I am looking at a pre-14 Target Masterpiece. It has an upturned spur on the hammer. How many of these were made with this hammer. I've never seen one before. I'm interested in it because it was made 10/1957, my birth month and year. What are these hammers called?

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That's gonna leave a mark.

Photos would help

Does it look like the one on my K-22? If so it is a High-Speed Hammer

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

Yes. That's the hammer. Why is it called a high-speed?

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That's gonna leave a mark.

Before WWII S&W revolvers had a longer cocking action.
Around 1940 S&W introduced its first short cocking action with the K22/40 pre war "Masterpiece" of which only a little more than 1000 were made before the factory shut down production of anything but Military "Victory" revolvers.

Post WWII the new shorter action was introduced with the "High Speed Hammer" (aka Fish hook hammer) along with the new safety transfer bar system, Also new is the raised barrel rib and wider grooved Micrometer rear site.

Since the new shorter cocking action took less time to lock my guess is S&W advertised them as the new "High Speed" hammer.
As an aside the Fish Hook or High Speed hammer is phased out right around the same time they eliminated the upper sideplate screw on the K frame.

When the K and N frames were reintroduced after WWII they were first improved with the new post war sliding bar hammer block safety and known as Transitional models. The next improvement was pioneered on the pre war 1940 K22 Masterpiece; a shorter hammer fall action called the Speed Action.

The speed action was the next design improvement on all post war K and N frames. The K frame's target hammer shown above was the first version of the high speed hammer, it also had a wide target spur. It's unique turned up hammer spur is what garnered the collector's nickname of "fishhook hammer". K frame target models are the only models that had it. The fixed sight K frames and the N frame models all had high speed actions and high speed hammers, but they were narrow and not shaped like fishhooks.

The K fishhook target hammer lasted until just after the mid '50s when they were replaced by the standard target hammer we see today and the optional 1/2" wide target hammer.

PS I see Engine49guy responded while I was interrupted with a phone call.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

This is my 1954, K-38, with I believe the "speed hammer."

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John 3:16 .

Jim, did you mean WWI not WWII? Your chronology talks about after WWII and then advancing to pre-war 1940?

I have always been confused by what many call a fishhook hammer. I thought it was the hammer they used on the K22 Outdoorsman was called a fishhook? Could you outline the types of hammers on these K frames to the mid-1950s?

Pictures below are (from top to bottom) (correction: from left to right) mid-1930s K22 Outdoorsman, a 1948 K38 Masterpiece, and a 1951 K38 Masterpiece. Pictures two and three show the two K38 hammers. Also, I think I am still missing a hammer style from that era??

Attached Images

	P1010004.jpg (146.4 KB, 85 views)
	P1010001.jpg (114.8 KB, 73 views)
	P1010002.jpg (74.2 KB, 72 views)

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Gary
SWCA 2515

(from top to bottom) ????
I think you meant from bottom to top???





From bottom to top, or left to right, you have:
K-22 Outdoorsman with a standard hammer. (humpback was eventually available)
K-38 with the so-called "fish hook hammer"
K-38 with a Target Hammer

Attached Images

P1010004.jpg (146.4 KB, 321 views)

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Thanks, I rarely venture into the 1930s and early post-WWII, but love those revolvers I own from that era. So the missing hammer is the humpback from the late 1030s? Anyone have the timelines for these four (or more) hammer types and do they have "official designations" to add to the information Jim provided?

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Gary
SWCA 2515

Thanks for all the relies. You are good people. Everyone of you.

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That's gonna leave a mark.

Here is the original box for my "47" K22 that eludes to the high speed hammer. The later boxes do not have all this info on them. Big Larry

Darn now I need to dig mine out of the safe to see which hammer it has. I know these early pre-mies has really smooth actions.

'52 K-38 with target hammer. Standard trigger with a shoe. Favorite S&W to shoot, but the K-22 gets in a lot more work owing to ammo cost.

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Psalm 27:2

That's correct, it's the speed hammer for target models with wide spur, i.e., the "fishhook" hammer.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Gary,

No, I meant WWII. I could have been clearer: The next POST WWII improvement was pioneered on the pre war 1940 K22 Masterpiece; a shorter hammer fall action alternately labeled by S&W as the “High Speed Action” and “Short Cocking Action” which still used a standard looking pre war hammer (most with a unique step on the back of the hammer). The speed action was implemented on K frames in 1946 (K targets),1948 (K fixed sights) and N frames on the Models of 1950, all using the new but different speed action hammers.


All pre war hammers (used thru WWII) are the same with no nicknames shown on your 1st gun on the left in your photo below. The only exception is the Humpback hammer introduced on the .357 Registered Magnums, but also rarely seen on K frame and other N frame targets.

The 2nd gun has the target speed hammer (fishhook). Only used on K Targets from 1946 thru the mid 1950's.

The 3rd gun has the full 1/2" wide target for K & N frames introduced as an optional target hammer ~ 1950-51. It became the standard hammer on the 44 Mag when introduced in 1955 (later becoming the Mod 29) and also became standard on some 4”, etc., but mostly on other long barrel K and N targets up thru the present.



Photo by glowe

There's a few more hammers that are missing.

1. The K & N fixed sight narrow speed hammer began April 7, 1948 and used over a similar time period as the K target speed hammer above:


Photo by Hoosier45

2. The new standard K frame target and fixed sight speed hammer replacement beginning in the late 1950's (this one happens to be from the M53 Remington Jet with movable firing pin for CF and RF):


Photo by Donald Paul

3.The 1950 standard N frame target gun hammer speed hammer. This hammer eventually replaced the original N fixed sight .265" narrow speed hammer shown in 1. above in the late 1950's:



FOR REFERENCE: The pre war long action only, Humpback hammer (1st available end of '37, early '38 per Roy):




NOTE: I and J frames did not get the high speed action. But received new hammers starting with the Models of 1953.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Excellent thread. Thread like this help us new guys. It always amazes me the amount of knowledge on this forum. Thanks for the lesson.
Walt

As an interesting aside there were two different 6" K38 Masterpiece revolvers that appear in the 1950 AMC.
Besides the older narrow rib K38 a new wide rib version also appeared as the K38 "Heavy" Masterpiece (pictured above).

The wider barrel rib on the K38 "Heavy" Masterpiece added weight so it would be closer to the K32 and K22 Masterpiece.

IIRC production of the older narrow rib version dries up around 1954-55 and the "Heavy" Moniker was eventually dropped shortly thereafter.

Here is the original numbered box that came with my heavy bbl. K38, shipped to HH Harris, with a factory target hammer, 3-19-1951. Overlabel? For what? Not going to remove it to find out. The revolver itself is drippy mint and matches 100%. Big Larry