Parker & Hale .22 Conversion - Never seen one before now!!!

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THREEDFLYER

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Thought this was an interesting piece - A fellow S&W collector purchased this one and I took some good photos showing all that was involved with the conversion......Very nicely done!

I am told that Parker & Hale purchased parts directly from S&W when these guns were converted....I especially find the cylinder inserts quite well done.

Enjoy!





















 
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6string said:
Very interesting! I can just barely see the barrel liner in the background of one of your pictures.
How did they do the centerfire to rimfire conversion as far as the recoil shield and/or firing pin bushing is concerned?
Click to expand...

A very interesting project for sure! Here are some additional closeups!







 
Amazing

The work that went into the conversion is interesting, but what was the motivation. Were S&W K22s scarce or more expensive than the conversion?? I gots to know.....Anyone???
 
Thanks for posting the extra photos!
Interesting that the firing pin hits the lower part of the case rim.
I noticed in the picture of the cylinder breech that you could see a corresponding dimple mark.
Perhaps hits from the firing pin, or perhaps a relief cut put there by P-H?

Another nice touch was the Parker Hale barrel marking.
Overall, you can see the craftsmanship!

Thanks again,
Jim
 
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S&WIowegan said:
The work that went into the conversion is interesting, but what was the motivation. Were S&W K22s scarce or more expensive than the conversion?? I gots to know.....Anyone???
Click to expand...

My understanding is that these were wartime Victory M&Ps that were bought as surplus after the war by PH in England, and converted to either .38spl or .22 cal. Don't know how they would have compared price wise to a K22...

Hopefully someone with more expertise on these conversions will jump in...
 
6string said:
Thanks for posting the extra photos!
Interesting that the firing pin hits the lower part of the case rim.
I noticed in the picture of the cylinder breech that you could see a corresponding dimple mark.
Perhaps hits from the firing pin, or perhaps a relief cut put there by P-H?

Another nice touch was the Parker Hale barrel marking.
Overall, you can see the craftsmanship!

Thanks again,
Jim
Click to expand...


The tip of the firing pin is a little too long. That is what is leaving the mark in the 6 o'clock position in each chamber on the cylinder.
When dry fired, the firing pin is long enough to actually strike the face of the cylinder/chamber,,too long.
It should be a few .000 short of making contact in dry fire/full forward position.
That will still be more than enough to crimp the rim of the RF cartridge and fire it and not damage the cylinder itself.

The strikes that the firing pin are making are just barely turning up a burr into the chambers. Not real bad and could be burnished back down easily enough.

The face of the firing pin is cut at an angle when you look at it on the hammer (hammer cocked). But that places the face parallel with the cylinder when the hammer is down for a nice full contact.

Lots of work went into these conversions.
 
Rodan said:
My understanding is that these were wartime Victory M&Ps that were bought as surplus after the war by PH in England, and converted to either .38spl or .22 cal.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have a Cogswell and Harrison .38-200 conversion to .38 Spl. with 3.5" barrel and new front sight...It's well done and I like it...:)...Ben
 
Rodan said:
My understanding is that these were wartime Victory M&Ps that were bought as surplus after the war by PH in England, and converted to either .38spl or .22 cal. Don't know how they would have compared price wise to a K22...
..
Click to expand...

Indeed. I suspect large established houses with long-time government connections like Parker-Hale could get these surplus revolvers in bulk for less than scrap metal prices, and even with the labor cost easily beat wholesale prices on commercially produced and imported S&W target products, which were generally a bit scarce anyway for some time, in the post-war era when these conversions were created.
 
What I am wondering is was the firing pin bushing replaced and then dressed down or was the center hole plugged and then cut for rim fire. Looks like the ejector star was also modified from 38S&W instead of being replace by one from a K22 as the star itself is not recessed.

Very nice conversion and work.

I have considered making a 22 cylinder for my model 53 using a model 19 cylinder, a K22 star and some inserts
 
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I used to see both the Parker Hale and Cogswell & Harrison .22 conversions at gun shows fairly often. They were usually well done and I thought they would make interesting and fun shooters.

But like some others, the prices on them never made sense. They were all marked for about the same as you could have bought a 5 screw K-22 for. If they had been around $200 I would have bought one.

Another interesting conversion that you used to see were the Swedish Husqvarna M1887 Nagant revolvers in 7.5x22mmR that had been converted to .22 LR. They too looked well done, but asking prices of $500 when you could buy an unconverted one for $150 didn't make a lot of sense either.
 
After the war labor was cheap, the Victory Models were cheap. I bought a Victory that had been converted to 38 special by a sleeved cylinder, I paid $15.00 for it, I was making Less than $100 a month after taxes as an E-3. I was stationed in Lybia at the time ('62-64). It was my first S&W. In 1948 my Dad decided to build a house because his rent had gone up to $26.00 a month. It cost him $5000 to buy a lot and build a house. I don't know what the labor rate was in '46-'64 but after I got out in late '64 I got a job with Fisher Electronics building stereo equipment for all of $1.27 an hour.
SWCA 892
 
As has been mentioned, there were literally boatloads of surplus Victory Model revolvers left over from the Lend Lease program when WW II ended. The British economy was pretty well exhausted at this point and the market for high end British gun smithing was a little thin. It made a lot of sense to have these highly skilled workers take nearly worthless surplus Guns and make something good (and salable) out of them. At the time it made great economic sense… but we'll probably never see the like again. :(

Froggie

PS I don't think they bought many, if any parts from S&W. These were some of the finest gun smiths in the World and it would have made more sense for them to make everything they needed for the conversion. :cool:
 
2152hq said:
The tip of the firing pin is a little too long. That is what is leaving the mark in the 6 o'clock position in each chamber on the cylinder.
When dry fired, the firing pin is long enough to actually strike the face of the cylinder/chamber,,too long.
It should be a few .000 short of making contact in dry fire/full forward position.
That will still be more than enough to crimp the rim of the RF cartridge and fire it and not damage the cylinder itself.

The strikes that the firing pin are making are just barely turning up a burr into the chambers. Not real bad and could be burnished back down easily enough.
Click to expand...

You should NOT dry fire a rimfire gun!

Peter
 
They are interesting. I have a safety hammerless Parker Hale 22 S&W.
 
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