Congressman Cecil King's .44 Military Smoothbore - more pics + 1

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mikepriwer

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I know this is the wrong thread, as the gun is about 1952. BUT - this is one
of Congressman King's gun. He was a 17-term CA Congressman, and died in about
1971 or so. Among his many accomplishments is the co-author of the
Anderson King bill, which, when signed into law in the early 1960's, is better
known an Medicare. Photos courtesy of Bill Cross .

44smoothbore2.jpg


44smoothbore1.jpg


44smoothbore3.jpg


44smoothbore4.jpg


44smoothbore5.jpg


The gadget on the end of the barrel is a choke. If you look closely at the picture
of the grips, you will see the birds-eye maple under that awful coloring someone added.

This last picture is the signing-into-law of Medicare. Congressman King is seen looking
on, rather approving. He is to the left of the signing table. Lots of other luminaries
present, that day !

medicare6.gif


Regards, Mike Priwer
 
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I know this is the wrong thread, as the gun is about 1952. BUT - this is one
of Congressman King's gun. He was a 17-term CA Congressman, and died in about
1971 or so. Among his many accomplishments is the co-author of the
Anderson King bill, which, when signed into law in the early 1960's, is better
known an Medicare. Photos courtesy of Bill Cross .

44smoothbore2.jpg


44smoothbore1.jpg


44smoothbore3.jpg


44smoothbore4.jpg


44smoothbore5.jpg


The gadget on the end of the barrel is a choke. If you look closely at the picture
of the grips, you will see the birds-eye maple under that awful coloring someone added.

This last picture is the signing-into-law of Medicare. Congressman King is seen looking
on, rather approving. He is to the left of the signing table. Lots of other luminaries
present, that day !

medicare6.gif


Regards, Mike Priwer
 
Mike,
Thanks for posting such a beautiful and unusual gun.
IMHO, that gun belongs in this section, too.
I wonder if the combination of smoothbore and barrel-length present(ed) any legal problems for anyone other than a Federal legislator?
Don
 
Mike,

Do you have any idea what the Congressman needed/used that gun for? It ought to make a pretty good snake gun...but it doesn't look like it spent much time in a tackle box. On the other hand, maybe that's how all the bluing wore off the barrel and cylinder
icon_biggrin.gif


All kidding aside, that's about as distinctive a gun as I've seen in a long time.

Bob
 
Mike...Your 44 Military is a great gun and certainly one of the most unusual S&W firearms I have ever seen.

DHenry...The BATF&E recently classified this handgun as a "curio and relic".

Bill
 
I call myself a post-1950 5 screw N frame collector, and this is by far my favorite. Thank you for sharing, and thank Bill for the wonderful (as usual) photographs. I'm in awe.
 
WTH is up with this board? I've been message boarding for quite some time now, cars and machine guns mostly and thought I was pretty skilled in the photoing department.... But I have never seen the type of fantastic photography as what is presented here. I'm almost ashamed to post pics in the same thread with others here.
 
Mike that is awesome! And interesting too.
I'm glad you did post it here, if it was in the post war section there would be several suggestions to have it cut for moon clips and the barrel shortened by now.
 
I'm a little confused. Why a smooth bore?, and what's up with the choke. The purpose of this gun?
DW
 
DW, and others

Generally, the Cecil King guns were presentation guns. As such, they tend to be
unique. 0450, for example, is a 1st model K22, presented to him in July of 1947. The
grips are post-WW2, but the gun is defintely pre-WW2. It was given to him in return
for his help in arranging for the second V1 to be presented to President Truman about
a week later. Right around this same time, a couple of registered magnums were
made up for President Truman and his military aide Col. Vaughn. o450 and V1 were
presented about a week before President Truman reorganized the military, establishing
the Department of Defense, and naming Adm Forrestal (sic?) as the first Secretary of
Defense. Pesonally, I think that these four guns were all a marketing effort by the
factory.

I don't know the background as to this smoothbore. Cecil King was a well-known
sportsman, and also , at some point, a member of the board of the NRA. He represented
the Southern California district, and King Boat Harbor in Redondo Beach was named for him.
He was an influential congressman.

What you see in the pictures is what the factory made; a two-tone 44 military with
red post front sight, special maple stocks, and a target hammer. In that configuration,
about the only thing it could be for would be shot shells. Here we are , 50-odd years
later, wondering how it got ordered, and why !

Regards, Mike Priwer
 
Mike, that is beautiful! I've never seen a choke for a revolver before -- extremely cool!

Say, are you now collecting Cecil King guns?
 
May well be the most unique revolver I have ever seen.
Would be great for rabbits in thick pines.
Man, that was the day, when you could put in an order for a custom gun from S&W.
 
Hey Mike, are the chambers bored straight through or stepped like a regular cylinder?
 
Mike, fantastic gun! Is it possible the grips are Amboyna or Desert Ironwood Burl? On a gun that unusual perhaps they used an exotic wood and either could look like that naturally.

Bob
 
J

The cylinder is bored straight through. There is no shoulder.

Bob

The gun was shipped with birds-eye maple target stocks. I beleive those stocks
currently on the gun are the original stocks. If you look closely in the vicinity
of the medallion, you will see a bit of that darker finish on the medallion. I
will get it cleaned off - one way or another.

Later, Mike Priwer
 
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