The Second Series .22 Target Pistol or is it ?

[Hammerdown]

Hello
I have always liked the single shot Target Pistols that S&W used to make back in the day, That derived from The Third series single shot .38 revolver frame. The Problem is most are well weathered or very, very collectible with prices to match. A current average of these shows to be any where from $1500.00-$3500.00 for Mint examples. I was looking for one when I happened to come across the one shown. It was at Cabella's of Reno, Nevada and I called them the evening of the Super Bowl to Inquire about it. The sales person showed to have very Little Knowledge of these, but was friendly & Helpful.



I asked what the Guns serial number was and from what he told me it showed to be a First series Model of 91 serial sequence. It was pretty apparent from the Pictures they had of it, that the gun was clearly a second series gun with it's recoil shield missing, & no provision for the cylinder hand slot nor cylinder stop cut out in the bottom of the frame that the first series Model of 91 had. I decided to take a chance and paid for it while we were on the phone, Faxed him my C&R License and we completed the transaction.I called them back the next day and they told me that they had gotten over 200 Phone call's on this gun.



The gun showed up 48 Hours later on my door step. I looked closely at the serial number, Thinking he may have read it wrong But the sales guy was right about it. The stocks that came on it looked Modified, but were in nice shape given their age. It was clear to me, that Cabella's did not know what they had as it was priced at $599.00 much below what I had been seeing and I have not seen one this reasonable in the past Ten years or so. I was not Interested in it's value as a Pure collectible as I plan to shoot it, but up close it was everything they said it was and then some.



I Inquired on a shipping date of it, and was told it shipped In February 1904. HMMMM... that's Odd as This model was not Born until early 1906 according to my Reference material. It has a Non-Serial Number First series style barrel but everything Else about it Points to a second series gun. I made a call to one of the sage collectors that is the S&WCA and he asked me to bring the gun to his house so he could examine it closer. According to him, it's serial number was as I suspected a First series gun and none of this made any sense.


It could not have been a Parts gun as the second model was not even born yet in 1904. The Target sight Latch is also serial numbered but a few number's off of the guns Frame stamped serial number in sequence, but again it is a First series serial number. In conclusion he felt this gun may have been a Proto-Type of sorts, Purely of which he expressed was Purely speculation on his part, so shortly I will applying for a factory letter to see if it shows anything else of Importance or who it may have shipped to back in February 1904. While I was there he Brought out a Box of single shot barrels he had and gave them to me.



In The box were Five barrels. The Most Important one was an In The White Olympic chambered Barrel in .22 L. R. Caliber that was 10" Long. I also Liked the Look's of an 8" Blued .32 S&W Barrel. There was a 6" .32 S&W barrel along with Two .38 S&W Barrels one in the white, being 8" Long and the Other Blued being 6" Long. The Barrel's are in different levels of finish some have the factory address and some have the caliber markings, but you can see where some do not or in the case of the Olympic chamber barrel, The caliber markings have been filed off along with the factory address. This was common if the barrels had cosmetic damage, and my Friend had bought these extra barrels many, many years ago at an auction, so who knows where they came from, or when ?



I made a call to S&W Restoration Expert David Chicoine of Gastonia, North Carolina and asked him if he may be interested in making Two of the Five barrels complete and ready to shoot on my Pistol frame ? He said he could do the job so I shipped the gun with it's 6" .22 barrel and the extra five barrels over to his shop a couple of weeks ago. He is working on getting the Olympic Chamber barrel finished and fitted to my gun's frame and shared with me that he found a slight marking of The Maltese cross faintly still on the barrel and a series of Dot's on the lower portion of which he suspects was the original caliber stamping on it that had been removed at some time.




He is finishing it in period correct style Carbonna Bluing, Placing a target style latch on it and Installing a new front factory sight blade. He also is Finishing & Fitting the 8" .32 S&W barrel. The work will take 60-90 days and I Look forward to seeing it all returned as he is the best of the best at this type of work. Just sitting here thinking about the time span of this Pistol, I can't help to think That D. B. Wesson was still alive when it shipped as he passed away in 1906. I am amazed at the quality of work that came out of the factory back then considering what they had to work with, and in essence the guy that worked on this Gun more than Likely rode his Horse to work that very cold day back in February 1904 when this shipped out of the Original Factory in down town Springfield...





























As you can see , someone has replaced the original front sight blade in the 6" Barrel it came with when I Bought It But David is Putting back the correct factory sight while it is over there. Below is the Pictures Cabella's had when they Posted it for sale that show the stock's that came on it, but I have since Placed the correct ones on it that I had on hand for one..Information on these is very Limited, but if someone would like to share more on them, I sure would appreciate your wisdom here..

[xtimberman]

All I can say is that you made an excellent find! Goes to show how being educated and searching around with an eagle eye occasionally pays off!

xtm

[longarm]

Is there an Envy smilie?
Nice find!

[Bob K]

Here it is, longarm!!!! Me too! Bob

[Hammerdown]

Hello Guy's
Thank's for the Kind words. I was told the reason they made the changes to the second series Pistol of grinding off the recoil shield, Leaving off the cylinder slot and hand and not making the cylinder stop slot, was because too many People were just buying barrels for their first series Model of 91 single shot's or revolver's and that gave them a multi caliber gun that could be switched back into a revolver by simply adding the original Barrel and cylinder. The second series guns only had a Main spring, Hammer and Trigger for Internal action components.



There is Little known about these as I also Heard a Factory flood damaged much of the Information on them. I do know they were used widely in Olympic event's along with the Bisley shooting events in England. Below is a picture of the U.S. Olympic shooting Team in Stockholm in 1912 using this style pistol in the event of which was Won with a S&W single shot pistol...

[gearchecker]

Hammerdown, wonderful story and a great find. Please keep us up to speed when the barrels out for rework get back to you.
Your collection is really building, good job.

[Doc Nonverbal]

Thank you for posting this. I always enjoy reading about your latest finds and I invariably learn something in the process.

[Hammerdown]

Hello
When I got home on Sunday I was surprised to see a Package had come from David Chicoine's shop. It contained my Second series Target Pistol with it's original .22 LR 6" Barrel and the .32 S&W caliber barrel of 8" length I had sent him.

He Placed the correct front sights in both barrels and transfered the rear sight & barrel catch asembly from my .22 LR Barrel over to my .32 S&W barrel. He also made up the Cam assembly it pivots on and extracts the shells with.

His machine work is amazing as he made up the correct rear sight blade and the barrel of the .32 S&W now wears a Fine Paine bead sight blade while the .22 barrel has a very Patridge sight blade that both work with the rear sight blade he made up.



He is still working on my 10" Olympic chamber barrel and will send that along shortly, but here is the .32 S&W barrel he finished and fitted to my frame. I hope to get to the range and fire it soon...I think he is about the only one that still works on or makes up parts for these old Top Break Pistols..

[WendyZXZ]

Looking forward to the range report after you have shot it.

Looks like it will be a lot of fun trying it out on paper.

[Quarter Cherokee]

I'd be willing to bet they didn't have a timed and, or rapid fire stage in 1912. Or, maybe they did. One of these days I'll have to look that up. In the meantime, that's an exceptionally nice looking handgun. Those old-timers must have had some pretty good eyes, too. I'm not sure I could see that thin front sight at arm's length. Did I already tell you that's a nice looking handgun? Did I mention my birthday is in July and that I like expensive stuff?