K22 Please help with age

[noctemman]

I just acquired a K22 serial number 38XX and was hoping someone could help me date it. Its a nice looking gun and I have been enjoying shooting it. One of the only guns I have gotten that was dead on upon purchase and I didn't have to spend time relearning the iron sights. Thanks beforehand.

 

[laytonj1]

Take the serial number from the underside of the frames grip butt. If you have the large target grips you will have to remove them to see it. There likely will be a K prefix with the number.

Jim

 

[noctemman]

Yes the serial number is K38XX but I do not have a reference for its age. Thanks

 

[laytonj1]

1947.
Serial numbers ran from K615 to K18731 that year.

Jim

 

[noctemman]

I see that someone with a K36XX was told that theirs was a 1947 so I imagine mine is close to that date. Wow. Looks good to be so old. I will enjoy every shot with it.

 

[Masterpiece]

Noctemman,

Your Revolver was most likely shipped sometime Mid-1947!! These guys are going to want to see photos, so if you are able to post a couple I'm sure they'd appreciate seeing it!!

 

[noctemman]

Thanks Jim. I wish I had a picture but I reckon its a standard 6 inch with a target hammer I believe. Standard grips. Better than shooter grade but not great.

 

[tcc]

noctemman,

Oh, it's great alright...just for what it is! Post pics if you can.
tcc

 

[PMRet]

Thanks Jim. I wish I had a picture but I reckon its a standard 6 inch with a target hammer I believe. Standard grips. Better than shooter grade but not great.

Uh, with us there's no such thing as a "standard" K-22, each and every one is different and beautiful in it's own way, and we never get tired of seeing pictures...

 

[1950jcb]

K22 Ship Date

The SCSW is not accurate--I have K4881 shipped in November '47 and had K13302 shipped in March '48. Yours should be a '47 gun--it should have a single line address and a large extractor knob.

Jim

 

[rburg]

OK, we need to stop believing SCSW for the production dates. All Jim and Rick did was use Roy's early tables. We now know those are off a little. Roy did us a great favor this spring and printed the ship dates of the first few hundred K22s in the post war. We'd apparently amused him but we were a real pain. So to head off the controversy, he just published the source material he uses.

S&W didn't ship guns in numeric sequence. He's been saying that for years and we were too hard headed to believe him. But we now know some guns actually did ship in 1946, but most we figured were that year just weren't. I've lettered my 2 early guns and both K155 and K166 shipped in 1947.

So when the 4th and eagerly awaited SCSW comes out, most of us here will lobby for slightly improved date tables, and an even stronger disclaimer about tying serial numbers to shipping dates. There is a simple rule you can hang your hat on. If the date is important to you, pay the money, wait the time, and get your very own factory letter. Its a lot more accurate than our guesses, which are generally accurate to within 2 full years.

 

[DCWilson]

Yes, it should definitely have a knob at the end of the ejector rod and a notch on the underside of the barrel for the knob to close into. There are only 5500 or so of those, and collectors drool over them as a specialized group within the desirable larger group.

The gun probably does not have a target hammer unless it is a later replacement. In 1947 the K-22 came with what the company called a "speed" hammer because the lock time on the postwar K-22s was faster than in the guns from the 1930s. The speed hammer profile was different from its predecessors, featuring a hammer spur that arose from lower on the hammer body. They look a little like target hammers because they have a slightly flared spur for better thumb purchase. But the spur on the speed hammer was nowhere near as large as the true target hammer that began to be widely available in 1950.