Re: re: S&W Master Piece Series...all of them
FlyFishnfool said:
Thank you for the information and pointing out that I duplicated one of the serial numbers.
It should read like this:
22 Long Riffle CTG: K72492
22 Magnum: K462837
I took off the wooden grips and got all the serial numbers from the butt section of the frame. Nice to know that's it's also on the cyclinder.
I really do appreciate your time and effort for all the information you provided.
Have a nice day,
John G.
Hello John
Your Grandfather had
excellent Taste and a Keen eye to find
the Complete Masterpiece series. I have the same series and will show them below at the end of this message. It took me almost 20 Years to locate them all like yours and they are not at all easy to find today in nice shape due to their ages. Mine like your's
are Not for Sale. I Only collect S&W revolvers and have always collected them since I was Very Young. The
K-32 as I said, is the Hardest one to Locate. Actually if one wanted to collect the complete series of all The Masterpiece revolvers it would end up being
23 Revolvers total in this series which all had 6" Barrels. They made all Three Models of the Masterpiece series being the
K-22, K-32 & K-38 Before World War II which all are High Polished Bluing and hand fitted. Then after the War, They went to a less Glossy style Bluing that is called
Soft glow Bluing or Matte style Bluing. The reason for the bluing change was that the General Public was so Hungry for revolvers after the war that S&W Knew they could increase Production of them by cutting back on the
high Polishing Tedious Process before bluing so this sped up the total process since it took far less time to finish the Post-War finish's by cutting back on The final Polishing of them. The Post war Revolvers are what I have being all
Pre- Model Stamped Revolver's due to their time line of being made
Prior to 1957. All of mine have
the Lower gloss finished bluing like many of yours. Mine are all
five screw models being made prior to
1955. In
1957 S&W started stamping all revolvers in the crane area with the model numbers of the revolvers. In The masterpiece series it would have been
a model 17 for the K-22 in .22 Caliber, A Model 16 for The K-32 in .32 S&W Long Caliber and a model 14 for The K-38 Masterpiece In .38 Special Caliber. By
1961 or so, all masterpiece series revolvers were
Three screw models with
a High Gloss Bluing finish. S&W returned to their High Polished Bluing finish after
many customer complaints of not offering it and many said they could buy
Colts with nicer finish's like The Diamond Backs and Python Series. S&W was not foolish and did not want to chance Loosing any Customers so high Polished bluing came back into Play on The Masterpiece series along with most of their other revolvers after that. In The Early
1960's S&W came out with The dash series. This meant a design change had taken place on certain models so this change was shown as stamped in the crane areas after this change we saw
17-1 16-1 and 14-1. Along the way the design changes changed the dash Number's to the
dash-3 series and in
1974 S&W
stopped making the Model 16-3 which was The last of The K-32 until we saw the
More Modern 16-4 which was a
recreation of The K-32 But this model was chambered in
.32 H&R magnum caliber. That series was availiable with
4", 6" & 8-3/8" Barrels for a Short time span from
1989-1992 with
only 8800 Produced in this short run all three barrel lengths combined. Below is my
16-4 In .32 H&R Magnum I bought New In Box a few years ago. The Famous
K-22 Masterpiece was made all the way up to a
dash-7 series and discontinued in 1996 for the stainless version known now as the model 617.
The K-38 was Made up to the dash-7 series as well as the K-22 but it was also discontinued in
1999. If you were Lucky enough to find all of the 6" Masterpiece series I mentioned above, You could start on collecting
the Combat series which is the same revolvers except the Combat series has a
4" barrel and Baughman quick draw sight rather than the Patrdige Front Target sight seen on the Target Masterpiece Series. So, I guess you can see why S&W Revolvers are the Only ones I collect since they made so many different ones with all the design changes one could
almost never find each and everyone of them. As Mentioned in my previous response your
K-22 in .22 L.R. Caliber with serial number K-72492 shipped in 1948 and your
model 53 which
is Not one of The masterpiece series but a High bred Wildcat cartridge revolver bearing serial number
K-462837 shipped in 1961 Being The
first Year they Introduced and released
the Model 53. It should be a
4 Screw revolver meaning Three screws Holding the guns side-Plate and one in front of the trigger Guard. It will also have the
High Polished bluing. The Cartridges for this model commonly called
The Jett are taken by using a
.357 magnum casing and necking it down to a
.22 Caliber Bullet. This Gun came with a special factory cleaning swab that was
Wedge shaped in Nature to clean the cylinder that starts out to be .357 Magnum size in the rear and necks down to .22 caliber in the front. These Guns were Known to be Notorious
for sticking spent Cartridge Casing's in the cylinder. This was caused by
Oil left in the charge holes of the cylinder after cleaning and when the cartridge ignited it would have a
Hydraulic effect in the cylinder from the rounds high pressue and with the Oil present it would cause the spent shell to stick hard in the cylinder. I have heard some guys had to drive the spent shells out with
a wood dowel and mallet due to them being so stuck in the Cylinder. Most Guys I know that have them, only collect them and very few fire them due to them being so finicky. You also could have ordered one with the auxillary Cylinder in
.22 W.M.R Or another cylinder offered came in
.22 L.R Caliber. All These cylinders could have been ordered with it when bought new and they had to be factory fitted to the gun, or back in the day S&W would
custom fit a cylinder for your model 53 if requested but that has since stopped many Moons ago.Below is my Masterpiece series and the K-38 is a Dash-2 so it does not match my Pre-Dash series revolvers but in time I know I will eventually come across a nice one dated close to my K-22 and K-32.
The K-22 shown shipped in 1947. You will Notice it has The
Single Line factory address that simply said
"Made in U.S.A." and This changed to the newer
Four Line address in 1948 like your K-22 that Reads
"Smith & Wesson" Springfield Mass. Marcus Registrada U.S.A. . My K-22 shown below also has a Transition
Cylinder Extractor with The large style
Mushroom looking Head that S&W used to place on all Their
Pre-War revolvers in this series. It has The New
"Speed Hammer" That appears to be
Uswept in design,
short cocking action, Micro-Click adjustable sights and Anti-Back lash device directly behind the trigger to keep the trigger from
over travel when being fired. The Next revolver is my
Pre-16 K-32 Masterpiece chamberd in .32 S&W Long. It too has some
Transition Pieces in it. The
Narrow Barrel rib was a
Pre-War Feature that dissapeared in The Very Early
1950's along with The
"Speed Hammer" feature and the
Five screw design along with the new then, Short cocking action and Anti-Back lash Trigger Over Travel feature. The Last revolver shown is a K-38 Masterpiece. It is Newer than my Other Materpiece's and is a dash-2 series that shipped in 1964. It has The Wide Barrel Rib & High Polished Bluing. Being it is a 1964 Model, It has it's original Walnut Diamond Lareg target style grips on it. I am the seconf owner of this K-38 and hope to swap it someday for a Pre-Numbered series that Match's my other Masterpieces in the Late 1940-to Early 1950's time frame. I have fired all of The Ones shown and will continue to enjoy them. I hope you find this Information Useful & You have a
Very Gorgeous Masterpiece series Collection there. Regards, Hammerdown.
Early Post-War K-22 Circa 1947 Low Four Digit serial Number
Pre-16 K-32 Masterpiece .32 S&W Long Cal. Circa 1951
Mod.14-2 K-38 Target Masterpiece .38 Special Cal.Circa 1964
S&W Model 16-4 K-32 .32 H&R Magnum Circa 1989
