As long as we are having a surge of K-22 threads right now, I thought I would throw in another one to make collectors' hearts beat faster.
I recently learned that S&W may have been experimenting with a K-frame target revolver in .22 LR as early as 1910, a full 20 years before they introduced the K-22 Outdoorsman -- or K-22 first model as the collectors classify it.
According to Walter Roper, who wrote an article dealing with the topic in the May 1944 American Rifleman, the company was interested in producing a .22 target revolver on their medium .38 frame, but had huge problems with accuracy in the prototypes they built. Eventually the program was killed and all prototypes were crushed except one, which was shown to Roper later and seems to have remained under his control (but that's not completely clear).
That gun may now reside in someone's private collection, buried deep and unlikely to reappear. But there's an outside chance it is in circulation and may actually be part of a trading collection someplace. So keep your eyes open for it.
There is a photo which I think is correct because it shows a K-frame revolver that has both a large mushroom-shaped ejector rod knob (which no production K-22 ever had) as well as a retaining pin for a frame-mounted firing pin, as seen on the later K-frame .22 revolvers. The gun has a six-inch barrel, Patridge front sight, and round butt. The stocks carry large deep dish medallions. I believe 1910 is a little early for a Patridge sight, but there are explanations that range from a sight swap at a later date to author's confusion about the actual production date of the prototypes. Author's confusion is a possibility, as there is an inconsistent statement in the article that makes it sound as though the prototyping occurred only one decade before the production K-22 was introduced, not two decades.
If these prototypes were serialized in the regular numbering system, and if Roper is correct about the 1910 date, this gun ought to have a serial number somewhere around 150000-160000 if it was numbered in the .38 HE series, or about 45000-50000 if numbered in the .32-20 HE series. Or it could have had a special ID number completely outside of the standard serialization system.
Anybody care to guess what this one would go far at auction if it turned up?
As a footnote, Roper argued that the gun's accuracy problems were the result of improper twist in the barrel -- 1/10 in the prototype, as opposed to the proper 1/16 twist for a .22 LR. When the K-22 Outdoorsman was introduced, it had a 1/15 twist, according to Roper.
Happy Hunting!
I recently learned that S&W may have been experimenting with a K-frame target revolver in .22 LR as early as 1910, a full 20 years before they introduced the K-22 Outdoorsman -- or K-22 first model as the collectors classify it.
According to Walter Roper, who wrote an article dealing with the topic in the May 1944 American Rifleman, the company was interested in producing a .22 target revolver on their medium .38 frame, but had huge problems with accuracy in the prototypes they built. Eventually the program was killed and all prototypes were crushed except one, which was shown to Roper later and seems to have remained under his control (but that's not completely clear).
That gun may now reside in someone's private collection, buried deep and unlikely to reappear. But there's an outside chance it is in circulation and may actually be part of a trading collection someplace. So keep your eyes open for it.
There is a photo which I think is correct because it shows a K-frame revolver that has both a large mushroom-shaped ejector rod knob (which no production K-22 ever had) as well as a retaining pin for a frame-mounted firing pin, as seen on the later K-frame .22 revolvers. The gun has a six-inch barrel, Patridge front sight, and round butt. The stocks carry large deep dish medallions. I believe 1910 is a little early for a Patridge sight, but there are explanations that range from a sight swap at a later date to author's confusion about the actual production date of the prototypes. Author's confusion is a possibility, as there is an inconsistent statement in the article that makes it sound as though the prototyping occurred only one decade before the production K-22 was introduced, not two decades.
If these prototypes were serialized in the regular numbering system, and if Roper is correct about the 1910 date, this gun ought to have a serial number somewhere around 150000-160000 if it was numbered in the .38 HE series, or about 45000-50000 if numbered in the .32-20 HE series. Or it could have had a special ID number completely outside of the standard serialization system.
Anybody care to guess what this one would go far at auction if it turned up?
As a footnote, Roper argued that the gun's accuracy problems were the result of improper twist in the barrel -- 1/10 in the prototype, as opposed to the proper 1/16 twist for a .22 LR. When the K-22 Outdoorsman was introduced, it had a 1/15 twist, according to Roper.
Happy Hunting!
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