S&W Heads up

[kurac]

I swung by Imbert & Smithers today, they had an older centennial and a 36 and the kick was an early Bekeart .22/32 target. It had the original grips but they were slighly modified. I forgot the entire serial but it started with a 1 and was 6 digits so that should put it in the 1910-1911 range. I have never seen one of these in person and thought it was quite interesting.

There was some bluing loss on the left side and the action was kind of tight but otherwise a decent price on a rare piece $450

[chickenfried]

thanks for the heads up. I didn't know anything about this model, here's a little blurb I found from shooting times on the .22/32

6. .22/32 Target Model (1911)
The .22/32 Target Model was S&W's first revolver to fire the .22 Long Rifle cartridge and is second only to the K-Frame .38 Special M&P in maintaining a continuous line of production through a variety of specific models, variations, and barrel lengths all the way down to the current stainless-steel Model 63. It originated with a San Francisco S&W dealer named Phil Bekeart, who in 1910 special-ordered 1000 revolvers chambered for the .22 LR with six-inch barrels and adjustable target sights built on the "heavy" (for a .22 rimfire) .32 Hand Ejector frame--hence the long-standing ".22/32" and "Heavy-Frame Target" labels in S&W's small-frame .22 revolver nomenclature. The four-inch version, the .22/32 Kit Gun introduced in 1936 ("Kit Gun" as in fishing or hunting kit and not "kit" as in to be assembled), has proven one of S&W's most enduringly popular items and has served as model for dozens of imitations and similar configurations from competing manufacturers. It's a true continuing classic.

http://www.shootingtimes.com/handgun_reviews/smith_12_0507/index1.html