I am...

This beautiful specimen, S&W Model 17-3, made the list in 1975. Factory nickel gun and just gorgeous.

enjoy,

bdGreen

Tap the image to expand

No, but in 1975 an old friend of mine had just opened GT Distributors and probably handled the invoice himself. Mr. Orr went from being one of the top ten distributors of S&Ws to having less than a dozen new Smiths in his store. I imagine they are one of the top ten GLock dealers in the states and supply most of the Glocks to officers and departments in the South and Southwest. He passed away in 2017.

Beautiful gun BD,

Interesting that its ramped too.

Is there a serial number on the bbl flat? Thought I saw one in your pic

Yes, the serial number is stamped on the barrel flat.

Also, behind the extractor.

bdGreen

Oh, man. Not only nickel but a ramp front sight. Were all like that? I would throw a number of prominent politicians off a bridge to own that.

__________________
No life story has happy end.

Color me green with envy. Simply spectacular. Any idea how many were produced with a nickel finish?

as one who LOVES nickel guns, and desperately wants a nickel K22, this is just mean.....beautiful, but mean.

__________________
Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

If I were to give you a list...

Just saying.

I have seen a couple of others from that list through the years and this is the only red ramped one, so far. Haven't seen them all.

bdGreen

EDIT:

I dug into some previous dialogue on this Forum. Allen-Frame posted images of his nickeled Model 17-3.
Here is a quote from him,
"These illustrate some of the features of this gun such as
the serial number stamped on the barrel flat and on the cylinder under
the extractor star.
The pinned front sight ramp and big lazy ampersand in the 4 line address".

His is as mine is. I still own mine. He has long since sold his away. I followed it for a while and do not know where it wound up.
Two were at GB auction a couple of years ago.

There is this list of nickel guns.

And, there is some evidence of three, maybe four more in the serial number range that were nickeled.

So we are probably talking less than 20.

Now, having said that, if you see a nickel K-22 it most probably is a refinished gun. But, there are noted some special order one-offs that may be out there.

bdGreen

Nice one Bruce. Very nice

__________________
Charlie

Whenever you post pics of your guns I just drool! What a beautiful gun.

__________________
John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

Any chance of a range report on how it shoots, lol.

You bought it for an extended salt water immersion test to prove nickled guns rust less than blued ones? Just kidding of course but if you report that it shoots tiny groups we'll never tell anyone you fired it. Promise.

BTW, What happened to Allen Frame? I loved drooling over his pictures. Does keeping them all oiled consume all his time?

Nope. Ain't happening.

bdGreen

Actually this gun has seen a lot of action. When I received it I had some work ahead of me to remove the evidence. Ha.

I don't think I will ever shoot it.

The last two that sold at auction pretty much solidifies my decision to not.

Allen-Frame has not posted in four years. Don't know what happened to him.
I tried to acquire his nickel K22. He chose to take it to an annual symposium. I upped my offer knowing that if he did I would never come into possession of that gun.
Never saw it again.
A gentleman, a few years later, emailed me about buying it. I said, "Nope", and let it go. His asking price was somewhere in the stratosphere. So it goes.

enjoy,
bdGreen

P.S. I did try and send an email today to his 'account' requesting that he repost his images as the images have been removed by the unscrupulous imaging company many of us used to use.

bdGreen,
Love seeing pictures of your gun and the S&W paperwork! I remember when Allen-Frame posted about his too. I remember the selling prices being "out of this world". Wouldn't it be awesome to own one of the 3 consecutive serial numbered sets from the list? Can you imagine what their value would be today?

I, unfortunately, could never afford a "real" one, but I do have, in my opinion, the next best thing. I have a Ford's refinished nickel 1948 K22 that looks brand new.
Larry

__________________
Miss My Buddy crsides!!

I can't imagine what a pair of them would be worth today.
I tried.
I was in 'heavy' on the last one that sold on GunBroker. Real heavy.

But, during the 'lull' in the action between bids I did some research on the man I was bidding against.

After a search of his previous 'wins', I realized at that point that I wasn't going home with that gun.

Why so 'heavy' on that one?

It was consecutive to the one I own.

I contacted GunBroker to have them contact the buyer and ask him to contact me.
They did, he did.

I asked him if he was brokering the gun for another person of if he planned to place it in his collection.

He indicated that he was going to keep it for his collection.

Fair enough.

I did get some sleep that night.

I also made contact with Allen-Frame to inquire about the images. He did respond and told me the images were no longer available.

That is sad news for all of us. He had quite the slideshow of images of that beautiful gun. Now the gun is gone and the images are gone.
The old post is still there, but, the images have vanished.

bdGreen

Great story.......Sad story.

I have a special order pre 17 in nickle and I am way to afraid to shoot mine also. But the last owner was just fine with it.



A while back I bought a factory refinished nickle k22 to take to the range.It looks absolutely original. They didn't even stamp any rework marks on it. The only tell is that the trademark was restamped and is a bit prominent. I put some KB grips on it and it draws attention when I go to the range.



I would have really liked to see you get the consecutive nickle k22 or even the blued one on the other side. Wouldn't that be interesting. I assume since you both have each others info you will talk again someday

For a while now I have considered buying a decent K22 and sending it to Ford's for nickel plating. Bought one a couple years ago but decided I like shooting it too much. Now, after this thread, I went looking on line..nearly 150 model 17s or K22s on one auction site, not one single bid on any of them.....I thought that odd.....I guess I'll just keep lusting and ejoying the pictures you guys posted.

__________________
Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

The beauty of sending one out for a complete refinish is the gun needs to be completely functional, but, it doesn't have to be perfect. They will make it perfect.

Find a fairly priced gun of your choice. Examine the physical condition and then have it finished the way you like it.
All it takes is money...

I held that gun in my hands at a show in Patterson, LA and didn't want to pony up the $450 the dealer was asking for it. Didn't know any better back then. Passed on it but alerted the guy you purchased it from. I suspect he made a tiny profit on it

__________________
Forum consigliere

The 'guy' I purchased it from called me and asked if I was interested. I knew what it was.
He told me 'how much' and I said, "OK".

If I want something I pay the man's asking price.

Real simple.

I now have it.

I am sure he profited.

But, when I move it on, I surely will also.

bdGreen

A gorgeous revolver that any of us would love to own.

The question was raised above about Allen Frame. I run into him locally about once or twice a year. His profile is much lower these days. He had a serious family situation that required his full attention for a very long time.

__________________
Charlie Flick
SWCA 729 HF 215