I just aquired a K22 that was converted to 224 Kay-Chuck, this is roll marked on the barrel and the grip frame is stamped Bennett gun works NY. The gun is very clean and in excellent condition. I'd like info on value, rarety collectability etc. is this gun of interest to smith collectors or not because the work is after market?

Hello Scott
Welcome to the forum, What a Great first Post ! Jim Harvey of Lakeville Arms, Conn. was the person behind the wild cat Cartridge, and S&W revolver made to fire it. It was a shortened .22 Hornet round and from what I have read he converted K-22's to fire it by replacing the hammer and doing some other modifications to the gun. He did about 30 of these and then sold the rights to Bennett Gun works who produced around 300 of them total. I have read that Bennet roll marked the side of the barrels along with the side of the grip frames on the ones they produced, so yours sure is not after market in any way. You have a very hard to locate S&W and I for one would love to see some pictures of it...

thank you, I'll get some pics loaded tomorrow.

Scott

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Hello Scott
That is a super nice K-Chuk. Thanks for Posting the pictures as well....

Got to love this forum! Learning stuff every day. Cool gun finds and great folks make this place work as it does. Kyle

Thank you, Any idea what the collectors interests is with this gun and the value or desireablilty. along with it i have some paperwork from Harvey and his coversions, loads etc. i also have several boxes of ammo. I think i'll try it out.

Scott

if you have ever shot a jet, the experience is similiar. wear good ear protection.

Here's mine!


Jim Harvey made changes to the firing pin to convert the guns to center fire. Most of his conversions were done on customers guns with no records of serial numbers or number of guns done.
If you try to reload for this gun you will have a problem finding light 22 cal bullets in a round nose configruation. You will need the round nose to allow them to fit in the cylinder without sticking out the front. I use a 22 cal neck sizing die and a 22 cal seater die for all my reloading and case work. The cases are 22 Hornet cases shortened by .050" then reloaded and chamber formed to the K-Chuk. The only reloading data you will find is on the paper work you got with the gun!
A value for these guns is very difficult to establish. Normally the "market" sets the value of a gun but these guns are seldom seen and/or sold. There are a few of us that have these guns and shoot them, but I don't think we would be called "K-Chuk collectors"!
jcelect SWCA#LM723

Just aware of this opportunity to visit with persons who are knoweledgeable of the wild cat Kay Chuk hand gun. Since i own one of the 1956 conversions I was attracted to this the chance to gain information as to the current programs and what was the availability of the currennt source.

I have one of the first 30 and one of the last 300. I had 3 boxes of ammo made for each gun. I haven't fired either of the guns I have and now if I could find someone interested I may be interested in selling them. If anyone knows of a good fair price let me know. They both are 98%+and I think they boht have boxes.

Hey m41
What was the model of the original gun yours were built on? What barrel length are your guns? I would love to see pics of your guns? You stated you had ammo made for your guns, was it made by a friend or local reloader or a commerical reloader? Information on these guns is hard to find so anything you can provide is helpful! Thank you
jcelect SWCA#LM723

The first one is a 1955 sn/K265xxx and the second is a 1959 sn/K375xxx. they both are 6" The ammo was made by Stars & Stripes in Flordia and I sent him both cylinders and he made a mold of each one to form the cases. I will send you some pictures to your email for some reason I can't seem to get them to load using Photobucket.

I'll drink to that! Never heard of this one.

Hey m41
Thanks for the reply! I will assume your guns are a pre mod 17 and a mod 17. I have been told these were made on the mod 48 guns also but I have never seen one. Also I would like to find an 8 3/8" gun! I'm in the process of making brass for my gun and have found some Hornady 35gr V-Max bullets I want to try. Take yours out and shoot them, they are a lot of fun.
jcelect SWCA#LM723

Did Jim Harvey mark the ones he made in anyway? I just got a Model 48 no dash with 6" barrel that is chambered in the shortened 22 Hornet round that someone elsewhere said was referred to as 224 Kay-chuk junior. My wife picked it up at a discount because they lost the cylinder castes that were given to them when they bought the gun from the previous owner.

malladus

Jim Harvey did not mark his gun in any manner. He would build the guns on a customers gun or sell you a new gun with the change.

This is the brass in the different stages of forming. Left to right; 22 Hornet, shortened 22 Hornet, fire formed K Chuk, loaded K Chuk with Hornady 35gr V Max.
jcelect SWCA#LM723

Thanks for posting this thread. I have heard that the K-Chuk came first and that the Model 53 was S&W's answer to it, but that was the sum total of my knowledge of it. I'd love to run across a decent deal on one. It looks like it'd be a lot of fun to shoot and a great addition to any collection.

It sounds like you have a later Kay-Chuk conversion, which was simply a Hornet case shortened .050". In his January '63 literature Harvey wrote "Some time ago we discontinued the blown out case, the original variety, because of reloading problems".

FWIW, "HARVEY .224 KAY-CHUK" was Trade Mark Registered.

Kent Bellah, a prolific reloading writer of the era, showed his "marked" Kay-Chuk in the May '59 issue of GUNS, and mentioned it several times in his GUN DIGEST articles.

A "search" of the archives here will give you plenty of background info.

Good shooting.

I saw one of these at Jackson Armory in Dallas yesterday, never saw one before, thought I'd see what info there was on it, sure enough it was on the forum. It was a 5 screw, looked in very good condition, had the roll mark on the barrel and a u shaped piece of bilue sheet metal under the rear sight, looks like it could be removed easily.I believe the price was $995.

I would imagine to the right collector it would be worth a lot as there are very few of them much less a super clean one with paperwork.

my father gave me my uncles K-22 pre M17 sn K270xxx 1956? 6" bbl matching sn frame and cylinder marked bennett gun works delmar NJ leupold M8-2x extended ER scope with buehler base. It originally had camo hogues grips and i found a set of j frame S&W woods for 5 bucks at estate auction and made her look better. The gun inside looks mint, bore shiney etc. My uncle lived in SW Texas and loved to varmint shoot. My father knew I had a liking to this rough looking gal. We both really didnt know what it was when we first seen it. Figured a rough looking 22. I started looking into it, checking it out, tearing it apart , asking questions etc, then realized how rare she is. My father knew it came with box with reload stuff in it, yet to be found, but it will be found. I am undecided keep her like it is, or restoring it. How my uncle came across it, only he knows, Buts Its mine for my lifetime. thanks guys for sharing pics and info of the Harvey Kay Chuk

Very cool gun, I passed on one in near perfect shape a couple years back, the guy would not move off of 1400.00, kinda wish I had just done the deal. BTW your gun looks to have a set of modified N-frame coke stocks, making the package even cooler. thanks for posting the photos.

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kbgrips.com

I fondly remember when the American Rifleman had an article on the Harvey K-Chuck. Given today's L&O rates it would be difficult to estimate what it would cost to reproduce such a conversion. That applies to a lot of the gunsmithing that was done in the 1950's -1960's.