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S&W Hand Ejectors: 1896 to 1961 All 5-Screw & Vintage 4-Screw SWING-OUT Cylinder REVOLVERS, and the 35 Autos and 32 Autos


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Old 05-16-2018, 02:25 AM
cwo4uscgret cwo4uscgret is offline
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Default something old, something blue, something strange!

Stopped at one of my usual gun shops and lo and behold there was this orphan begging to come home with me. As best as I can figure out it's a Model 1953 .22; aka a
Pre-Model 34; and has a 3-1/2" barrel. I also have a Model 34-1 Round butt; that has a better finish then this new one; it also came in a box marked 22/32 Kit Gun Model 34 Square Butt - not the match for the gun though.

I also stopped at another local gun shop and found a strange bird, referred to as the "lost .22. Sheridan, long-time pellet gun/BB Gun Maker, actually made a .22 caliber tip-up barreled gun. Mostly sheet metal, the gun is riveted together; the barrel and the sights were machined from a single piece of steel. Obviously they're fixed..

Some pictures for you:







and here's the strange bird - the Sheridan Knocabout:

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Old 05-16-2018, 06:02 AM
Hondo44 Hondo44 is offline
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You have discovered a ".22/32 Kit Gun Airweight Model of 1955" which became the Model 43.

It's built on the J frame only with sq butt and 3 1/2" barrel. The frame and cyl are alloy. They aren't nearly as plentiful as the all steel kit gun; the Model of 1953/Model 34 built on the new I frame and not until Oct 1960 on the J frame.
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Old 05-16-2018, 07:46 AM
2152hq 2152hq is offline
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Haven't seen a Knocabout in a long time!
Neat little piece of 50's design,,everything all assembled and pretty much permanently riveted together betw the two stamped out side plates.
Though you can pry them apart if you need to, nothing much ever goes wrong with them to make you need to do so.
Genuine coil springs inside there.
Original instruction manuals are hard to find,,they were printed on the inside of the lid of the box that the pistol came in.

Nice acquisitions,,of course I'm drawn to the Sheriden oddity.
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Old 05-16-2018, 09:29 AM
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DWalt DWalt is offline
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Some years ago, the Sheridan Knocabout was not too difficult to find but not so today. I have not seen one for a long time. They were made until around the early 1960s. They were advertised in gun magazines for mail order sale. In the 1958 Gun Digest, there was a brief article about it which is fairly glowing in its praise as a utility gun for camping, fishing, etc.. The price given was $17.95. I once saw one with an original holster. I do not remember seeing one in a box. Not a bad idea for someone who doesn't need rapid fire capability in a cheap pistol. Some Beretta semiautos and French pistols also have the similar tip-up barrel feature, but they are semiautos. Very cool to have one.

Last edited by DWalt; 05-16-2018 at 09:48 AM.
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Old 05-16-2018, 10:18 AM
cwo4uscgret cwo4uscgret is offline
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Default Thanks for the info.

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Originally Posted by Hondo44 View Post
You have discovered a ".22/32 Kit Gun Airweight Model of 1955" which became the Model 43.

It's built on the J frame only with sq butt and 3 1/2" barrel. The frame and cyl are alloy. They aren't nearly as plentiful as the all steel kit gun; the Model of 1953/Model 34 built on the new I frame and not until Oct 1960 on the J frame.

Thanks Hondo for the information....
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Old 05-16-2018, 10:49 AM
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Another handgun very much in the same category as the Knocabout is the Whitney Wolverine, also from the 1950s. It was an alloy frame .22 semiautomatic (possibly the first of those) but had somewhat of a "Buck Rogers Ray Gun" appearance. Like the Knocabouts, they are seldom seen today. I believe someone tried to resurrect it (but with a plastic frame) fairly recently but it failed - or at least I have not heard much about it. But I did see one of the newly manufactured Wolverines at a recent gun show. I'd think that values of original Wolverines and Knocabouts have nowhere to go but up.

Last edited by DWalt; 05-16-2018 at 10:56 AM.
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