Pre-War Target M&P Thread - Post Your Photos

[ACORN]

Acorn:

Your gun is a beauty. I love the HBH!!! With the star on the butt, is there a date stamped under the grips? I have an RM that has a star stamped, but no date and the star is stamped through the blue, so I don't think it was re-blued. Perhaps it needed a fine tuning before it left the factory. As to when it shipped from the factory, that is one of the higher SNs that I have seen for a pre-war K-Frame target revolver. So I would expect that it shipped sometime in 1940.

The pics look better than it is. There is a big spot on the cylinder where the blue is frosty. When I got it, it was stored wrapped in a rag in a zippered case.
IIRC the date on the grip frame is 248 but I am probably wrong.
Someone here said that the humpback would have been a special order and I should letter it. With my luck if I was Dolly Parton's baby, I'd have been bottle fed, so I'm not going to.
The next owner can.
Here's a pic of the blotch.
The pic makes it look worse than it is.

 

[Tom K]

Here are my prewar K frame targets, although I don't know if the .22 Outdoorsman counts as an M&P. From top to bottom:

.38 S&W Special, serial 317879
.32-20, serial 128847
.22 LR, serial 674189

I've lettered only the .22. It shipped on May 2, 1939 to Kelly-How-Thompson Co. of Duluth, MN. It has a lanyard ring that was ordered by the distributor on Oct 8, 1940 and was probably installed by them. It's also been refinished, probably not by the factory either.

Now that I look at the pictures (which were taken in 2016), I realize that I no longer have the .38. It had one of those miserable little U-notch rear sights and thin front blade, so I bought a different M&P Target (serial 666024) with a proper square notch and Patridge front sight, like the .32-20 has. Plus it was in nicer condition.

 

[RKmesa]

...With my luck if I was Dolly Parton's baby, I'd have been bottle fed...

Now, that makes me laugh out loud...

 

[boykinlp]

Here is the most recent addition to my 1905 4th Target herd. It is SN 657323 and shipped from the factory in September 1936. A couple of unique attributes are the nice set of pre-war magnas (no numbers) and the gold tip added to the front sight. The box numbers to the gun and the owner added some personal instructions for adjusting the two-screw rear sight.















Thanks for letting me share!

Another beautiful example Richard, and while some folks may not like the additions to the front sight and the previous owner supplied writing on the inside of the box top, I love both! The front sight looks very cool and the previous owner was probably like me, forgetful, and didn't want to do something wrong. Thanks for sharing that gem too.
Larry

 

[RKmesa]

Here's another one - 631764 (shipped in Dec 1930) - not bad for a 93.5 year old. It has a Call gold bead front sight and the box (a little worse for the years of wear) numbers to the gun.

 

[mikepriwer]

Here is another interesting factory-engraved target K-frame revolver. Serial number is 393815.

This gun went to Doug Wesson, and is factory-engraved, with the name Ira McKay engraved on the left side of the frame. The gun was presented to McKay, who was Doug Wesson's hunting guide in Maine. The factory letter, shown next, contains this information.

The name Ira McKay shows up clearer in the auction catalog page, which is shown next.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[dwh]

I love seeing all of these wonderful early target revolvers. I do have a question about the box labels. Was the target gun always labeled as target gun or merely labeled as an M&P with barrel length and finish?

 

[mikepriwer]

My experience is that, one way or another, the box had some notion of the word 'Target'. Sometimes the label was printed with the word 'Target'. Other times a sticker containing the word 'Target' was stuck on the end label. Sometimes the word, or a sticker, was placed on the bottom of the box. Sometimes a hand-stamp of the word 'Target' was stamped on the bottom of the box.

If the label was preprinted with the barrel length, and if the gun was different from the preprinted length, the preprinted length was crossed out, and the correct length was hand-written on the label.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[Muley Gil]

Here are my prewar K frame targets, although I don't know if the .22 Outdoorsman counts as an M&P. From top to bottom:

.38 S&W Special, serial 317879
.32-20, serial 128847
.22 LR, serial 674189

I've lettered only the .22. It shipped on May 2, 1939 to Kelly-How-Thompson Co. of Duluth, MN. It has a lanyard ring that was ordered by the distributor on Oct 8, 1940 and was probably installed by them. It's also been refinished, probably not by the factory either.

Now that I look at the pictures (which were taken in 2016), I realize that I no longer have the .38. It had one of those miserable little U-notch rear sights and thin front blade, so I bought a different M&P Target (serial 666024) with a proper square notch and Patridge front sight, like the .32-20 has. Plus it was in nicer condition.

Is the lanyard loop installed through the serial number? If so, is the serial number stamped on the grip frame, under the left stock? Can you post a picture of the butt?

 

[RKmesa]

My experience is that, one way or another, the box had some notion of the word 'Target'. Sometimes the label was printed with the word 'Target'. Other times a sticker containing the word 'Target' was stuck on the end label. Sometimes the word, or a sticker, was placed on the bottom of the box. Sometimes a hand-stamp of the word 'Target' was stamped on the bottom of the box.

Here is a photo of some of my target boxes, illustrating Mike's point:



Note in the above photo, the top box has no "Target" designation on the label, but the below photo is the bottom of that same box - see that "Target" was written in pencil under the SN...

 

[red9]

Just got this one yesterday. Condition leaves something (okay, quite a bit) to be desired, but it is a scarce 5" barrel. Serial number 139374.

Bob

 

[rct269]

It seems like the 5" guns were well used-----my one and only was also something other than a showpiece!

Ralph Tremaine

 

[Tom K]

Is the lanyard loop installed through the serial number? If so, is the serial number stamped on the grip frame, under the left stock? Can you post a picture of the butt?

The lanyard does go through the serial number (obscuring one digit), but the serial is re-stamped on the left side of the grip frame.

 

[mikepriwer]

Here is serial number 44302, a .38 round butt 1902 1st change. The first images are how it looked in the auction catalog, and as I received it. The front sight blade is a non-factory brass blade. The grips are some sort of awful plastic material, and will convert either round or square butt to target.

The next two pictures were taken at the auction house, and show a real mess. Solder was piled up in various places on the grip frame, along with lots of rust.

I gambled that the solder was probably for some sort of mounting of a butt stock, and I was right, as far as I could tell. A torch and steel wool removed almost all the solder, and some elbow grease with more steel wool, removed most of the rest of the solder. I swapped out the brass front sight blade for a period Patridge blade.

After a lot of cleaning of the rest of the gun, plus darkening the remaining bits of solder, and having Curtis Harlow work on a pair of wood stocks, the gun is back to be being very presentable. There is some blue missing on the barrel and elsewhere. The next two pictures show what it looks like today.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[RKmesa]

The lanyard does go through the serial number (obscuring one digit), but the serial is re-stamped on the left side of the grip frame.

I assume it is like this one, also a K-22 O/D with a factory lanyard, or as Roy calls it, a "butt swivel".

 

[RKmesa]

Here is serial number 44302, a .38 round butt 1902 1st change.

Regards, Mike Priwer

Nice recovery on that one!! And Curtis did a beautiful job on those stocks.

 

[RKmesa]

Throwing this thread to the top with the posting of 666059, one of two that I own that shipped in January 1938...





... and with the box that numbers to the gun (note the Target designation on the label)...

 

[bruce5781]

Here's a beater I recently fell into, and haven't had a chance to clean. 32/20, serial 6388. Not a spot of finish on it, but underside of barrel shows it to be originally nickle. Fairly clean bore, no bulges like my 5", should make a nice shooter.

Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk

 

[mikepriwer]

Bruce

The admirable part of guns like this is the condition of the lock-work. Usually that is in near-perfect condition, showing very little wear. Given the manufacturing technology of 1902, the engineering is amazing. And, look at the fit of the sideplate. It's almost seamless!

On these 32-20's, the bore is often the worse part of it. What is the condition of the bore here?

Wonderful gun.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[RKmesa]

... one more... This is 667243 and it shipped in January 1938. The interesting bottle opener that was attached as a front sight does not appear to be factory original equipment (or it is a heavily modified Patridge blade).





The very nice box for this one, does not number to the gun (but per the pencil writing on the bottom, belonged to a pre-war K-32 Target with a Humpback Hammer - SN 677402).