I recently purchased a K-22 manufactured in 1951 and discovered the front sight had been filed and modified. The sight is pinned and I would like to replace it but S&W no longer carries the part. Does anyone have a lead on where I might find one? Thanks.

Looks like Numrich has them. Part 322110 (Patridge front sight for Model 17 variants).

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David Wilson

Hi David, I ordered a similar part from S&W and it wasn't the correct part. It was just the blade of the sight and mine has the ramp and blade connected as one piece. Thanks.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding. Do you have the K-22 with a four-inch or six-inch barrel? The shorter barrel gun is called a .22 Combat Masterpiece and comes with a Baughman ramp front sight. The longer barrel comes with a Patridge sight. Both the Patridge blade and the sight base are pinned. I'm not sure about the ramp sight.

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David Wilson

Could be a dumb question, but have you fired the gun to see if the mod. sight works? Maybe the rear sight doesn't have enough movement for the correction needed. Just a thought.

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Go big or stay home

The one I have has a 6" barrel. I shot it and it shot high by nearly 2" at 7 yards. My eyes aren't that great, but I can sometime shoot better than that! So I asked a guy that works at the gun shop and range to look at it and we adjusted the rear sight as far as it would go, shot it again and still shot high. If I sight the front to where I can barely see the top in the rear sight, it is close. I have looked at other k-22 pictures and it looks like nearly half of the sight has been filed on mine. This is my first forum experience, so I'm going to try to learn how to add a picture so you all can see it.

Here is a picture of the front sight.

Attached Images

DSC_0049.jpg (33.3 KB, 115 views)

The small pin under the blade (on the sight rib) retains the front blade, which is dovetailed into the front of the rib. Tap the pin out and the blade can be removed/replaced. It looks as though someone put an insert of some type into the blade that fell off.

You may try Poppert's Gun Parts or Jack First and specify you are looking for a Patridge front blade for a K-22.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

One of the problems is that the front sight foot has been let into the barrel rib. While this is seen on some models of ribbed-barrel revolvers, on two K-22s I checked the foot rests completely on top of the rib and set slightly back from the end of the rib.

If you could find an unmodified original sight you might have to build up the base a bit to get it positioned with an appropriate height. I think I might be tempted to build up the front sight you have now rather than try to replace it. I believe you are in for some custom modification under any circumstances. If you add to the top of the current blade and it is slightly too much, you should have enough adjustment ability in the rear sight to compensate. If not -- forgive me if this sounds familiar -- you can file a thousandth or two off the top of the augmented sight.

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David Wilson

Thanks guys. Yesterday I talked to a trusted local gunsmith and he said he could replace it for me if I found one or add to and reshape the one I have if needed. I have e-mailed a couple parts companies and hope to hear back from them. I also thought I might call S&W again and talk to one of the gunsmiths there. They may know of additional sources for parts.

Wow, good luck. They are awesome guns when all is correct or at least in good working order. I'll be shooting mine again Monday.

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Go big or stay home

If I were looking for that sight, I'd be contacting Larry Poppert, Jack First, David Chicoine, and Bob's Gun Shop (the one in Royal Arkansas) not in any particular order (or probably all of them simultaneously.) It's not a real hard part to find and if that's all it takes to make your K-22 complete, it's certainly worth the hunt.

Froggie