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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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  #1  
Old 09-17-2018, 09:56 PM
Reeldad3 Reeldad3 is offline
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Default K22 masterpiece ?

Hey guys I'm new to the group. And I have to say that Smith and Wesson are my favorite revolvers and i'm kinda partial to wheel guns. I guess I'm old school... anyway I found a k22 masterpiece ( i believe ) at a local pawn shop today and it came home with me... lol
I think it's in very good condition for the age but that's my opinion and I'm no expert...
It's a 5 screw and I believe it's the original stocks. It appears to be a 6" barrel blued.
It seems to have a very low serial number it's K-621xx. Could someone give me a year it was made or any info would be appreciated ?
I have a few smith and Wesson revolvers so I just bought the standard catalog of Smith and Wesson 4th edition by Jim supica and Richard Nahas.
But I won't get it in the mail for another 5 days. I'm anxious to get it and study up on Smith and Wesson history.
Thanks for any info.
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Old 09-17-2018, 10:35 PM
Gordon Williams Gordon Williams is offline
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I just purchased a Model 17 6 shot .22 today....but I have to wait for a 10 day background check to be conducted and then its comes home with other S&W's....paid $600 for it...lady's husband had passed and she wanted to get rid of weapon...she said her husband has had it for over 40 years...appears yours is also in excellent condition...I'm trying to find out when this Model 17 was manufactured...SN K336932...I wrote S&W corporate offices today and hope they will help me find what I wanted. Congrats on your purchase...
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Old 09-17-2018, 10:39 PM
linde linde is offline
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Originally Posted by Reeldad3 View Post
. . . I found a k22 masterpiece . . . serial number K-621xx. Could someone give me a year it was made or any info would be appreciated? . . .
K22 Masterpiece s/n K56876 was shipped in November 1948 so I would estimate your K621XX would have shipped in early 1949.

What else I can share is they are outstanding target grade revolvers and an absolute pleasure to shoot . . . hope you enjoy yours as well.

Russ
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Old 09-17-2018, 10:49 PM
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Very cool OP- enjoy it. IMHO the K22 was/is the finest .22 handgun ever manufactured by anyone.
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Old 09-17-2018, 11:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Gordon Williams View Post
I just purchased a Model 17 6 shot .22 today....but I have to wait for a 10 day background check to be conducted and then its comes home with other S&W's....paid $600 for it...lady's husband had passed and she wanted to get rid of weapon...she said her husband has had it for over 40 years...appears yours is also in excellent condition...I'm trying to find out when this Model 17 was manufactured...SN K336932...I wrote S&W corporate offices today and hope they will help me find what I wanted. Congrats on your purchase...
Would probably have shipped in 1958.
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Old 09-17-2018, 11:38 PM
bdGreen bdGreen is offline
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Originally Posted by Reeldad3 View Post
It's a 5 screw and I believe it's the original stocks. It appears to be a 6" barrel blued.
It seems to have a very low serial number it's K-621xx. Could someone give me a year it was made or any info would be appreciated ?
It appears you have a 1948 K22 Masterpiece.

bdGreen
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Old 09-18-2018, 12:10 AM
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K621xx probably shipped in the late 1948-early 1949 period.
K336932 probably shipped in early 1959.

Estimates are based upon others on my list having nearby SNs.

Last edited by DWalt; 09-18-2018 at 12:12 AM.
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Old 09-18-2018, 12:22 AM
Skwirl Skwirl is offline
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Congrats on getting that gun.
Fyi, the serial number is in several places.
The butt of the gun, bottom flat of barrel, the face of the cylinder, under extractor star, on yoke visible thru chamber hole with a lite, right side stock panel.
The rear frame will have a 6 groove serations.
A 1948 was also the last year for a tapered barrel, but I've seen these barrels later.
Mine is a great gun that's seen many thousands of rounds and some neglect. But a complete disassembly and cleaning, its ready for many more years.
Congrats and enjoy.
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Old 09-18-2018, 07:40 AM
Green Frog Green Frog is offline
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Reeldad3, you will need to set aside a bunch of S&W time over the next few weeks. You’ll need several evenings of quality couch time with your new copy of SCSW just to skim through it well and concentrate on the sections of special interest to you... you can’t read through it like a novel, from front to back... there’s too much in it for that. Rather, skim through the whole thing, getting familiar with the sections the go back and hit the parts nearest to your interests such as the extensive section on K-22s. Also, at the back (in the Appendix section) you will find a pretty good guide to most serial numbers. Then again you will need a lot of time to fondle, wipe down, photograph, and most importantly, shoot your new acquisition.

Gordon Williams, it sounds like you have a really great Model 17 coming to you. When it gets home, take some pix and start your own thread for it... that gun is too important to share a thread with another gun, it deserves its own! Your gun falls in a very important window of time when things like addition of model numbers and changes in marking of SNs, number of sideplare screws, etc are occurring, so folks here will want every minute detail.

Congratulations to both of you on very special acquisitions and I hope you will enjoy them as I do mine.

Froggie
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Old 09-18-2018, 09:01 AM
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Welcome to the Forum. You have a nice Masterpiece that you can shoot all day long and it will clean up like new when you get home. These were some of the best S&W revolvers ever made.

As for manufacture date, it was definitely made in 1948. I have a 61,1XX that shipped in December, 1948, along with a couple of K38 Masterpiece revolvers and shoot them all. They still look great. I am attaching a serial number list that you can check with your next Masterpiece purchase, since I know you will need at least one more!

Why am I the first one to welcome our new member?????? . . . just wondering . . .
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Old 09-18-2018, 11:57 AM
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Originally Posted by Skwirl View Post
.... 1948 was also the last year for a tapered barrel....
I think you either misread something - or maybe misunderstood what you read. Tapered barrels were standard on K-22's through the mid 50's. "Heavy" barrels for the K-32 & K-38 Masterpiece became available in 1949 so that all three guns in the Masterpiece line would weigh the same when loaded. That said, tapered barrels were still offered on the two centerfire models for a short period of time after the heavy tubes were introduced.

Mark
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Old 09-18-2018, 01:25 PM
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Here is what Mark is talking about. My K38 Heavy Masterpiece is from 1951 and at that time, they offered both tapered and heavy barreled Masterpiece revolvers. I think the transition went on for some time, since the flyer was reprinted with a price change. Another indication of a transition period was that the box for my '51 had to have a paper label that covered the standard label for this model. Later boxes were transitioned to on box printing again.

My notes on the Masterpiece line show the following changes.

Masterpiece Revolvers
Heavy barrels for K frame Masterpieces became available 1949. (K76XXX sn range)
Narrow rib barrels were stocked until 1952. (K140XXX sn range)
Target hammer and stocks that were first introduced in January 1950
Target triggers were first available in 1953.
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Old 09-18-2018, 11:07 PM
linde linde is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glowe View Post
. . . My notes on the Masterpiece line show the following changes.

Masterpiece Revolvers
Heavy barrels for K frame Masterpieces became available 1949. (K76XXX sn range)
Narrow rib barrels were stocked until 1952. (K140XXX sn range)
. . .
Based on our research into the Missouri State Highway Patrol's 5" Combat Masterpiece, the narrow rib 6" Masterpiece barrels were available as late as September 1953.

In fact the last shipment of 30 units to the MSHP was on 10/13/53 and contained serial numbers in the K156xxx and K157xxx range. That shipment turned out to be the last batch of spare 6" narrow-rib barrels that were available to be cut-down by the factory to make the special-ordered 5" Combat Masterpiece with Baughman ramp front sights.

Russ
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Old 09-19-2018, 08:50 AM
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Thanks Russ, I added that info to my notes on the Masterpiece. The narrow rib barrels may have only been stocked until 1952, but as we know, the factory usually kept using everything they had in inventory until gone.
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Old 09-19-2018, 10:39 AM
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The post war, non model marked are (to me) the finest S&W's that were ever made. It was a period of time when workers had pride in their work. My 1951 K22 is my favorite shooting revolver, it feels like a smooth Swiss watch.
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Old 09-25-2018, 02:46 PM
Gordon Williams Gordon Williams is offline
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Received the following from Smith & Wesson:

Mr. Williams,
We have received your letter of recent concerning the purchase of a few Smith & Wesson firearms. You would like to know the year of manufactured of K336932. The year would be 1958. We hope you enjoying your new Smith & Wesson addition.

Thank You.
Kate Fredettte
S&W Customer Service
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Old 09-26-2018, 04:55 PM
Skwirl Skwirl is offline
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Originally Posted by wheelgun610 View Post
I think you either misread something - or maybe misunderstood what you read. Tapered barrels were standard on K-22's through the mid 50's. "Heavy" barrels for the K-32 & K-38 Masterpiece became available in 1949 so that all three guns in the Masterpiece line would weigh the same when loaded. That said, tapered barrels were still offered on the two centerfire models for a short period of time after the heavy tubes were introduced.

Mark

Thanks for the info, and correction.
I did repeat what I was told about a gun I acquired.
I did some searching and found a post about the 1949 guns. S&W introduced the heavy barrel as an option.
So would it be considered correct to say,
1948 was the last year for a tapered barrel as standard ?
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Old 09-26-2018, 05:33 PM
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. . . would it be considered correct to say, 1948 was the last year for a tapered barrel as standard ?
I would opine that the tapered barrel guns were still "standard" until the early 1950s. I am not even sure how popular the heavy barrel was with those buyers who were not bullseye shooters??

I would be interested to know what the percentage of each type sold was from 1949 to 1953, but doubt the information exists.
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