Post War K22, One Line Address
- Thread starter Retired W4
- Start date
Nice K-22! Like rct269, I also have an early four-liner postwar 3rd Model from 1948 (K40403). It shows a little wear, but the color case hardening is still nice and it's a fine shooter. A previous owner did a little work on it because it has a "hair trigger".
Attachments
Last edited:
I have, over the years, owned two one-liner K-22 Masterpiece revolvers.
One of them, when I took it out for the first time, was amazingly accurate. At 15 yards, with a standing two-hand hold, single action, I was able to put 5 rounds into the target in a group that I covered up with a quarter. I didn't have a nickle with me, but I think the group would have disappeared under one.
Funny thing about that revolver is it was a fairly late shipper for a one-liner. Roy told me it left the factory in December, 1947. I ended up trading that K-22 to a friend for a K-38 that filled a hole in my K-38 collection. I only regret trading it a small amount for two reasons.
1. The K-38 is also an excellent shooter and it helped me complete my K-38 collection so that I now have at least one example of every major variation from 1947 until the model was discontinued in 1982. All of them are Excellent or better and most are ANIB.
2. The K-22 went to a friend who says it is the best shooting revolver he's owned. He still has it more than a decade later and still shoots it.
One of them, when I took it out for the first time, was amazingly accurate. At 15 yards, with a standing two-hand hold, single action, I was able to put 5 rounds into the target in a group that I covered up with a quarter. I didn't have a nickle with me, but I think the group would have disappeared under one.
Funny thing about that revolver is it was a fairly late shipper for a one-liner. Roy told me it left the factory in December, 1947. I ended up trading that K-22 to a friend for a K-38 that filled a hole in my K-38 collection. I only regret trading it a small amount for two reasons.
1. The K-38 is also an excellent shooter and it helped me complete my K-38 collection so that I now have at least one example of every major variation from 1947 until the model was discontinued in 1982. All of them are Excellent or better and most are ANIB.
2. The K-22 went to a friend who says it is the best shooting revolver he's owned. He still has it more than a decade later and still shoots it.
They must have been assembling, testing, shipping bucoo double time!
Do we have records somewhere of the actual date that the factory started shipping out the post war guns? They must have been running multiple shifts and just grabbing from the vault and running for the shipping department without any regard for serial numbers. It's a wonder the ink had time to dry on the box labels.
I Lettered my 3 digit (K 905) (LERK and 1 line address) and it came back shipping August 12, 1947. I asked Dr. Roy about my other K22 (s/n K 42372) (smooth knurled ejector rod, 4 line address) and it shipped a year later in August 1948, so some 41000 plus s/n's out the door in a year.......that's a lot of guns.
Funny thing on the K905. The Letter came with a copy of the invoice and it reflected the customers Order date of July 1940, and a ship date of August 12, 1947...that customer waited a heck of a long time for that gun!
Do we have records somewhere of the actual date that the factory started shipping out the post war guns? They must have been running multiple shifts and just grabbing from the vault and running for the shipping department without any regard for serial numbers. It's a wonder the ink had time to dry on the box labels.
I Lettered my 3 digit (K 905) (LERK and 1 line address) and it came back shipping August 12, 1947. I asked Dr. Roy about my other K22 (s/n K 42372) (smooth knurled ejector rod, 4 line address) and it shipped a year later in August 1948, so some 41000 plus s/n's out the door in a year.......that's a lot of guns.
Funny thing on the K905. The Letter came with a copy of the invoice and it reflected the customers Order date of July 1940, and a ship date of August 12, 1947...that customer waited a heck of a long time for that gun!
Attachments
K-22 S/N K782 shipped March 26, 1947......Ben
I'm going to assume that my #K668 shipped around the same time. I'm wondering if there were any that shipped in late '46.
I have to set aside N frames because I have very little knowledge of them in the period immediately after the war.
But here's what I can tell you about the K frames.
.38 M&P - the earliest known shipment was in February, 1946. That was an order filled for the Cleveland PD. Regular shipments began on March 1, 1946.
K-22 Masterpiece - full production started on December 24, 1946. Roughly 10,000 units were shipped in 1947.
K-38 Masterpiece - first production occurred in June, 1947. A small number shipped in February, 1948, and full production began in May, 1948. The first K-38 Heavy Masterpiece bore serial number K66222, reflecting a change order issued on August 19, 1948. It shipped on February 4, 1949.
K-32 Masterpiece - It appears that the first one left the factory in December, 1948, but regular shipments didn't start until the late winter or early spring of 1949.
Last edited:
K-32 #2244 shipped March 10, 1948.
Well, that is an interesting letter. I have a memo from Roy in which he states clearly that the first K-32s were assembled on December 29, 1948, which included 10 units. The lowest known serial number on a K-32 is K2143, but that one may have been a prototype. The main production run of K-32s in early 1949 were all in the K50000 range.
You might check with Don to see if the correct ship date for yours is actually March 10, 1949. There could be a typo in the letter, off by one year.
On the other hand, we often find strange things going on when we dig into S&W history.
Last edited:
Jack, I think the shipment date to E.F. Warner is probably correct, as it mentions delivery of K-38 K4639 in the same shipment. The first commercially released K-38s with K plus four digit serial numbers were being released in February through April of 1948. The N-frames with N71xxx serial numbers were also appropriate for that time.
I think that S&W was designing the postwar K-22, K-32 and K-38 Masterpieces at the same time, but released the designs to manufacturing for commercial distribution on a staggered schedule. There were undoubtedly preview and salesman samples available from early on, and when K2244 showed up a few years ago, I think its early appearance was treated as a corporate favor to a major industry publisher. As you note, the K-32s were not available to the public at large until early 1949. In the spirit or refinement rather than argument, I would point out that there were a few K56xxx K-32s released in 1949, but the majority of K-32 serial numbers that year were K6xxxx guns.
I have a ghost memory of a few K-32s (10? a dozen?) being released for use in a national competition in December 1948. Maybe someone whose neurons are better connected than mine can flesh this thought out or correct it.
I think that S&W was designing the postwar K-22, K-32 and K-38 Masterpieces at the same time, but released the designs to manufacturing for commercial distribution on a staggered schedule. There were undoubtedly preview and salesman samples available from early on, and when K2244 showed up a few years ago, I think its early appearance was treated as a corporate favor to a major industry publisher. As you note, the K-32s were not available to the public at large until early 1949. In the spirit or refinement rather than argument, I would point out that there were a few K56xxx K-32s released in 1949, but the majority of K-32 serial numbers that year were K6xxxx guns.
I have a ghost memory of a few K-32s (10? a dozen?) being released for use in a national competition in December 1948. Maybe someone whose neurons are better connected than mine can flesh this thought out or correct it.
Note that Mr. Warner also received another Transitional Magnum (S71964) the unique 8.5" barreled 357 that shipped May 11, 1948, as detailed by Terry Lester in this thread.
Mr. E. F. Warner’s 8.5 Inch Post War .357 Magnum Transitional Revolver
Hopefully Terry will comment on the 357, Masterpiece, and Outdoorsman referred to in the letter posted above in post 28.
Mr. E. F. Warner’s 8.5 Inch Post War .357 Magnum Transitional Revolver
Hopefully Terry will comment on the 357, Masterpiece, and Outdoorsman referred to in the letter posted above in post 28.
Here’s the factory invoice related to the letter in post #28…..
Photo credit - bullmack
Serial numbers information provided by Dr. Jinks.
Photo credit - bullmack
Serial numbers information provided by Dr. Jinks.
Last edited:
Good comments, David. Thanks.
Yes, 10 K-32 units were assembled on December 29, 1948. That fact has been confirmed. What I do not know is when and were they were shipped.
Last edited:
BTW, this is where the 4 guns listed in post #32 were shipped…..
Cooter Brown
Member
One liner K7920 shipped 12-12-47 to Abercrombie & Fitch. That would have been a nice Christmas present.
Keith Brown
Vendor
Picked this up at the last OGCA show so no letter yet. Serial # 7453. Lots of great guns in this thread.
Similar threads
