Hello DJNPT
Your Fathers Revolver's serial number indicates it falls in here
1957-K-288989--K--317822. I assume it will soon become your favorite revolver as I have never seen one
that was Not a tack Driver !! It should be what they call a Four Screw revolver. It should have {Three} side Plate screws and one in front of the trigger Guard making it a 4-screw. It may also have the Upper side Plate screw making 4-screws in the side plate and one in front of the trigger Guard making it a 5-Screw gun. I say this, as that time era was when they were changing over from 5 screw guns to 4 screw models and they used up existing frames on hand before switching over fully to the 4-screw configuration. It will also have
the Heavier style barrel. S&W made a design change from the Narrow rib Barrels, to the wide rib barrels Post-War time frame, to make the K-22's weight the same as their counter part cousins The K-32 & K-38.
They also added a couple more ribs to the rear Part of the grip frame to bring up the total weight. The weight difference was changed as serious Target shooters during the
World War II period complained that the K-22 was Lighter in nature than it's cousins and they wanted the three Master piece series revolver to weigh exactly the same so when they switched from .22 to .32 S&W Long or .38 Special caliber in the different series revolver's they would
hold and feel Exactly the same. Your revolver will have the
soft Glow Bluing as well. S&W switched from the Previous
"Bright Blue" finish's they used Prior to World War II as a way to speed up production as the Hungry Gun buying Public wanted them quickly after the War where there was
no civilian sales. This new Soft Glow Bluing allowed
faster production as the final Polishing process could be skipped which Provided that rich Black style shinny Bluing on the Pre-War revolvers. This process was used as a standard finish But,
{Bright Blue} could still be special ordered, Until around
1959 when they switched back to
Bright Blue as a standard finish as they Noticed other Gun Manufacturers were catching up is sales due to shinny looking revolvers.
Your Gun May or May Not have
a Target Hammer & Trigger. Standard triggers are .0265" in width and are serrated. The next trigger option was Semi-Target which was .0350" wide and came as Smooth Combat style. The full Target Trigger was .0500" wide and was smooth as well. The Hammer Options ran the same as The standard hammer was flat sided. The semi-Target Hammer was .320-.350" in width and the full Target Hammer would have been .0500" in width. Any combination of hammers Or Trigger's could have been ordered back then, so I have seen them with standard Triggers and Wide target hammers, or Wide Triggers and Standard Hammers. If the gun was ordered Full Target, it will Have the .0500" Full Target Hammer, .0500" Wide Target Trigger & Target Grip's which most call
{ Three-T's" }. For some Odd Reason, Most K-22's came with
the smaller Magna Grips on them. The Magna grips got their Mane from
{Magnum} as S&W felt their profile filled the hand more adding more wood material behind the trigger Guard and up high on the grip in the Horn area.
This style grip became available on The Very Rare Second series K-22's Produced for One Year being
1940, Just before all civilian sales were stopped for the war Effort. That revolver was named The First K-22 Masterpiece due to it's changes from the first series Outdoorsman series k-22 that consisted of,
New larger style Micro-Click sights, shorter throw Target hammer, Trigger over travel stop and the new Magna style grips. This series is the most sought after by collectors as they made less than
1200 of them before they ceased production for the war. You front sight Blade can be one of
two offered. The new offering after
1952 was
the 1/10" Patridge front sight and the Previous standard height blade was
1/8". They still Offered the 1/8" as an Option after 1952 but most K-22 Post 1952 came with the shorter style 1/10" Blades.
S&W also offered some other style sight blades as
The McGivern Gold Bead, The Mcall Gold Bead, and The Red Post Patridge that had a Red Plastic square bead that attracted Light mounted on the Patridge sight blade. They also used
The King Gun sight Corp. for Optional front & Rear sight blades but these are seldom seen on Post-War K-22's and if they are seen the side of the sight blade will be stamped with The
"King" Name.
If you are seeking the correct style grips for your revolver, they are out there used. Like I said, if you Like the smaller style grips, they will be called Magna Grip's and will have a Diamond shape right around the attachment screw hole. The Other style that I favor would be the larger style Factory target grips. These came in Walnut, Gancalo-Alves, & Rosewood and can be checkered or can be of the smooth Presentation style in any of the Mentioned wood. If they are checkerd, they will also have a Diamond around the attachmant screw as well. below is Bother style of grips I speak of to show you what to Look for out there, I hope this helps and welcome to the forum. Hammerdown
1958 Model 18 No dash with Factory Presentation Grade Checkerd targets
1947 Transitional K-22 with correct serial numbers Magna Grips on it
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