Well my 5th edition purchased from the publisher arrived yesterday and unfortunately one day after ordering I found the book online for about $30 less. Oh well......
Immediately upon unwrapping the book I went to my favorite section regarding the "Bekeart" or .22/32 HFT.
While reading through the various sections and paragraphs on the top of page 166 I noted the following error.
"2. First Bekeart-Pattern Production Run: When the Bekeart order was received, S&W made 1,044 .22 caliber target sighted revolvers......."
This is not correct. If you read a little further down in the paragraph, it mentions the serial range of these guns as 138226 to 139275. That range consists of 1,050 firearms and in my database for this model listing over 2,000 entries, I have all of these 1,050 serial numbers listed with shipping date and destination.
This information was taken by me from the factory records in Dr. Jink's home office thanks to his kindness and generosity trying to help a fellow collector understand this particular model.
The other factor that still remains a mystery is that if Bekeart was required to order 1,000 firearms to convince S&W to spend the time and money to retool to build a .22 caliber revolver on the heavier I frame normally used for their larger .32 caliber arms, why did Bekeart only receive 294 pieces of this first run of 1,050???
Bekeart's first shipment went out on 6-7-1911 however other dealers started getting shipments as early as 6-19-1911. So out of 1,050 first run guns, over 750 examples shipped elsewhere. Leads one to believe that either Bekeart or S&W figured early on that Bekeart would not be able to move all 1,050 pieces.
The ironic point is that there is an ad slick out there where Bekeart boasts of receiving a second 1,000 piece exclusive order
for this model. Perhaps just salesman's puffery or was there a second run exclusive to him??? Only a deep dive into the records may answer this question.
Immediately upon unwrapping the book I went to my favorite section regarding the "Bekeart" or .22/32 HFT.
While reading through the various sections and paragraphs on the top of page 166 I noted the following error.
"2. First Bekeart-Pattern Production Run: When the Bekeart order was received, S&W made 1,044 .22 caliber target sighted revolvers......."
This is not correct. If you read a little further down in the paragraph, it mentions the serial range of these guns as 138226 to 139275. That range consists of 1,050 firearms and in my database for this model listing over 2,000 entries, I have all of these 1,050 serial numbers listed with shipping date and destination.
This information was taken by me from the factory records in Dr. Jink's home office thanks to his kindness and generosity trying to help a fellow collector understand this particular model.
The other factor that still remains a mystery is that if Bekeart was required to order 1,000 firearms to convince S&W to spend the time and money to retool to build a .22 caliber revolver on the heavier I frame normally used for their larger .32 caliber arms, why did Bekeart only receive 294 pieces of this first run of 1,050???
Bekeart's first shipment went out on 6-7-1911 however other dealers started getting shipments as early as 6-19-1911. So out of 1,050 first run guns, over 750 examples shipped elsewhere. Leads one to believe that either Bekeart or S&W figured early on that Bekeart would not be able to move all 1,050 pieces.
The ironic point is that there is an ad slick out there where Bekeart boasts of receiving a second 1,000 piece exclusive order
for this model. Perhaps just salesman's puffery or was there a second run exclusive to him??? Only a deep dive into the records may answer this question.
