith & Wesson Revolver - Current price: $1000

I was the bidder @ $1000; I hope the winner is here.

Bob

That was not only a bidding war, but a 3 way war with Arizona sitting in the wings until dropping the final bid which is about max for these, at least w/o box.

Bob,

IMO that was an absolute steal! I just saw one like this sell for $2500 which I consider typical. And the lowest I've seen that nice of a pre war Kit Gun go for. And a good indicator of the difference between selling on Gunbroker or the more obscure auction sites!! Of course the Gunbroker Kit Gun was superb and nicer than the Beckort Auction KG which was still a nice gun. The difference in prices however, is more than just the difference between a 99.9% gun and a ~95% IMO.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

It was a pretty gun all right! The grain on those stocks (book matched, no less) looks more like something from one of the current custom makers like Keith Brown et al. I wouldn't be able to justify over 4 grand to own it, but that doesn't keep me from admiring it!

Froggie