My first S&W and another K-22 Question

[WL44]

I don't get to this part of the forums much - never owned a S&W - not for any real reason, it just never happened...

Anyhow, I'm in South Africa and bought a Model 18-3 22LR at an auction a few weeks back. I always wanted a K-22 as a teenager, so the kid in me couldn't hold back. It's in a really nice condition, 4" barrel, but doesn't have the K-22 designation anywhere. I'm really excited about it as I always thought a grown-up sized .22 was a good idea and of course I've never had a Smith!

I'm sure there are books to determine this somewhere in the US, but finding one here will be a different matter. How do I determine the year of production? I know Ruger has a facility on the website. I couldn't find the same at S&W.

The serial number is (apparently from the licence application form as I didn't write it down at the time) 19K02XX.

Thanks for any help.

As we are limited in the number of firearms we can own here, I will now need to join an association and be registered as a dedicated collector before I can get it licenced, get it from the dealer and take it to the range! Off the topic, but just a reminder to take good care of those liberties you have over there!

WL
South Africa

[Hammerdown]

Hello WL44
According to my Reference book, it appears your model 18 was made around 1978. Here is the serial number series that yours falls under. I hope this Helps. Regards, Hammerdown




1978--9K84000--9K99999--17K3501--17K9999 All 18K--19K--20K--21K--22K--23K--24K1-24K6700-- ALL-- 35K--36K--37K--38K--39K--40K--41K--42K--43K--44K

[S.B.]

The technical name for you revolver is the Combat Masterpiece, I suppose because of the 4" barrel. I've never seen a first or third model with the K22 designation on them. Don't know about the second model, your going to have to ask Kurt (Hammerdown) about that, he's the only person I know who owns one? Like you, the very first .22LR S&W I owned was a model 18 K22 but, was sold off during my child raising period.
The one I currently own is a 18-3 also and serial numbers at 8K500*, so I'd guess Kurt hit this right on the head and yours is from the 1978 bunch.
Make no mistake, they are very good shooters!

My current Combat Masterpiece, yours has got to look a lot like this:



I offer you my congratulations as in my opinion the 4" S&W K frames are the best in the breed for belt carry.

[Hammerdown]

The technical name for you revolver is the Combat Masterpiece, I suppose because of the 4" barrel. I've never seen a first or third model with the K22 designation on them. Don't know about the second model, your going to have to ask Kurt (Hammerdown) about that, he's the only person I know who owns one? Like you, the very first .22LR S&W I owned was a model 18 K22 but, was sold off during my child raising period.
The one I currently own is a 18-3 also and serial numbers at 8K500*, so I'd guess Kurt hit this right on the head and yours is from the 1978 bunch.
Make no mistake, they are very good shooters!

My current Combat Masterpiece, yours has got to look a lot like this:



I offer you my congratulations as in my opinion the 4" S&W K frames are the best in the breed for belt carry.

Hello
Responder S.B. is partially correct here telling you that the Combat masterpiece model 18 is called that due to the 4" Barrel, but it also has a Baughman quick draw front sight blade and some have the smooth Combat Triggers and hammers, but the later ones could have been ordered with the Full Blown Target hammer & Triggers as well. In 1995 S&W decided to discontinue the famous model 18 so they released the model 17 with a heavy Bull style barrel of 4" along with a 6" Model. This is the Only K-22 to be Known stamped in the crane area that was ever released with the 4" Barrel in the model 17 series as all the Others prior to this had the 6" barrel with patridge sights rather than Baughman quick draw sights. The K-22 series started life in 1931 as The Outdoorsman series. it was fondly named this by it's designer D.B. Wesson to attract sales from Hunter's and Outdoorsman. The First 500 issued in 1931 had a Gold Bead front Call style sight named after Charled call who designed it and was a famous Traget shooter back in the early 1920's. After they Produced 500 with the gold Bead, D.B. Wesson sent an order for all Gold Beads to be changed to what he called Bright silver. This material used was of Stainless and was more cost saving to the company but no where near drew the amount of Light that a Gold Bead was capible of. In 1939 S&W made a design change to the K-22 series that Involved a shorter Cocking action hammer, of which they actually Notched the existing Outdoorsman Hammers, along with the addition of a New Micro Click sight system of Larger Profile compared to their Previous small Outdoorsman series revolver sights with a new Marketing name which stuck with it as The target masterpiece. This second series revolver is the most sought after of all K-22's as supposedly only 2,000 of them were produced before S&W was Ordered to shut down all Civilian sales due to the war Effort and concentrate on strickly war time revolvers. During the war Period many competitive shooters complained of the weight of the K-22 as it was Slightly Lighter than it's Two Counterpart sibblings the K-32 & K-38 Masterpiece.Again the Famous K-22 would get a design change as a Barrel rib was added to make this revolver weiigh exactly the same as the K-32 & K-38 Masterpieces did. In The spring of 1946 S&W started Civilian gun production again, and the world was Very hungry for new exciting models and the K-22 had been given some new appointments as well. Being the Third series K-22 they now added a trigger over travel device behind the trigger to take up any excessive trigger over travel. They also introduced a new Hammer design with an Up-Swept Fashion and fondly called it the speed hammer. The Third Model K-22's along with all other revolvers models S&W Produced were in a super heavy demand so this is when we saw the famous deep black shinny style Pre-War Carbonna style Bluing disappear to a now softer matte style Bluing finish. This New style of finish allowed a faster production of all S&W revolvers because much less time had to be spent on the final Polishing process before bluing. Design Changes remained Virtually unchanged until 1957 when we saw the first of The Numbered series to come along as the Federal Government Mandated  all guns produced would have to bear a model number, so S&W decided to place this Model number in the crame area of all their revolvers and the Model 17 was selected for the Famous K-22 Masterpiece. Through the years there Was some slight design changes made to the famous K-22 and these can be observed by the dash series seen in the model numbers located in the care area as a model 17-1, -17-2. 17-3 an so on until they Ceased production of The Carbon steel model K-22's and started The Stainless series of K-22's named the model 617. Below is a First series Outdoorsman K-22 that shipped in 1931. The revolver under that is The Hardest to locate model that was The second series K-22 that I Mentioned a little over 2000 of them were made before War Time shut down the plant. The Third revolver shown is an early Post War Four Digit serial number thrid Model K-22 that shipped in November 1947. The Forth revolver shown is a model 17-2 of the Dash series and it shipped in June 1964 with a special Single action trigger, Red Post Optional King Front patridge sight Blade and original factory Issued rosewood Target grips. The Fifth and Final K-22 is the seldom seen model 17-5 that replaced the famous model 18 and is the only K-22 that was made with a 4" Barrel and was Only made for about Two years between 1995-1997. I hope this answers some of your questions about the famous K-22 Masterpiece and you find it useful and Interesting. Long Live the K-22 and the Men that strive to keep them alive and shooting well. Best regards, Hammerdown.

[WL44]

Thanks for the great replies guys. That's exactly what I was hoping for.

I'm holding back from getting too excited as it will be another really long wait... but I'm really excited about it.

WL