Colt shooting Master.357 with King rib and Roper grips

In the 1930s the sport of competitive handgun shooting was gaining in popularity in America. This growth in the sport created a demand for better pistols. The sport was dominated by revolvers because they could be shot more accurately in single action mode than their semi-automatic counterparts. Choice was limited to either Colt or Smith & Wesson.

While both guns had smooth actions thanks to their hand fitted parts (all parts were hand fitted at the time), their sights left a lot to be desired. In addition hammer fall was long which left a lot of time for the gun to wander off-target after the trigger was pulled.

Gunsmiths stepped in to improve the revolvers for target shooting, but one firm rose to the top -- both in terms of their quality of work as well as overall innovation. That company was the D.W. King Gun Sight Company, based in San Francisco, California. By the mid 1930s their catalog had grown to over 88 pages of possible additions and customizations that could be performed on Colts or Smith and Wessons. It included everything from sight replacement, customized grips and hammers, to the full King target package.

Modern Sights for Modern Arms - Super Target Pistols

At the time a Colt Officer's Model Revolver cost around $45. For about the same price the full King package could be performed on the revolver, bringing the cost to about $90. In addition custom grips could be added for about $8 more. that works out to be about $1700 in today's dollars, or what I would consider to be a "reasonable" price for a python. funny how that works huh?

The full King package was called the "King Super Target". The first thing that was added was a barrel vent rib!

The vent rib serves two purposes - the first is to add weight to the barrel and reduce muzzle flip. The second is to provide a platform for improved sights. One of the signature King innovations was the reflector front sight. A mirror was embedded into the rib at a 45 degree angle to reflect sunlight to the tip of the front sight. "fiber optic sight" a-la 1930s!

At the rear of the rib were two more King innovations -- the micrometer click rear sight and the "cockeyed" hammer. Each repeatable click of the rear sight was 1" at 50 yards.

King gunsmiths would build up the original Colt hammer with weld and then reshape it to add the spur. If the customer desired the spur could be offset either to the left or right for faster/easier cocking with the thumb.

The Colt actions were then modified to deliver a shorter hammer fall, which meant that the entire timing of the gun needed to be adjusted.

The final touch was to add custom grips. One of the premier grip makers of the time was the Walter Roper company. The procedure was to send in an outline of your hand where one of Roper's grip makers would custom build a grip to fit your hand. The primary grip maker for Roper was Matheis Gagne. Gagne would hand chisel a rough stock from a piece of walnut. Next he used a file to shape the wood to provide support of the revolver on the second finger and to fill the hand with an individual palm swell. Finally he used a basic v-notch cutting tool to carve out his distinctive three arched finger tip ribbon and applying the checkering.

During WW2 the King company did no commercial work. They concentrated on building front sights for the M1 Carbine and barrel bushings for M1911A1s. Unfortunately Mr. King died before the war was over. After the war, Mrs. King attempted to keep the business running but unfortunately she hired an unscrupulous business manager who basically alienated the talented smiths at King. They soon left and formed the Micro Sight Company using a lot of King's products and ideas.

In addition after WW2 both Colt and Smith & Wesson started to incorporate many of King's innovations into their production guns. Smith was the first but Colt soon followed with the micrometer click rear sight. And where did we see the full vent rib show up? That's right, Colt used it on the Python when it was launched in 1955...

The King Gun Sight Company was responsible for many innovations. If you have a chance to examine a gun converted by King it's hard not to appreciate the detail and quality of their work. In fact, legendary local smith and pistol champion Bob Chow got his start at the D.W. King Gun Sight company in San Francisco.

King was a smith of such renown that both Colt and Smith & Wesson offered the ability to order King customizations through the factory.
In fact when Smith and Wesson introduced their then top-of-the-line Registered Magnum it could be ordered with King front sights to be installed during production. King parts were held in such high regard that even Colt/S&W had no issues stocking them and installing them straight from the factory.

So there you have it. The original target revolver was a California creation, the "Python" before there was a Colt Python...

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