I frame or J frame

[RacingSnake]

Picked up this flat latch .22 with adjustable sites.

Round butt, diamond grips and a 3 digit serial number.

Is this an I-frame or a J-frame?

 

[StrawHat]

Hondo 44, among others, will be along to help you with that one. Those little revolvers confuse me!

Kevin

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Yes, Jim can give you more precise information. It is an early 1953 .22/32 Kit Gun. It is an I frame but not the original version with the flat mainspring. The 1953 engineering changes stretched the I and J grip frames to a new size that is the current J frame. Before 1953, the I and J frames used the original I grip frame size.

 

[StrawHat]

…It is an I frame but not the original version with the flat mainspring...

Guy,

How can you tell it is a coil spring? I can not discern that area in the image?

Kevin

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Guy,

How can you tell it is a coil spring? I can not discern that area in the image?

Kevin

Kevin, I didn't need to see the lack of a strain screw. S&W eliminated the flat mainspring in 1951 on the original I frames and substituted the coil mainspring to create the "Improved I Frame." So, the 1953 models already had the coil mainspring.

 

[StrawHat]

So much to learn.

Thank you, it may sink in some day.

Kevin

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Kevin, I learn something new here almost every day. Jim (Hondo44) has a great write-up on the evolution of the I frame in the Standard Catalog of S&W, 4th Edition starting on page 144 in my copy.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Another clue about vintage of your Kit Gun is the thumbpiece. That one first appeared (on Chiefs anyway) near the end of 1953 and ran through spring 1955.

Hopefully Jim will be along soon to help with dating the serial number.

I believe it might help if you give Jim at least the first digit of the three from the butt.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Bob, per the tag on the gun in the OP's picture, the serial number is 904. Since the Model 1953s started at 101, this is a pretty early gun.

 

[RacingSnake]

Another clue about vintage of your Kit Gun is the thumbpiece. That one first appeared (on Chiefs anyway) near the end of 1953 and ran through spring 1955.

Hopefully Jim will be along soon to help with dating the serial number.

I believe it might help if you give Jim at least the first digit of the three from the butt.

Thanks Bob

The serial number is 904.

 

[Hondo44]

RacingSnake,

That’s a beauty and a real prize, congrats! My fellow members are correct, you have a very early Model of 1953 NEW I Frame with 4 screws in the side plate (one hidden under the the right side grip).

Few were sold in 1953 since it was introduced late so it most likely shipped in early 1954. It’s the first evolutionary change to the .22/32 Kit Gun since its introduction in 1935 (other than having the addition of the new sliding bar hammer block safety called the Post WWII Transitional model), and therefore the first .22/32 to have the change from the flat mainspring to the coil spring.

Unlike the other other Post WWII I Frames it did not have an Improved I frame version. The coil spring improvement came about in 1953 at the same time as its other new design features; the ribbed barrel, micro-click rear sight, enlarged egg shaped trigger guard, 1/8” longer rd butt grip frame, new optional style square butt grip frame, and its own unique serial number range. Previously it shared the .32 Hand Ejector serial number range.

 

[Hondo44]

The visual clue to the difference between the New I frame and the J frame is the length of the frame in front of the trigger guard; the J frame is 1/8” longer and of course the cylinder/ cyl window (which looks square on the I frame), is also 1/8” longer but harder to discern with the naked eye.

 

[RacingSnake]

Jim, thank you for all that very useful information.

Something special about these little guns.