King's Super Target, Pre-War? LETTER HAS ARRIVED

[nutsforsmiths]

I am a sucker for the King Super Target, but so far, this is the only King I have.

I stumbled into this one a few years ago. It has the Super Police Night Sight package on a 38 M&P with the serial number of S962xxx

I sent off for a factory letter and it came back saying it was shipped as a standard M&P in June of 1948 to the King's Gun Sight Company, San Francisco, CA. I wonder if yours was shipped directly to King's as well?

Here is a picture of the rear sight done by King's.

 

[larry21556]

I am in the process of getting a letter on the pistol. Will advise. Thanks, Larry

 

[boykinlp]

Love the King Super Target Guns!!

 

[Jebus35745]

Very nice gun, need pics with the ropers on it. Larry

 

[larry21556]

Letter states shipped March 24, 1941, with 6"bbl, fixed sights, blue finish, butt swivel, checkered walnut silver medallion square butt grips. One of ten shipped to Paul S. Linforth Co. San Francisco CA at $19.65 each. Can't find much about the company, but Ancestry.com shows a Paul S. Linforth with an address about 4 blocks from King's.

 

[DCWilson]

A truly special gun by any standard of evaluation.

(SOME NONSENSE DELETED HERE.) :embarrassed:

 

[mikepriwer]

Why is this gun a .22 ? The chambers in the cylinder are .38, judging from the
picture .

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[Göring's S&W]

A truly special gun by any standard of evaluation. Prewar K frame .22 originally with fixed sights, rare; prewar K-frame .22 with butt swivel, rare; prewar K-frame .22 shipped in 1941 to a commercial distributor, rare. prewar K-frame .22 modified with a variety of top-end King improvements, rare.

Don't sell that one cheap.

I agree with all of that but the OPs gun is a 38. The SN is too high to be a pre war k frame 22. The features the gun has are not rare on a wartime production M&P 38. Of course however it shipping commercial in 1941 is special as is the King package. Full kings are more common on 38s in my experience.

Some guy that lives on a mesa in AZ is lucky enough to have a King custom 22 outdoorsman, IIRC.

 

[DCWilson]

Why is this gun a .22 ? The chambers in the cylinder are .38, judging from the
picture .

Regards, Mike Priwer

Now that I look more closely at it...

I agree with all of that but the OPs gun is a 38. The SN is too high to be a pre war k frame 22. The features the gun has are not rare on a wartime production M&P 38. Of course however it shipping commercial in 1941 is special as is the King package. Full kings are more common on 38s in my experience.

Some guy that lives on a mesa in AZ is lucky enough to have a King custom 22 outdoorsman, IIRC.

Now that I look more closely at it...


I have no idea why I called that a .22, though I dimly remember composing the post. Can I get credit for not calling it a Volcanic, or a Shield?

EDITED TO ADD: Ah, circumstantial evidence accumulates. In the kitchen I just found an empty Lagavulin bottle that I would have thought should have two or three more shots in the bottom.

I may have to record a PSA on this: "Lagavulin: Tastes good, makes you stupid even when stupid is not your goal."

Back to diet root beer for me.

 

[Model19man]

Hey that's my excuse!!!!

 

[larry21556]

Sorry about the mix up. It is a .38 and still in great as modified shape. The Ropers I mentioned in a post above turned out to be for an N frame so I still have to replace the later target grips with something appropriate.

 

[stu1ritter]

Model19man, you have good taste.
Stu

 

[Malpasowildlifer]

very cool thanks for sharing

 

[mikepriwer]

David

Well - what can I say ?!

I note that this gun was shipped March 24 1941. That is nearly 9 months before
Pearl Harbor, which was the defining moment for the entry of the US into WW2.
I don't think there was any significant take-over of S&W production for WW2
in March of 1941, so I would assume that commercial shipments were still being
done. The dealer got 10 guns, which to me means that the guns were not from
the service department, but rather from regular production.

Regards, Mike Priwer