Triple Lock target conversion (not King) - Tulsa, April 2014

One of the nice things about going to the Wanenmacher Tulsa Gun Show is the Southwest Bunch meeting on Saturday evening. Some amazing stuff at the show 'n' tell this time, from the only known scoped S&W .320 revolving rifle (in nickel, no less) to 1/2 scale and 3/4 scale handbuilt, fully functional, miniature Registered Magnums.

I picked up an item on Saturday afternoon interesting enough to bring but it was more of a "show 'n' ask" for me. I had found a 1st Model Hand Ejector (commonly known as the Triple Lock) that had gone to the British in .455 caliber, and had later been converted to a target .45 Colt. The hang tag on it had said that it was a King conversion, and I wanted to get opinions as to whether it was actually done by King or someone else.

Most King Gun Works conversions and parts that I have seen have "King" stamped somewhere on them - this rib had no visible markings. After some examination I believe the concensus was that it had not been done by King, but by a talented post-war gunsmith/target shooter. Possibly the rib was made by King, or maybe not - not really any way to know.





Note the interesting sculpting of the hammer. The top surface has been smoothly ground away and repolished, and I believe re-cased as well. The checkering also feels slightly sharper than usual in a gun this old, it may have been refreshed.



The rear sight is a S&W post war micro click adjustable, but of an early vintage. (Early windage screws were flat, later changed to a domed profile.) It has ten grooves in it while the rib has eleven, so there is some mismatch at the joint. The rib is screwed into the frame at the back end and pinned to the original sight boss at the front end.



You can see that the front sight has a brass bead inset into it.




There is an overtravel stop screw in the back of the trigger guard. It is perfectly adjusted.

I was pleased to see that although this firearm was converted from a service sidearm to a target gun, the smith retained the lanyard ring. If you can't read it the serial is 12685.



For conversion from .455 Webley to .45 Colt the cylinder was reamed and the back face shaved. This took off the serial number that would normally be stamped there but I have no doubt that this is the original cylinder. All other locations match - the backside of the ejector star, underside of the barrel, the third lock, and the crane.




Stamped "NOT ENGLISH MAKE" on both the barrel and frame. (Wouldn't want anyone to think this junk was made in the King's England now, would we!) The caliber is X'd out and .45 Colt is stamped on the other side.






Concensus is that the stocks are Sanderson. They enclose the backstrap and have wraparound checkering. A modest thumbrest is on the left panel. Several people commented on how good they felt but they are not to my personal liking - undoubtedly made for someone with hands much larger than mine. However I do not foresee separating these from the gun (other than perhaps temporarily for shooting) - they've been together for a long time and should stay that way.

I think the sides of the grip frame have also had some polishing done to them. They seem smoother than what I am accustomed to seeing. Could be that the smith just couldn't abide the usual rough machining there.

As an aside, I also picked up a custom .45 Colt revolver on Friday but from "Brand R". The late gentleman who put it together obviously had been looking at Hamilton Bowen's work, and I believe that is actually a Bowen rear sight. It looks like he started with a .44 Magnum Bisley and simply overstamped it from .44 to .45, so it is .45 Colt and not ".45 Magnum", whatever that might be.

There were a number of guns that all sold at one auction, I don't have a link and I don't remember where the auction was, but they were customized in a similar style: custom grips, custom target sights, modified hammers. This gun reminds me of those guns.

Nice catch.
I'm usually a purist when it comes to old guns, but revolvers like this with tasteful and skillfully done modifications are real beauties.

Very nice. I have a soft spot for nicely done conversions. I Picked up a 2nd Mod HE MKII, with British markings, but converted to 38 special. Other than the modified front sight you can't tell it was ever modified. The finish is still all original and all matching numbers. Whoever the gunsmith was that sleeved the barrel and chambers he was talented.

Here is the link to my prior thread. Not King, but probably the work of the same gunsmith.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/359257-modified-butchered.html

Bob

red9 said:

Here is the link to my prior thread. Not King, but probably the work of the same gunsmith.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/359257-modified-butchered.html

Bob

Click to expand...

Bob, thanks for the link to your thread, very interesting. At the SW Bunch meeting David Carroll said that he had acquired three similar guns (probably at the same auction) and that he would look at them more closely and let me know if he figured out anything. I believe he said he had a Triple Lock .44 and a 1917 both done the same way - I don't remember what the third one was. I think he said two of them had shortened barrels as well.

Interesting that in post #18 you show the joint between sight and rib, and they are lined up better than mine. Looks like one side of the rib was trimmed slightly.

Good looking triple lock, I like "Enhanced" guns. Let us know how it shoots.

Paul s

Tom, nice, nice finds. That Triple lock is great.


I'm so doggone sorry to have missed the show and the get together.

( closing on a house is just NOT a good enough reason. Won't happen again!)

Pictures don't do it justice... It was really nice to see it in person. Really cool Triple Lock

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paul s said:

Good looking triple lock, I like "Enhanced" guns. Let us know how it shoots.
Paul s

Click to expand...

Any range report?


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Not a King. The rib is quite different. BUT, still a neat, neat piece! How's it shoot?

That is a really neat old S&W, if it shoots as good as it looks you have a really nice gun. I really like the King modified revolvers and this one looks like one of those even if it is not.

Tom K, it may not be a King conversion but IMHO arguably better than a King and to be admired as such. If that is a tapered barrel; the competency of the machinist (who might well have been the gunsmith too) is quite remarkable.

The smithy-machinist had to do some complex math AND execute it in order to accomplish the barrel rib. Obviously, King Gunsight Co did the same math and a cottage industry was born by repeating it countless times in support of their aftermarket conversion business model.

My argument in favor of your one-off is all about the geometry which is very remarkable. For example, the barrel's incremental length of taper, and formulas for the barrel radius, the barrel diameter, the circumference (perimeter) of the barrel, the area of the barrel, the chord, arc and the arc length of throughout the barrel's length, sector and the area of the sector.

If your gun were on display for sale right next to a full King conversion, yours would get my nod over a King.

Many decades ago, I competed against a guy shooting a King-Colt. I set out to find someone to do the job of adding a rib on my own revolver. There were no takers.

Thus the same reasons apply today ...because it is far easier to affix a Bomar or Aristocrat to a bull or slab side barrel... rather than produce and execute a finely crafted product such as yours. It would be very interesting to learn who did the work to acknowledge the craftsmanship.


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Tom: I forgot to post earlier... thanks for letting us see it in Tulsa. It is a great looking piece.

cool finds!

That is a fine looking hunting "Nimrod" Ruger. I hope it shoots as good as it looks. Those Bisley frames really reduce recoil. Best wishes, Marc

*Note: no pics due to dead image host.*

Finally got the gun to the range last week, along with some others. I made an entire post about it here: At the range with .45 Colts, .44 Specials

Here are targets from the .45 Colt Triple Lock.





And after sight adjustment.




I also shot the Ruger, here are targets for it.

OPINION: No, not King. (It's not marked KING, and no such product is displayed in their catalog---the one I have (1939). Additionally, I have a King Super Target TL---and this ain't it. (King rib is full length, and both front and rear sights are King.)

All that aside, this (as already noted) is a fine piece of work!

Ralph Tremaine

Tom K said:

I picked up an item on Saturday afternoon interesting enough to bring but it was more of a "show 'n' ask" for me. I had found a 1st Model Hand Ejector (commonly known as the Triple Lock) that had gone to the British in .455 caliber, and had later been converted to a target .45 Colt.

Click to expand...

Yours is the last version 455 built under the British contract:

3.B. "44 Hand Ejector-1st Model Triple Lock" 691 assembled at the end of the British contract but many sold on the commercial market, built from remaining TL frames and numbered in the 44 Spl # series ~ 12,000 – 14,XXX range. Shipped 1916-17.

Very nice gun. To me well done modifications that increase a guns shootablility are great. On one like this some might lament the loss of "collectability" but, I believe it is a very fine piece and has a unique value both as a shooter and as a example of fine gunsmithing.
On my list of great revolvers
45 colt-check
triple lock-check
target-check
accurate-check
winner-check