Major R.O. Bassett Jr's HBH K-22 OD - Update: It lettered!

[Modified]

S/N is 669768

I'm not certain who Major R.O. Bassett Jr is yet, hopefully that might shed some light on who BMB is.

The side plate does appear to have been nickeled. I think. It's not as high polish as my one other nickel gun, not sure if I just need to polish it up with some flitz?

In any case I'd love any information anyone can shed on the Major here, this was a bit of an unexpected acquisition for me and I have a couple other things I need to spend my current reading time on before I dig into Bassett.

Overall I'm very pleased with this gun, the condition isn't perfect, its fairly obvious it was used quite a bit, but it's perfect mechanically.

Update:

It was in fact a gift from his wife!

 

[Keith Brown]

What a wonderful gun, very glad you have it. Had wondered about the sideplate but your photos show it much better. No info to share on the man himself but am sure you will turn up the story given time. Another added to you collection and a better place it could not have landed.

 

[younggun22]

Glad you ended up with this one! Very Interesting!

 

[Modified]

Yeah, at the price I just could not resist.

After a bit of googling I think I sorted out who he was, sadly he died in '41 in a car crash.

One interesting snippit though was this:

Richard Oscar Bassett, Jr., Army pistol and rifle champion. Richard died of injuries suffered two ... Richard Oscar Bassett (born 1893). Bassett, Ephraim (Elder) ...

I'm wondering if BMB was some kind of match, like this was a trophy gun?

 

[mikepriwer]

Or, it could have been a family member, since the last of the three characters on the bottom line is B.

 

[Modified]

Or, it could have been a family member, since the last of the three characters on the bottom line is B.

Yep, that was a thought, I just found this:

Richard Oscar Bassett, Jr. b. 31 Mar 1893 New York d. Deceased: Bassett Family Association

There appears to be a Brita M. Who was his wife.

That would make for a BMB.

 

[boykinlp]

Sixgun,
This must be one of the items that caused your "sell off". Between it and the Ivory grips, you done good. I like the gun, love the hammer, but the grips are "to die for"!! The right side of the hammer still has some nice case colors. If it were mine, I would hit the side plate with some Flitz......but I like shiney things. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good detective work.
Larry

 

[Modified]

Sixgun,
This must be one of the items that caused your "sell off". Between it and the Ivory grips, you done good. I like the gun, love the hammer, but the grips are "to die for"!! The right side of the hammer still has some nice case colors. If it were mine, I would hit the side plate with some Flitz......but I like shiney things. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good detective work.
Larry

So people say flitz, and I bought some, but I think I bought the wrong one, it seems they numerous products.

Which specific flitz do you use?

And yeah.. the sell off was mostly about me feeling bad about spending some money. I usually moderate my post-married life purchases more, but this stuff just flew at me and I couldn't not buy it.

This gun in particular was such a ridiculous thing. When I first noticed it the gun had about a thousand dollar buy it now, and I think like an 800 opening bid. Which, frankly, is quite fair. I proceeded to try to get all my friends to buy it. No dice, none of them would.

So I just kept watching it and thinking this will be another one that got away, that's just life.

Then a day before the auction ended the seller dropped the opening bid down to 600 and took off the buy it now. I can only speculate that they were trying to attract some bids? In any case, by that point I think I was the only one watching it. I just couldn't pass at that price.

I still feel guilty.

 

[boykinlp]

I hope that means you feel guilty for getting it at such a good price, and not guilty about spending the money! If you feel too guilty, I would take the grips off your hands to make you feel less so. The Flitz I use is in a gray toothpaste like tube. A little goes a long way.
Larry

 

[zookpr71]

Yeah, at the price I just could not resist.

After a bit of googling I think I sorted out who he was, sadly he died in '41 in a car crash.

One interesting snippit though was this:

Richard Oscar Bassett, Jr., Army pistol and rifle champion. Richard died of injuries suffered two ... Richard Oscar Bassett (born 1893). Bassett, Ephraim (Elder) ...

I'm wondering if BMB was some kind of match, like this was a trophy gun?

I think it was his widow Brita M Bassett, if his obit was correct. Interesting backstory on the pistol.

Richard Oscar Bassett, Jr. b. 31 Mar 1893 New York d. Deceased: Bassett Family Association

 

[Gebe]

So people say flitz, and I bought some, but I think I bought the wrong one, it seems they numerous products.

Which specific flitz do you use?

You want the Flitz metal and fiberglass polish that comes in a tube like toothpaste.

That is some fine, gnarly, popcorn stag grips!

 

[Taj]

Sixgun,
If it were mine, I would hit the side plate with some Flitz......but I like shiney things.

Hey Guys,

I've said this before but I see a lot of guys on this forum using Flitz on there blued guns. I've been a gunsmith/ metal finisher for almost 50 years now and don't see that as a great idea. Flitz is great product but every time you use it on a blued gun you are taking some of the bluing off. Bluing is rusting process that penetrates into the gun steel. Some processes penetrate deeper than others but all of it is very shallow---like measured in 10ths of thousandths. Flitz is a metal polish that is mildly abrasive. When you polish with it you are removing the metal that has that shallow layer of bluing. Nickel on the other hand is pretty thick. Just my 2 cents worth but I'll never use it on a blued gun.

 

[Modified]

Sixgun,
If it were mine, I would hit the side plate with some Flitz......but I like shiney things.

Hey Guys,

I've said this before but I see a lot of guys on this forum using Flitz on there blued guns. I've been a gunsmith/ metal finisher for almost 50 years now and don't see that as a great idea. Flitz is great product but every time you use it on a blued gun you are taking some of the bluing off. Bluing is rusting process that penetrates into the gun steel. Some processes penetrate deeper than others but all of it is very shallow---like measured in 10ths of thousandths. Flitz is a metal polish that is mildly abrasive. When you polish with it you are removing the metal that has that shallow layer of bluing. Nickel on the other hand is pretty thick. Just my 2 cents worth but I'll never use it on a blued gun.

Excellent thing to note.

I'm just now playing with this tube of Flitz I just acquired...but only on my Nickel guns (all 1 of them + this side plate).

I certainly see what you mean, and I would absolutely avoid it on bluing to, when polishing this side plate as requested I have been very careful to avoid the rest of the blued gun. I do quite like the effect however, it does a nice job on nickel.

My nickel gun is cleaning up nicely, I've needed to actually do it for a long time but the last time I tried it I had the wrong flitz product, which did nothing. This stuff in the tube though is doing a very nice job. I'll post the results after I do some tinkering to get my camera rig set up for photographing nickel.

 

[Valmet]

I love unique old guns like that- regardless of value. That’s very cool OP

 

[Modified]

I love unique old guns like that- regardless of value. That’s very cool OP

You and me both!

For a long time now I have close to only been buying guns that I think have a story that I can suss out. Guns that have character are more likely to have been owned by a character.

I've been very fortunate to now own an outsized number of guns that I have documented ownership of. Either through the history letter itself, or through the wonderful resources the SWHF provides.

So, I'm still really bad at photographing nickel but the flitz did work nicely on my one nickel gun, which I think you will enjoy. But none of my pictures of the nicely flitz'd sideplate on the gun this thread is about actually came out.

Anyway, enjoy this little thing (which was one of my first big wins as far as finding some history goes):





















I have to dig out my other clips from newspapers, there's a ton of them. Actually, I need to pay for some of the other news papers on the guy, and put it all in a book at some point. There's a lot about him online.

The good thing is that his name is so unusual that there's only one guy he could be (due to age), so despite not knowing where the gun shipped to the unusual name worked out great for me.

If you do some more digging online one thing that becomes clear is that he was a flamboyant rich kid who raced cars, bicycles, golfed, and put on 'Rose Ballets', which I had to look up to find the modern term for such things; Drag Shows.

At first I thought this gun was something someone had bought for a disinterested sweetheart or wife, but reading up on Stein (who never married or had children) it becomes more and more clear that he bought this gun for himself. The stories are always about him and his group of friends, men friends mostly. In the end it is my firm belief that this is simply the most fabulous little bicycle gun you are ever likely to find.

 

[Taj]

Excellent thing to note.

I'm just now playing with this tube of Flitz I just acquired...but only on my Nickel guns (all 1 of them + this side plate).

Sixgun,

I don't see an issue with guys using Flitz on their nickel guns and have cleaned a few with the stuff myself. It is a great polish and it may in fact make a blued gun look better, you just have to remember that it polishes metal, and that it is removing a little every time you use it. Blued surfaced are pretty shallow. You also need to make sure you get all of it off of the surface of the metal. Not sure about all of their products but I do believe some have a bit of ammonia in them and this can be hard on a finish if left on it. A good wipe down and a some Ren Wax should do the trick.

 

[THREEDFLYER]

So people say flitz, and I bought some, but I think I bought the wrong one, it seems they numerous products.

Which specific flitz do you use?

And yeah.. the sell off was mostly about me feeling bad about spending some money. I usually moderate my post-married life purchases more, but this stuff just flew at me and I couldn't not buy it.

This gun in particular was such a ridiculous thing. When I first noticed it the gun had about a thousand dollar buy it now, and I think like an 800 opening bid. Which, frankly, is quite fair. I proceeded to try to get all my friends to buy it. No dice, none of them would.

So I just kept watching it and thinking this will be another one that got away, that's just life.

Then a day before the auction ended the seller dropped the opening bid down to 600 and took off the buy it now. I can only speculate that they were trying to attract some bids? In any case, by that point I think I was the only one watching it. I just couldn't pass at that price.

I still feel guilty.

Hell, I'm your friend and you never told me to buy it!!!!

I would have jumped on it to save you the guilt!!

 

[R61414]

The K-22 Outdoorsman is nice but that .32 Safety Hammerless is unbelievable, WOW!

 

[boykinlp]

Sixgun,
If it were mine, I would hit the side plate with some Flitz......but I like shiney things.

Hey Guys,

I've said this before but I see a lot of guys on this forum using Flitz on there blued guns. I've been a gunsmith/ metal finisher for almost 50 years now and don't see that as a great idea. Flitz is great product but every time you use it on a blued gun you are taking some of the bluing off. Bluing is rusting process that penetrates into the gun steel. Some processes penetrate deeper than others but all of it is very shallow---like measured in 10ths of thousandths. Flitz is a metal polish that is mildly abrasive. When you polish with it you are removing the metal that has that shallow layer of bluing. Nickel on the other hand is pretty thick. Just my 2 cents worth but I'll never use it on a blued gun.

Taj,
I am not sure if you noticed, but the sideplate on this interesting gun is nickel. That is where I was suggesting the Flitz use, not on the blued parts. Using it on blued guns is taking a chance, but many do it with good results.
Larry

 

[Modified]

The K-22 Outdoorsman is nice but that .32 Safety Hammerless is unbelievable, WOW!

I have to agree. I found it many years ago now on gunbroker with the purse and a very reasonable buy it now price. I stared at it, knowing it in no way fits my collection, but with the original purse, pearls, and nickel, it was just the most perfect little 'guy gave this to a disinterested wife who left it in the sock drawer for 100 years' gun I had as of yet seen. The fact that it turned out to not be the fact after I lettered it was just a huge bonus.

Boy, looks like this would have been, 7 or 8 years ago at this point.

The first and only full nickel gun I have purchased to this date, the sideplate on this gun being the second 'nickel gun' I've acquired in my life.

Taj,
I am not sure if you noticed, but the sideplate on this interesting gun is nickel. That is where I was suggesting the Flitz use, not on the blued parts. Using it on blued guns is taking a chance, but many do it with good results.
Larry

It does seem a little odd to me that they nickled the side plate.

I was actually hoping more people would comment on it, I've not seen such a thing before, the closest has been Ed McGivern's guns where he riveted a plate to the side of the gun and engraved that.

I will say that the fit of the plate is why I had to buy it, since it doesn't have obviously rounded edges and such. I didn't think it was a factory job, but I still thought it might letter out fun.

Then of course, it has the HBH.