As most of you know, I have an affinity for the Outdoorsman line of S&W revolvers, and a special place in my heart and collection for the ones that came in red boxes. Like many of you, my S&W's often times speak to me - sometimes in foggy whispers and other times in loud bold statements that spark my imagination of what may have been.
I love the 75 year old revolvers that come to me as gently used or new-in-the-box-never-been-fired-guns. They make me think back to a bygone time where craftsmanship was king and the attention to detail by skilled workers turned out revolvers that were not only items of function and form, but at the same time the canvas where artistic lines merged with a pool of deep blue that had you wanting to mount it on the wall so that you could look at it over and over and over again...
But on the other hand, I also have a place in my heart for guns that come to me after taking the "more traveled road". Ones that show a lifetime of service to an owner who viewed them as a tool to be used on a daily or at least a very regular basis. These are the ones that come to me with all of the nicks, scrapes and bruises that come as they were dragged through the bush of hundreds of hunting trips, or carried as the primary LEO form of protection from two-legged predators who sought to disrupt the tranquility of small town America.
In this thread, guns falling into the above two categories are presented along with their story, as told by the guns themselves (I have lettered neither of these two guns, so that I would not be biased by the facts
).
The first gun came to me as a gently used K-22 Outdoorsman, complete with box. The number on the bottom of the box wore off long ago, but the box itself has done a masterful job of fulfilling its purpose - that is to keep the gun protected from the bumps and scratches that come in the course of 75 years. SN 661107 most likely shipped in 1937 - my guess is that it was shipped to a local hardware store somewhere in rural America.
The story, as told by the gun itself, is that it was purchased by a young father (an up and coming businessman) upon the birth of his 1st son. He planned to shoot it regularly and for the 1st several months after he purchased the gun, it was shot regularly, carefully cleaned, and stored back in the box on a shelf in his closet. But then the busyness of life caught up with him and the little K-22 was forgotten, until his son turned 12, whereupon, the father remembered the shiny gun in the red box, he pulled it down, put a few drops of fresh oil on the mechanical parts and took it out for an afternoon of plinking and father/son bonding. Fond memories were had as the two shared the afternoon "walking" tin cans down the road with carefully placed shots of .22 caliber fun. But the busyness of life once again caught up with the two - both of whom wanted to get back to the woods, but never seemed to find the time. The son was a basketball player and spent his weekends working on his jump shot. The father became a prominent local banker who helped build the small town into a growing city.
The gun stayed on the shelf, unused but protected by the box and a light coat of oil, until eventually some relative of the original owner discovered the gun after the passing of the father - sold it to the local gun store, who auctioned it off on Gunbroker - where I, as the winning bidder purchased it for a fair price. Here she is:
I had the recent opportunity to purchase a "spare" red box and shortly thereafter found a perfect gun to fill it and do a little "rounding out" of my O/D collection. SN 663437 is the second gun in this thread and was purchased to fill the empty red box [BTW - It's always good to have an extra empty red box to fill
].
It came to me from an auction house where it cried out for some TLC after a long life of service. I threw in a low bid, and as fate would have it - no one else wanted it so here she is. Her story, as told to me by her, while I cleaned years of crud and grime from her innards, buffed off a bit of surface rust, carefully oiled the mechanical parts, and tenderly waxed the surface of her still beautiful lines.
She was shipped in early 1938 complete with the optional grip adapter. She too was purchased by a young father who cared for her with kindness and appreciation, but times were tough and she was traded to a rough and tumble plumber (too old to be drafted into the War to end All Wars) in exchange for repairs done to the family home. The box was soon discarded and a shoulder holster became her new home. She was carried almost daily to dispose of the occasional pest that barred the plumber's entry into the cramped crawl spaces under his customers' homes. She accompanied him on his hunting trips where she was used to dispatch small game or to administer a kill shot to end the misery of a wounded dear. It was on one such trip that a neglected screw in the grip adapter wiggled loose and was lost. Occasionally, after a particularly sweaty day, the old 22 was wiped down with an oily rag and a few drops of oil were hastily dripped into and onto the mechanical parts, but little time was spared to care for the aesthetic needs of this trusted partner. She spent most of her time carried and stored in the shoulder holster; however, she did not complain, as she was well fed with a regular diet of .22 caliber excitement.
Years past. The plumber eventually died and the gun in its holster, as a component of a large box of "stuff", ended up with the nephew, who had taken over the plumbing business. More long years passed and the nephew's grand daughter discovered the Outdoorsman and holster while sorting through a box left to the estate of her grandfather. She took this K-22, along with other guns that the uncle had accumulated over the years to a local auction house. They posted it in an auction that I won. And now, once again it has been reunited with a red box - just like the one it left the factory in some 74 years ago. So - here she is (along with her holster and the nicks, dings, scratches and wear of a well used friend):
I hope that you enjoyed listening to the "stories" of these K-22s.
Please feel free to share any stories of the guns that talk to you. Or if the above guns share different stories with you, please share them with me.
Thanks,
I love the 75 year old revolvers that come to me as gently used or new-in-the-box-never-been-fired-guns. They make me think back to a bygone time where craftsmanship was king and the attention to detail by skilled workers turned out revolvers that were not only items of function and form, but at the same time the canvas where artistic lines merged with a pool of deep blue that had you wanting to mount it on the wall so that you could look at it over and over and over again...
But on the other hand, I also have a place in my heart for guns that come to me after taking the "more traveled road". Ones that show a lifetime of service to an owner who viewed them as a tool to be used on a daily or at least a very regular basis. These are the ones that come to me with all of the nicks, scrapes and bruises that come as they were dragged through the bush of hundreds of hunting trips, or carried as the primary LEO form of protection from two-legged predators who sought to disrupt the tranquility of small town America.
In this thread, guns falling into the above two categories are presented along with their story, as told by the guns themselves (I have lettered neither of these two guns, so that I would not be biased by the facts
).The first gun came to me as a gently used K-22 Outdoorsman, complete with box. The number on the bottom of the box wore off long ago, but the box itself has done a masterful job of fulfilling its purpose - that is to keep the gun protected from the bumps and scratches that come in the course of 75 years. SN 661107 most likely shipped in 1937 - my guess is that it was shipped to a local hardware store somewhere in rural America.
The story, as told by the gun itself, is that it was purchased by a young father (an up and coming businessman) upon the birth of his 1st son. He planned to shoot it regularly and for the 1st several months after he purchased the gun, it was shot regularly, carefully cleaned, and stored back in the box on a shelf in his closet. But then the busyness of life caught up with him and the little K-22 was forgotten, until his son turned 12, whereupon, the father remembered the shiny gun in the red box, he pulled it down, put a few drops of fresh oil on the mechanical parts and took it out for an afternoon of plinking and father/son bonding. Fond memories were had as the two shared the afternoon "walking" tin cans down the road with carefully placed shots of .22 caliber fun. But the busyness of life once again caught up with the two - both of whom wanted to get back to the woods, but never seemed to find the time. The son was a basketball player and spent his weekends working on his jump shot. The father became a prominent local banker who helped build the small town into a growing city.
The gun stayed on the shelf, unused but protected by the box and a light coat of oil, until eventually some relative of the original owner discovered the gun after the passing of the father - sold it to the local gun store, who auctioned it off on Gunbroker - where I, as the winning bidder purchased it for a fair price. Here she is:
I had the recent opportunity to purchase a "spare" red box and shortly thereafter found a perfect gun to fill it and do a little "rounding out" of my O/D collection. SN 663437 is the second gun in this thread and was purchased to fill the empty red box [BTW - It's always good to have an extra empty red box to fill
].It came to me from an auction house where it cried out for some TLC after a long life of service. I threw in a low bid, and as fate would have it - no one else wanted it so here she is. Her story, as told to me by her, while I cleaned years of crud and grime from her innards, buffed off a bit of surface rust, carefully oiled the mechanical parts, and tenderly waxed the surface of her still beautiful lines.
She was shipped in early 1938 complete with the optional grip adapter. She too was purchased by a young father who cared for her with kindness and appreciation, but times were tough and she was traded to a rough and tumble plumber (too old to be drafted into the War to end All Wars) in exchange for repairs done to the family home. The box was soon discarded and a shoulder holster became her new home. She was carried almost daily to dispose of the occasional pest that barred the plumber's entry into the cramped crawl spaces under his customers' homes. She accompanied him on his hunting trips where she was used to dispatch small game or to administer a kill shot to end the misery of a wounded dear. It was on one such trip that a neglected screw in the grip adapter wiggled loose and was lost. Occasionally, after a particularly sweaty day, the old 22 was wiped down with an oily rag and a few drops of oil were hastily dripped into and onto the mechanical parts, but little time was spared to care for the aesthetic needs of this trusted partner. She spent most of her time carried and stored in the shoulder holster; however, she did not complain, as she was well fed with a regular diet of .22 caliber excitement.
Years past. The plumber eventually died and the gun in its holster, as a component of a large box of "stuff", ended up with the nephew, who had taken over the plumbing business. More long years passed and the nephew's grand daughter discovered the Outdoorsman and holster while sorting through a box left to the estate of her grandfather. She took this K-22, along with other guns that the uncle had accumulated over the years to a local auction house. They posted it in an auction that I won. And now, once again it has been reunited with a red box - just like the one it left the factory in some 74 years ago. So - here she is (along with her holster and the nicks, dings, scratches and wear of a well used friend):
I hope that you enjoyed listening to the "stories" of these K-22s.
Please feel free to share any stories of the guns that talk to you. Or if the above guns share different stories with you, please share them with me.
Thanks,
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