According to the “Blue Book” prices should be similar to those already given for the Model 17-the. These were manufactured from 1941 through 1981. The author acquired a used Model 19 with a 6-inch barrel for a good price, and was very happy with his purchase due to its undeniably classic appeal.Īlmost immediately I decided I had to have a K-38. If you can find a Model 17 in these price ranges, I believe you will be very happy with your purchase. Looking at the current “Blue Book of Gun Values” I see the Model 17 is also called the K-22 Masterpiece. As good as this old revolver is I didn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for it. After the background check I carried that gun home, and I’ve shot it one to three times a week ever since. Luckily I had a blank check in my pocket. This Model 17 was just what I was looking for-a simple shooter. But the gun is very tight in lock up and shoots better than I can hold. There’s a good bit of blue wear-mainly on the barrel-obviously due to holster storage. Was the trigger worked on-or was the trigger like this right out of the factory? Only some previous owner knows. 22 rimfire has a 6-inch barrel-and the best trigger I have in my arsenal by far. It was a Model 17-4 (the “4” indicating it was the fourth iteration of the then current Model 17 production-i.e. “We have one,” was the comeback that surprised me. There I stated my case, “Please try to find a K-22 for me.” Meanwhile a number of “Classics” have returned on the N-size frame.īack to icicle shooting-with all the shells fired up that I had brought along I headed for Schultz’s Sportsmen’s Stop-a gun emporium not far from where I live. 45 ACP, a 6-shot with a 5.5-inch barrel, arrived in 2009. 22 rimfire with a 6-inch barrel came on in 2009-the same year we saw the Model 18 re-introduced with a 4-inch barrel in.
The Model 15, brought back in 2010, uses same caliber but with 4-inch barrel. 38 Special +P) in 2009 with a 6-inch barrel. Other reintroduced “Classics” in the Smith & Wesson line featured a K-frame. As more powerful handgun cartridges were developed Smith & Wesson went to bigger frames, the L- and the N-frame, to better accommodate those more powerful cartridges. The S&W J-frame was smaller than the K-frame. Of course, the K-Series only refers to the relative size of the frame. It’s the looks of the Model 10 that appeal-and those cosmetics were transferred to many of the K-Series revolvers. The Model 10 is one that S&W brought back in 2010 and is available with a 4-inch barrel in their “Classics” line. 38 S&W Special with many barrel lengths once offered-2-, 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-inch. The Model 10 was/is sort of a no frills 6-shot double action with fixed sights-in. 38 Military & Police model was changed to the Model 10. Tens of thousands, maybe more were produced. 38 Military & Police models were sold here in the USA as well. Thousands of them found their way to foreign armies and foreign police departments, though many of these. A figurative jillion of their Model 10s were produced-though in its earliest days it was called the. Right from first glance those decades back I knew I loved the looks of that K-22-as well as the feel and balance when Arch had me shoot it at the range.Īs most handgun buffs know, Smith & Wesson started bringing back some of their old “Classics” that had been discontinued, and several K-Series revolvers are among them. 220 Swift, a Browning Superposed, an S&W K-22 and others. Arch had some guns I yearned for, like Model 70 Winchesters in both. It was one early winter afternoon of shooting icicles that I told myself, “Nick you need a K-22.” In the 1960s one of my mentors in hunting was Arch Hulings, a Marine veteran of Guadalcanal.
#Smith and wesson model 18 4 inch 22 series#
If ever there was a series of great looking double-action revolvers it has to be the K-Series from Smith & Wesson.
Consequently, revolvers predominate in my icicle shooting. Along many of these cliffs I can shoot to my heart’s content and never run out of targets-plus, as a bonus, there are never any bullet-riddled cans or plastic bottles to clean up. I select remote cliffs where water oozes out of the rocks. One of my favorite winter pastimes is shooting icicles with handguns– yes, icicles! I usually pack four or five revolvers and pistols into the car.