Second Model American Highly Modified

[hsguy]

Here is a Second Model American that has been heavily reworked. The gun is serial marked 8098 on the butt and right grip. The bottom rear of the right grip frame, the cylinder and the locking lug area of the frame are marked 261. The gun has been reblued and converted to .22 lr by sleeving the cylinder and barrel. The barrel was cut and target sights added front and rear. A spacer was also added to the recoil shield to fill the gap to the recessed cylinder holes. The rear of the cylinder has numerous marks from dry firing but the gun seems in perfect time now and locks up tight as drum with no wiggle. The internals look as good as new and the only issue is a broken latch spring. The gun is quite good looking and well blued. Someone put a lot of time and effort into the gun and the work looks very good. I bought the gun as a curiosity and look forward to shooting it and it was very reasonable. Here are some photos. John

 

[Iggy]

Somebody put a lot of work into that one... Fascinating.

Let us know how it shoots.

 

[J. Galt]

Very cool find!

 

[TACC1]

Heavily modified or not, it's a very cool gun!.
TACC1

 

[DCWilson]

That's an amazing amount of work somebody put into that gun. Clearly he knew exactly what he wanted and figured out how to put it together. Are there any indications to tell you when the conversion might have been done?

Fascinating revolver! Sometimes conversions aren't just a face lift and a tune-up; in cases like this they can result in completely new models. Wouldn't it be cool if this was an engineering sample or prototype to show what a target .22 could look like?

Very nice.

 

[hsguy]

Hello David, I can find no markings anywhere to indicate who did the work or when it was done. Someone did put a great deal of time and effort into it and apparently didn't use it much as the refinish is in excellent condition or refinished it after using it.

 

[H Richard]

I'll be very interested in your thoughts after firing it, and what the accuracy is.

 

[depicts]

Neat, John! Someone cared a lot for that gun.

 

[gunlovingirl]

I'll be very interested in your thoughts after firing it, and what the accuracy is.

+1 on that! Very interesting gun!

 

[walnutred]

Are you sure it's in 22 Long Rifle and not 22 Long or 22 WRF? Someone in the late 1800's with enough savvy to do that conversion would certainly have been familiar with the 22 WRF. Either way that is an incredible find. Years ago at an OGCA show I saw a pre-WW1 Colt SAA that was factory chambered in 22 LR, but I actually like your S&W better.

 

[DCWilson]

Don't know why I didn't notice this the first time I looked at this thread, but the randomly distributed firing-pin marks look like evidence of a period when the cylinder stop on this revolver was non-functional.

I am glad this thread came back for a second look. I had forgotten about this gun, and I appreciate the careful attention it got from somebody who had a very specific goal in mind and was willing to put in the time to reach it.

 

[mmaher94087]

I'm going to speculate here. Those "firing pin" marks are where the cylinder bore "liners" were "staked" (pin punched) to hold them in place by the person converting the revolver. The same thought applies to the "ring" around the cylinder that would reduce the extractor diameter to that of a .22 RF. If one looks at the centerline of the original bore (assumed to be .44 CF.) then it couldn't be firing pin marks for a centerfire of that caliber. Assuming a .22RF cartridge (and firing pin marks); the marks are on a radius of the rim of the cartridge, however, they appear "low" on the radius of the rim. I think the marks are to stake the parts together as making a new .22 RF cylinder would be cost prohibitive and it is virtually impossible to weld parts onto a casehardened cylinder. The parts are staked to hold them in place in my opinion. Neat conversion. Mike #283

 

[walnutred]

Mike, I first thought those were stake marks as well but I'm not so sure on closer examination of the photo. The individual chambers were likely sleeved, and I think the photo shows evidence of that, and they would have been soldered in place.

 

[mmaher94087]

It is times like this that I wish they could talk. Mike #283