New revolver

[Brad]

When we were in KC a few weeks back we had a chance to do some shooting with Bill. He is an incredible coach. We both got some good things to focus on.
One of the big suggestions was to get a 22 LR handgun as similar to what we shot as possible.
I had looked at a few revolvers at Cabelas for the past month. Today we decided to fondle them and decide which way to go. Decision came down to a 1980 S&W 17-4 or a 1950 Combat Masterpiece.
Decided to go with the Combat Masterpiece as it feels most similar to Dawn's 686.

Other than some honest holster wear the gun is in very good shape. Forcing cone in clean and sharp. Cylinder has little end shake. Trigger is pretty nice, far better than what I would expect on a gun made today.

 

[Ben]

Very nice ! ! !
Much enjoyment will come with that purchase.

Ben

 

[RicinYakima]

Wonderful!! I looked for almost 20 years to find and buy a 22LR Combat Masterpiece. Love mine.

 

[fiver]

they were a notch above the other S&W guns.
the get one like your others is good advice, I have a K-22 and a Ruger Mk-2 target.
it took me a while to find a Dan Wesson 22 to go with the other DW's I almost passed it over thinking it was another 6" 357 but then took another look as I walked away and seen the bore diameter.
it cost me a 4" vented barrel, custom finger groove gripped, trigger tuned, DW in 357.
but it was worth it to get a recoilless version of the other revolvers.

 

[Brad]

Next up for me is a Ruger 22-45. Already have a MKII but having one with the same grip frame as my 1911 is a good thing.

 

[oscarflytyer]

I am a HUGE fan of anything 22 to work on form and good habits. Have bunch. An old US Win 75 target is great cheap peep sight trainer. LOVE my Ruger MKII Govt! And the recent HS Sport King has been one of the best purchases and trainers and GREAT shooters I have ever owned.

Having said all that, I REALLY would like to have a nice K-22. Been on my bucket list, just never found one in my budget. Hopefully one day. Was the same for the HS until I got lucky about 2 months ago.

 

[Ian]

Solid advice on the .22 rimfire. Along those lines I've found that shooting a lot of .223 in a suppressed bolt-action is improving my bench chops significantly. When the recoil isn't there you get to find out all the things you did wrong after the trigger squeeze and try different techiques to fix them.

 

[freebullet]

How are you repriming?

What mold?



Looks about like our trooper 4".

 

[RicinYakima]

Sorry, having a love fest of .22 LR S&W's. I've owned or shot everything from a 1935 .22 Outdoorsman and everything made up to 1980 while shooting NRA Bullseye. The Model 18 is one of the top of the pile.

 

[Pistolero]

I was not familiar with this particular model. I may spend some time trying to find one. I'm
kinda of a nut on .22s. Not even sure how many Ruger std autos that I own. Got my first at
age 16, just seemed to "need" some different models.

I have a Model 15 that hasn't gotten much attention or shooting, the .38 Spl Combat Masterpiece.
And, I have several Model 14s. One of what appears to be a Model 14 (K-38 Target Masterpiece)
(6" bbl, target front sight with 90 deg rear face, tgt hammer). But the crane marking says Mod. 15. ???
I got it from a friend who bought it from an police officer who purchased it from a PD when
they got out of the revolver business. My guess is that the PD had a PPC team and wanted the
6" Target Masterpieces for them, and 4" Combat Masterpieces for all the regular service weapons.
If the bean counters were "unappreciative" of special guns for the shooting team, my bet is that
the S&W sales team would be happy to put together some "Model 15s" as part of the PD buy
that just happened to look EXACTLY like a K-38 Target Masterpiece. Just a theory, but it fits
what I know. The gun is clearly factory built, original finish, no kind of 'put together'.

Great shooter, too.

Bill

 

[Bret4207]

Nice find! I have a K22 and the K22 Mag, forget the model number, 48 maybe? Oddly, I shoot my little Kit Gun better than those 2 in field conditions. Weird.

 

[Pistolero]

One of my favorite revolvers is my 22/32 Target Model - not actually one actually shipped to Bekeart
by serial number range, but identical cataloged model. Beautiful little .22 target pistol of the 1920s.
Some people call all of these Bekearts, but correctly, only the ones shipped to him in San Fran are
correctly "Bekeart models".

Here is a nearly identical pistol with pix. Not my gun, but mine is in about this same condition, too.
I was entirely unfamiliar with this model before I ran across it at a gun show and negotiated a
bargain price for it.

http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/smith-wesson-22-32-bekeart-22-pr36045/

 

[Brad]

I hate the look but the revolver will be getting some Hogue grips. We want to shoot today and the smaller wood grips were an issue for my wife. Getting a set of Hogues that match what here 686 has just makes them more similar.
Revolver shoots pretty well. I used some CCI Blazer I have on hand. No idea what it will do with selected ammo.
We would have stayed longer but when people start shooting rifles at the indoor range it just induces a flinch in my wife. No need to learn bad behaviours.

 

[Pistolero]

Matching the grips is an important part of the concept of the .22 trainer guns. Rifles, indoors?
That doesn't sound like much fun at all.

Bill

 

[Brad]

Sadly we often endure the AR15 guy spraying bullets downrange at 25 yards. Not much fun at all. The concussion is unreal.
I need to develop a lube that smokes like nothing else just for use in those situations.

 

[Bret4207]

I hate the look but the revolver will be getting some Hogue grips. We want to shoot today and the smaller wood grips were an issue for my wife. Getting a set of Hogues that match what here 686 has just makes them more similar.
Revolver shoots pretty well. I used some CCI Blazer I have on hand. No idea what it will do with selected ammo.
We would have stayed longer but when people start shooting rifles at the indoor range it just induces a flinch in my wife. No need to learn bad behaviours.

I had nice set of Houges on my Division Issue 681. These dated from the late 70's/early 80's. THey were a hard nylon type material and they simply fit my hand. That all came to an end one day when I heard a funny sound and found the hammer flopping around. The stirrup affair that secured the grip tot he frame had busted and somehow, probably when I was loading up for the day and checking function a piece managed to unhitch the hammer. I drove to HQ and asked the Senior Firearms guy to have a look at it. He went ballistic (he didn't like me anyway) and accused me of doing all sorts of unnatural things and breaking my gun. After he calmed down he figured out what was wrong and I slapped a set of Pachmayers on it. They never fit like the Houges though.

 

[RicinYakima]

Sadly we often endure the AR15 guy spraying bullets downrange at 25 yards. Not much fun at all. The concussion is unreal.
I need to develop a lube that smokes like nothing else just for use in those situations.

Half and half of bee's wax and Crisco with minimum loads of Red Dot. Also smells like fried chicken and motivates them to leave sooner.

 

[Pistolero]

Hogue monogrips just fit my hands, and I have them on many of my revolvers.

Bill

 

[JSH]

No need to invent new lube, just load up some ammo with pyrodex.
When the 22RF ammo thing came up a few years ago, I culled a bunch. Sold a lot of them I probably shouldn't have. Parted my Winchester collection out that I had been amassing since I was 16-18, started off with a model 67. Had 60 or so all different models. Ate up with the 67's, had one NIB unfired with a hang tag marked $12, made out well on that one. Found it in an old bait shop one summer.
I had and still have plenty of ammo. It just ticked me off what crap ammo was bringing if you could find it.
I kept my bullseye guns and a couple of others along with some rifles.
I did reinvest the funds into small caliber rifles and pistols along with some bigger thumpers. I tinkered with some 32's but just didn't warm up to them as I thought I would. I jumped on the single sevens in 327. Already had a Blackhawk Buckeye 32HR/32-20 I shot a lot. I have the itch for one of the GP100's in 327.

I had hopes that there would be a 25 center fire come out, still waiting on that. The little 25's do have a small but strong following, all customs.
I really like the SW but parted ways with all my rimfires.
The two DW 22's I had, both silhouette models, neither would do what a long barreled single six did. The DW, each cylinder would group, but none would group together. Spent a large amount of time,energy and ammo working with both of them. Tried all the tricks. Shot an FA for IHMSA and that was the end of the DW's.

One last thing on the new SW 22's I have looked at, all the barrels are clocked. I have looked at a couple dozen new and used. Buddy in La had one and ran out of windage trying to get it to group at 50 yards. Sent it back. When he got it back it was better but still not correct.

 

[Ian]

25/45 Sharps might be an economical .25.