.22 4 Screw
- Thread starter tsw
- Start date
Is it a very small gun with a dome-like cylinder release on the left side?
And welcome to the S&W forum.
And welcome to the S&W forum.
H Richard
US Veteran
If this ia a very very small handgun, it would be an "M" Frame, Ladysmith. Made for 22 long "Only" not 22 Long Rifle. With that S/N it would be a very early one, 1902-1903. If you would post pictures we could more accurately identify.
If you have a Photobucket (or similar) account, upload to photobucket and include links to the desired images in your thread. Make sure to precede and follow the links with
Alternatively, on the page where you compose a forum post, look lower on the page for the "manage attachments" button. Click on that, find the photos you want on your computer, and select them. If they don't violate the filesize limits, they will come along as attachments to your post. If they are too large, you will have to use a photo editing program to make resized copies. Then select the smaller copies for upload.
"Smaller" doesn't mean tiny. Any photo 640 x 480 pixels will work, and possibly up to 960 x 720 or thereabouts.
You have a Ladysmith First Model. Only about 5000 of these were made, as I recall. Later Ladysmiths had engineering changes that made them quite different from the first model. More units of the two later models were manufactured. These are all cool little guns, and if in good condition can be quite valuable.
Very nice.
The forcing cone looks undamaged on this side, and I suspect the same is true on the other. That means nobody ever tried to shoot .22 long rifle ammo in it, or high speed .22 shorts.
Depending on how many people showed up if you ever decided to auction that off, it is probably a $900-1200 gun.
These guns did not ship in numerical order, so even if it was manufactured in, say, 1903, it might not have shipped until a couple of years later. Only a factory letter would establish the exact shipping date. It would also tell you where the gun was shipped -- probably a regional distributor or, if you're lucky, a specific hardware store. If you are really lucky, it might have shipped to an individual who bought it direct from the factory rather than from a local outlet.
Thanks for showing that one. A lot of us here like those little guns. I have a few, but most are not in the good condition that yours is.
By the way, the .22 S&W CTG referenced on the barrel is what became known as the .22 Long in the era of .22 Short, Long and Long Rifle rounds. It's kind of a .22 short case with a low dose of powder and a longer and heavier bullet in it. If you didn't know, CTG is just the abbreviation for cartridge. I'm going to hit the destructive power of Long Rifle ammo again, because it can destroy these guns. A long rifle round will fit in the charge holes, but should never be fired. These tiny guns just don't have the steel strength needed to contain that much pressure. I would never shoot anything more powerful than CB caps in mine -- primer only, no powder.
EDITED TO ADD: Wrong on the .22 Long. See a couple of posts down for the right description.
The forcing cone looks undamaged on this side, and I suspect the same is true on the other. That means nobody ever tried to shoot .22 long rifle ammo in it, or high speed .22 shorts.
Depending on how many people showed up if you ever decided to auction that off, it is probably a $900-1200 gun.
These guns did not ship in numerical order, so even if it was manufactured in, say, 1903, it might not have shipped until a couple of years later. Only a factory letter would establish the exact shipping date. It would also tell you where the gun was shipped -- probably a regional distributor or, if you're lucky, a specific hardware store. If you are really lucky, it might have shipped to an individual who bought it direct from the factory rather than from a local outlet.
Thanks for showing that one. A lot of us here like those little guns. I have a few, but most are not in the good condition that yours is.
By the way, the .22 S&W CTG referenced on the barrel is what became known as the .22 Long in the era of .22 Short, Long and Long Rifle rounds. It's kind of a .22 short case with a low dose of powder and a longer and heavier bullet in it. If you didn't know, CTG is just the abbreviation for cartridge. I'm going to hit the destructive power of Long Rifle ammo again, because it can destroy these guns. A long rifle round will fit in the charge holes, but should never be fired. These tiny guns just don't have the steel strength needed to contain that much pressure. I would never shoot anything more powerful than CB caps in mine -- primer only, no powder.
EDITED TO ADD: Wrong on the .22 Long. See a couple of posts down for the right description.
Last edited:
bamabiker
Member
I'll just say welcome to the forum and thanks for showing the Ladysmith.
This is about the third nice one shown here in the last few days and it's good to see them still out there.
This is about the third nice one shown here in the last few days and it's good to see them still out there.
Skeetr57
Member
I think Mr. Wilson erred in his description of the .22 long. All that I have seen have the same case length as the LR, but the same shorter, lighter bullet as the .22 short.
You're right. A moment's research showed that I got it backwards.
Funny thing is I have a memory from childhood of a box of ammo labeled .22 Long with short cases and long bullets. Just further support for the oft-asserted but little-believed notion that most of what we know is wrong.
