Model 1 of the model of 1891 single shot target pistol

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EdinFlorida

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Just got this. Guy was not really sure what it was, upon investigation it is a Model 1 of the model of 1891 single shot target pistol.

Top of barrel says "Model of 91". Serials match on frame, barrel and latch and rear of the extractor. However ... the serial is 19xxx. Now according to Neal and Jinks the highest serial for these particular critters is 18873. Hmmm ...

The bore is excellent, the bluing is even but showing a bit of age. Only obvious problem is that the top of each grip panel is chipped off. Very odd, almost like someone wanted to remove the edge.

I'd wanted one of these for my target .22 collection. A dealer I know had this one. We haggled and everyone was happy.
I'd appreciate any thoughts, particularly about the serial.

Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to all.!
 

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Very nice! I have a Third Model. They are just jewels.
 

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According to the Standard Catalog the serial numbers ran from 1 to 28107 so I don't think there is any problem with your gun falling into that range.
 
I suspect not, though it is higher than anything in the Evans and Jinks book. There is no caliber inscription on the barrel. I have long since stopped obscessing about stuff like that because manufacturing is complicated. :)
 
EdinFlorida said:
I suspect not, though it is higher than anything in the Evans and Jinks book . . .
Click to expand...

Welcome. Check page 29 in the book and it is clearly stated that the 1st Model Single Shot was made from serial number 1 to 28,107. The list of various calibers in the book are not complete for some reason and brought up many times in the past here. The highest number in the SWCA database for the 1st Model 22 caliber is 24,XXX.

The serial number on your extractor is an issue, but probably does not affect the value greatly.
 
These old single shots are fun to see - "it looks like a revolver, but it ain't."

Mine is the third model "Perfected" double action version, shipped in March of 1914. Why the double action feature was included on a gun designed for slow fire target competition, I'll never know. But this will still shoot with the best of today's target .22s.

John

 
glowe said:
Welcome. Check page 29 in the book and it is clearly stated that the 1st Model Single Shot was made from serial number 1 to 28,107. The list of various calibers in the book are not complete for some reason and brought up many times in the past here. The highest number in the SWCA database for the 1st Model 22 caliber is 24,XXX.

The serial number on your extractor is an issue, but probably does not affect the value greatly.
Click to expand...

Actually, I missed that. The extractor is also correctly numbered with the full serial. So it appears in 4 places.
 
The grip is a bit odd. I had thought that someone chipped off the top half of the logo (on both sides) for reasons unknown. But upon closer inspection it seems like a molding flaw. It isn't that material is missing, it is that there is too much.
 

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Actually, what Jinks said before he noted the highest serial number was, "NOTE: Although factory shipping records list the majority of the Single Shot pistols sold, it is known that these lists are not complete."

As an aside, I can tell you the incomplete lists are also less than accurate----given my 8" .32 caliber 1st Model lettered as a 10" .22. AND---within my most recent collection of S&W target guns, none of my 3 .22 caliber 1st Models appeared on the published list (but they all lettered).

When you think about it, it is the historian's lot that what is deemed to be so is only so until he turns over the next rock. Those of us who guess about such things figure there were at least a third more .22 1st Models made than appear on the published list.

Ralph Tremaine

And my knee-jerk reaction to your grips is there's no way in hell anything like that ever left S&W on a gun (nor otherwise). That leaves you with a repro---and a pretty crummy one at that. (And the nice thing about making such proclamations is just as I can't prove I'm right, nobody can prove I'm wrong.)(!!)
 
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There is a quote that I have used (too many times some might say) to describe German pocket pistols.

"They are a series of exceptions to some undiscoverable rule"
T.E. Lawrence - Crusader Castles
 
EdinFlorida said:
There is a quote that I have used (too many times some might say) to describe German pocket pistols.

"They are a series of exceptions to some undiscoverable rule"
T.E. Lawrence - Crusader Castles
Click to expand...

AMEN!!

And there's a quote to describe our self proclaimed brilliance here: I say a quote, but I almost always get it wrong; so I'll just say what I say, and hope I get corrected:

We don't even know what we don't know.

Ralph Tremaine
 
OK. where can I get the right grips????

ETA... I have a bunch of Smiths, I just never thought of myself as a collector till I got this one.

Funny. Self delusional.

I'll post some in the correct fora
 
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You will stumble upon the right grips after years of fruitless search. In the meantime you will have succumbed to the inevitable, and bought a pair of repros----------the current crop of which are not too shabby----bordering on damn good----and cost maybe 20% of the real thing----and beat the hell out of doing without.

I know these things because I've been there and done that!!

Ralph Tremaine
 
Ed, welcome to the Forum.
Post a wanted ad in the classifieds. There are many original parts within the Members collections.
Good Luck
 
Interesting post and gun.

I also have a 1922 Perfected Target Pistol (3rd model single shot) here in Switzerland, I am always amazed by its condition

5439501f85bad3ceafdcb7664407934c.jpg


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Thats a beauty. I guess the use of these things precluded things like holster wear or exposure to the elements. I recall shopping used cameras back in the day and the condition was similar. People took care of nice things.
 
Most of the single shot .22s that I have seen have either shot out barrels or relined barrels and hardly any bluing left. I was pretty excited to find mine in 98% condition.
 
relined lined barrels

series guy said:
Most of the single shot .22s that I have seen have either shot out barrels or relined barrels and hardly any bluing left. I was pretty excited to find mine in 98% condition.
Click to expand...

I will take a re-lined barrel done by H M Pope any day, over an original, which feature left hand twist rifling with Olympic chambers.
 

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