Special K's

This one is a K frame too - chambered in 32 S&W Long.

 

Exactly like that one. FBI style.

 

Your Dads M19 is still my favorite. I think its one of the greatest K-frames Ive ever seen.

 

I'm rather envious of your 17.

 

I almost bought a somewhat earlier one that had been nicely engraved, but the former owners name was carved across the side of the barrel and someone had filled in the scrollwork with white paint- the price was right though. I went home to sleep on it.
The next day that one was gone but this one was there for only a little more $$. Glad I waited.

 

Here are a couple of mine:

My Model 17-4


Snubbies - Model 19 and a Model 15:



My Model 547:

 

K22 and K38 Masterpieces 1947 and 1952

 

Smith 15 Combat Master

 

View attachment 1120702

 

View attachment 1120745 Just p/u this 13-3, a little holster wear but really nice shape- nice shooting revolver!

 

Here is my 13-4

 

Not so much my favorite but certainly my most unusual. A factory 4" round butt M19-5. I traded into this about 30 years ago thinking it was one of the State Department contract guns but the serial number says no. May be an overrun that went straight to the market; don't know. I've never seen another one in the wild.

 

No doubt K’s are great! I have a K22, model 17-3 and a model 48 (no dash) in .22 mag.

 

Nice K-32.

K-32's or Model 16's after S&W went to Model numbers in the late 1950's, are on my bucket list. But they are about as rare as hen's teeth in 32 S&WL.

I have a 6" Model 16-4, chambered in 32 H&R Mag and they are easier to find, and a bit more affordable than the 32 S&WL K-32's and Model 16 through Model 16-3.

I'd love to have a 4" and 8-3/8" Model 16-4 but I'm not actively looking for them at the present time.

I do have 32 Hand Ejector K-frame chambered in 32-20. Production date was early 1920's and the nickel coating was done at some time after it left the factory. It came with faux ivory grips. I replaced them with the wood grips that came with my Model 16-4. (The Model 16-4 has Pachmayr Presentation grips on it. I really do prefer them on my revolvers.)

 

I like K frames. Forgive the storage grease.

 

No X frame?????

 

A man’s gotta know his limitations.

 

I have shot the 500 s&w in the x frame 8 3/8" barrel that is ported. The recoil is not as bad as you would expect because the gun weight is substantial.... but it still kicks like a Missouri Mule

 

Retired veterinarian here, and quite familiar with a Missouri mule’s kick.

No thanks!

 

My 617 10 shot 4” is one of my favorite guns ever. It is uncanny accurate and fun to shoot.

 

Those grips are outstanding!

What are they?

 

I've always, at least since 1964, found that Smith's 'K' frame revolvers fit my hands best of all. '64 was the year I entered the Air Force, and the M-15 Smith was my introduction to revolver shooting. I begged and borrowed various M-15's all the while I was at the Air Force Academy from '64 to '68...an easy task as I competed on the Small Bore and High Power rifle teams during those years. Ammunition was free, and it was a rare weekend that I didn't head up into the Front Range behind the Academy with an issue M-15 strapped on...ammunition, the free kind, was issue 130 gr FMJ and I saved the brass for reloading using a 2nd hand Lyman 310 tool, Bullseye, and some wadcutters donated by a friendly rancher. Fond memories from those weekends, climbing on horse back through the gap above Jack's Valley. Living on grouse and trout fried over an aspen fire.

A cpl years after graduation, my first assignment out of Pilot Training was flying an O-1E Bird Dog in Vietnam. The issue gun was....you guessed it, a M-15 Smith but my enthusiasm for it waned when confronted by the realities of combat, and nightly mortar & ground probing attacks on the Special Forces camp I was living in. For those dark encounters, half asleep, a .45 1911A1 made more sense and I got the camp armorer to 'issue' me one...later I inherited a Browning Hi Power that became my steady companion.

On return from the SEA festivities my first new gun purchase was a 6" M-19 .357. I still have it and it's every bit as accurate now as then. I've added several other 'K's' to the herd over the years and changed my druthers on which grips make them more shootable or handled the recoil best: Pachmyr's fugly but effective rubber, a set of Roper thumb rests off my FIL's Border Patrol M-66, a cpl pair of Ahrends beauties, and most recently, Altamont's version of the Roper style.

These last, the Roper types, fit me the best and I do good shooting with them, but they don't help much if at all with recoil, especially the 2nd knuckle rap. With moderate loads in .357 and .38 Spl., say up to 900 fps with 158 grainers, they're just fine but full house magnums or hot .38's are brutal on my arthritic thumb joints, not to mention the ball peen hammer affect on my 2nd knuckle. And the M-69 .44 Magnum I've had for a cpl years is a whole new chapter in pain with true magnum loads.

I've done some work with Magna's but found they too, just didn't support the 2nd knuckle, and in my use, made it almost impossible to keep a uniform grip from shot to shot. S&W target types, do a better job, but feel blocky in my use and I usually switch them out. One of my good finds two decades ago was an almost new Smith Hand-ejector 4th variation in .32-20 and with it on the dealer's table was a box with a new set of Redfield grip adapters ($10 for the R's, and ~$300 for the HE IIRC). I found that the grip adapter with Magnas offered a great feel and really helped with the recoil...not much obviously from a .32-20 but noticeable. I've not tried them on any other 'K' frame but would be surprised if I didn't like them.

So that's the 'K' frame odyssey, for me...around a dozen over the past 52 years, that I've owned, and more if you count the loaners and 'issued' pieces. They truly are elegant weapons from a less torturous time, in my opinion. The pic below is the most current acquisition...less than two weeks in fact. A M-67 .38 Spl. Louisvile, KY police turn-in mentioned in another thread here on THR. It joins a 4" M-66, unmarked police turn-in, the aforementioned 6" Hand ejector, a 4" M-19 to join my earlier 6", a 4" M-16 .32 H&R, a 4" M-18 .22, and lastly, a 4" M-696 (really a 'K' frame with extra beef IMO).

1st Pic of the M-67 with Altamont Ropers and the 2nd is my 686 with a holster I made up for OWB at the 4 o'clock position.

Hope you all have as much fun with your 'K's as I have had with mine...Best regards, and a Merry Christmas to you and yours...guard the fort...Rod

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That is totally awesome. What squadron were you with? The Bird Dog is maybe my favorite small plane, I've had a couple of rides in a restored one that resides at a grass field near me. If I were a private pilot wanting a warbird, that's the one I'd look for. I was USAF a bit later than you (1987-95), was medical aircrew (Flight Nurse) in C-141B's and C-130's, and I appreciate your service to our country. You might get a kick out of these pictures. I built and flew radio control planes for a number of years, and I was building a Bird Dog when family circumstances made me decide to quit. I sold this one before I completed it, one of my great regrets. It is a 25% size model, had a 9 foot wingspan.

 

K frame, round butt, long barrel, mushroom ejector, adjustable sight… other than the Bakelite you pretty much have my dream gun. And it’s gonna stay a dream. People think VERY highly of those.

 

Bangswitch: Nice job...I've never seen a model of a Bird Dog, of any size...that one is HUGE!!. I was 22nd Tac Air Support Sq, at Bien Hoa, but my FOL was An Loc up in the Fish Hook section on the Cambodian border. Lived in An Loc, B-33 or 34 5th Special Forces Camp there. Supported "A" camp Special Forces teams at Loc Ninh, Chan Than, and Song Be as well as Bu Dop before it was over run. Long time ago...Rod 24 call sign...worked out country as well call sign: Sundog. It was a good, honest aircraft and brought me home over 400 times...Took some sniper fire on the ground, and one hit airborne, but never got hurt.

Thanks too, for your service and the help you gave our guys...saved hundreds of lives...no thanks is too much for what you did...

Best regards and welcome home. Rod 24 Pic of the Bird Dog in the AF museum. I flew that tail number in June and July 1970. 2nd pic, ~ April 1970 at An Loc, M-15 Smith on the hip, Car 15 slung in the door eject handle and a load of WP's for "Charles".

Sorry for the thread hi-jack guys...but I did manage to get a M-15 into the pic...

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