Post Your Pre-War K-22s

To me, the pre-war K-22s are some of the finest revolvers to ever roll off an assembly line. Their fit and finish is something to behold. And even when they are well-used they are still beautiful. Sitting here today, I'd love to see your photos of this iconic revolver... I'll start us off with this one that shipped in October 1939:











Thanks in advance for sharing.

Pre-war k22

Here's some better pictures of my Outdoorsman as I posted it not long ago. It shipped May of 39 and went to a PD. I'm having it lettered as I'm curious to which dept. It shipped to. Now the search for a correct box begins. So glad I wondered into this great world of S&W. Doc.View attachment 504371

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Here are a couple of the K-22's that I own. They were working guns - I'll be adding some additional information about them over the next few days.



I displayed the 4" revolver, along with several other, at the Spokane meeting, with Jim & Judy Fisher. Subsequently it was displayed at the annual NRA meeting in DC. It was one of the 10 best guns in that meeting. The gun is also described in McGiverns book "Fast and Fancy Shooting". The next image is the certificate that was awarded for the gun.

Note: Jim did most of the work in putting the displays together.



On the certficate, you'll note the number '538' . This is a NRA registration number for this gun. The next picture is of this gun on display at the 2015 NRA meeting, where it won the award. At the time of taking the picture, Jim had placed the silver award medal, with its number '538' on the table, along with a blue tag identifying the gun as 10 Best Arms Awards. In this next picture, I put the medal on the original photo of the display table.



The next image is a letter from Ed McGivern to Doug Wesson. In the last paragraph of the letter he comments that over 300,000 rounds have been put through the gun ( and further states that the accuracy has not been impaired!). Somewhere there is a comment to the effect that 200,000 rounds had gone through the gun, but, the real number is 300,000.



This next picture is a close-up of the grips on the 6" gun.



Ed McGivern developed a deep appreciation for the grips made by Kearsarge. The follow two images are one (of many) letters he wrote to Walter Groff, extolling the virtues of the Kearsarge, as modified by him.






Kearsarge was also involved in the development of this variation of his grips. The next four images are the Kearsarge advertising brochure, which describes the 4 models of stocks that they are offering. One of the models is the McGivern Model. The writeup of this model is quite informative.










Regards, Mike Priwer

22 Outdoorsman shipped April 1937. The gun letters with service grips and I found a pre war grip adaptor with magna grips that had been thinned so no gap at the top where the grips meet the frame.



I shot 66 rounds double action at 10 yards with this old girl. Still shoots great.

mikepriwer said:

Here are a couple of the K-22's that I own. They were working guns - I try to post some more information about them tomorrow.

Regards, Mike Priwer

Click to expand...

Mike: I'm very much interested in learning more about that 4" working gun - it is beautiful in its silver and blue.

Mine shipped in October 1935. I bought it in September of 2019 for $480. It came to me with plastic target grips. These were purchased a bit later and are period correct, I believe.

Here's my 1939 model. Recently posted in another thread. I bought this after the stars aligned and the right gun came along at the right price. The fit and finish are amazing.

My Outdoorsman is from 1938, purchased from the original owner's estate.

My 22 Outdoorsman shipped April 1935. It wears Keith Brown Ropers, it's number matching stocks are safely tucked away.

I think this is a '36 gun

I just love my K22 Outdoorsman. The craftsmanship is top of the line and I think the late 30's were some of the best S&W finishes done on revolvers.

And here, from the pen of D.B. Wesson (from his secretary's typewriter actually) on March 1, 1934, is a bit of technical trivia to help you sleep well---knowing your Outdoorsman is up to the task of digesting anything you can feed it----+P---+P+ even.

While your cylinder "----- is not heat-treated after machining as the great thickness of the cylinder walls do not demand any further strengthening. As a matter of fact, even in our larger calibers the steel as it comes from the mill shows a tensile strength in the neighborhood of 80,000 lbs., which does not make the additional strength gained by treating a necessity----------."

As an aside, they did treat the Outdoorsman's big brother's (the other Outdoorsman) cylinder----good to go at 130,000 lbs.

Ralph Tremaine

Two of my favorites. The upper Outdoorsman has a modified hammer (cockeyed, but not King) and trigger. No idea who made the grips, but beautiful figure and a brass bushing around the stud. Lower is a (take your pick) second model K22/first model Masterpiece/K22/40.

Bob

Here is mine from 1938. It shipped to a hardware store in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

OK, I'll play along. My only bragging rights to this gun is that I paid less than $400 and it has the original pre war Magna grips. It is a pleasure to shoot.

This one was ordered by a Mr Arthur W Jeffcoat from Cottonwood California. 3-20-34
Care of Shasta substation? Maybe I should look more into it.
He does mention in correspondence he is a life member of the NRA.
He special ordered this OD with a matching 38/44 OD both with light trigger pulls.

Since it was bought a cockeyed hammer was added and I put away the original grips for a set of Ropers I like.



I own a couple others but this 300 dollar rough around 1931 OD gets the most use. Every range trip and whenever off to camp

A first year is on the top.

I've added some additional information to my post in this thread.

Regards, Mike Priwer

I hold this well worn Outdoorsman in high esteem because it is a very early one , first few months of production. It sports the genuine Gold Dot , original grips , shoots like a dream.

Shown mine off many times here. Factory Marble sight. Shipped in September 1931 to a general store in Los Angeles. Still looking for someone who can repair the medallions.