Post by hammerdown on Sept 26, 2006 7:51:02 GMT -5
Hello All
I recently picked up this odd Pre-War revolver. It was made by the Iver Johnson Gun & Cycle works Fitchburg Mass. A recent request of this showed it was made in 1938. The Name Super Sealed Eight came from the recessed cylinder with Eight shots. Back when these revolver's were made Winchester had came out with a new High speed ammo clocking an amazing 1400 F.P.S. The problem some were having was if fired in a revolver, and single shot target pistol Without the recessed cylinder, the shells were bursting from higher pressures and injuring shooters. The cases were copper back then, and Smith & Wesson along with Iver Johnson came up with the idea of recessing the cylinder to encompass the shell case and rim to prevent this. This Iver Johnson shown was the top of the Line Iver Johnson revolver made back then, and they were all hand fitted with no drop in parts, carefully assembled by Gun Smiths and fitters not simple assembly production workers. This revolver was designed to compete back then in silhouette pistol shooting, so clearances and fit were superior to other models offered.It has an adjustable trigger rest, adjustable trigger stop, and adjustable sights. The grips are one piece and special ordered Target high rise style back then. I have been told there were very few of these made back then in Pre-War form, but many after the War in which by then they dropped the finger rest and adjustable sights and then had drop in production parts as well. The action is very smooth, and it shoots a very tight group if stand velocity ammo is used. The barrel twist was designed for Target ammo, and much better results can be had by using it. These were affordable back then at an average retail price of $7.50 compared to the Popular S&W Outdoorsman K-22 which was $35.00. The K-22 Outdoorsman shown is also a Pre-War and it dates 1936. I was lucky to find Both in this condition, and enjoy shooting them as the actions and quality of workmanship is far superior to anything Post War that I have in .22 Caliber revolvers which are all S&Ws in K-22 form as well. Smith & Wesson came out with This First Model K-22 Outdoorsman model in 1931 and the Last ones were made in 1939. The unsurpassed quality and workmanship level placed in this revolver, set the pace for all the sales of many K-22s made after them. This one is wearing a custom made set of Walter Roper grips as S&W only offered a smaller set of service grips also shown, and many serious shooter's ordered a set of these from Matheis Gagne who worked for Roper making these custom grips. They were used extensively back then at all competition pistol shoots and were widely used at the Camp Perry Shooting Teams as well.The grips had to be Customer ordered and a pencil tracing of the persons hand had to be sent to Mr.Gagne before he would make a custom set like these. he used a simple V Chisel to place all the elaborate clover leaf pattern checkering he was famous for, and went off pencil lines he placed prior to this, making sure to suite the Customer's Pencil hand drawings for each set he made. The only power equipment he used was a huge sander of which he made certain both half's were perfectly flat, after they were Quarter sawed. His Son who worked with him went on to S&W when Mr. Gagne retired, and was responsible for the design and development of the Famous Coke Bottle style S&W target grips which came out in the Mid 1950s. We can see from that grip as well, that the palm swell was evident that Matheis used in all his grips, along with the slight bell shape at the bottom to hold a shooters hand in place. Oddly, I purchased the Roper custom grip's shown a few years ago, on a modern K-22 used from a local dealer, and noticed that these are scribe marked by Mr. Gagne on the rear the date of 1936 when I got the K-22 they were on home. I had no idea I would be coming across and purchasing the exact same year revolver they were made for the K-22 Outdoorsman shown, and be reuniting them again. These grips greatly improve the handling of this revolver and are the most comfortable grips I have ever owned. I have three book's Roper wrote about Mr. Gagne and he was an amazing Old World Artisan that adhered to nothing but top quality in his hand made custom Shooter grips. I have never read just how many custom grips he has made, but if you were not lucky enough to order a set of these back then, you will be hard pressed to find them today as they do not come up often. I recently watched a set on Flea-Bay that had been altered and I felt they showed a much higher level of wear that mine do, go to $311.00 and they did not Hit the sellers reserve price, when the auction closed ! The Pre-War K-22s have all hand fitted actions and parts, and sadly after the War all revolvers like this went to production drop in parts which this level of quality was to never be seen again. Shortly after the War S&W also dropped the High Polished deep black Carbona style bluing and went with the Matte looking bluing on all K-22s as well. Best regards, Hammerdown
I recently picked up this odd Pre-War revolver. It was made by the Iver Johnson Gun & Cycle works Fitchburg Mass. A recent request of this showed it was made in 1938. The Name Super Sealed Eight came from the recessed cylinder with Eight shots. Back when these revolver's were made Winchester had came out with a new High speed ammo clocking an amazing 1400 F.P.S. The problem some were having was if fired in a revolver, and single shot target pistol Without the recessed cylinder, the shells were bursting from higher pressures and injuring shooters. The cases were copper back then, and Smith & Wesson along with Iver Johnson came up with the idea of recessing the cylinder to encompass the shell case and rim to prevent this. This Iver Johnson shown was the top of the Line Iver Johnson revolver made back then, and they were all hand fitted with no drop in parts, carefully assembled by Gun Smiths and fitters not simple assembly production workers. This revolver was designed to compete back then in silhouette pistol shooting, so clearances and fit were superior to other models offered.It has an adjustable trigger rest, adjustable trigger stop, and adjustable sights. The grips are one piece and special ordered Target high rise style back then. I have been told there were very few of these made back then in Pre-War form, but many after the War in which by then they dropped the finger rest and adjustable sights and then had drop in production parts as well. The action is very smooth, and it shoots a very tight group if stand velocity ammo is used. The barrel twist was designed for Target ammo, and much better results can be had by using it. These were affordable back then at an average retail price of $7.50 compared to the Popular S&W Outdoorsman K-22 which was $35.00. The K-22 Outdoorsman shown is also a Pre-War and it dates 1936. I was lucky to find Both in this condition, and enjoy shooting them as the actions and quality of workmanship is far superior to anything Post War that I have in .22 Caliber revolvers which are all S&Ws in K-22 form as well. Smith & Wesson came out with This First Model K-22 Outdoorsman model in 1931 and the Last ones were made in 1939. The unsurpassed quality and workmanship level placed in this revolver, set the pace for all the sales of many K-22s made after them. This one is wearing a custom made set of Walter Roper grips as S&W only offered a smaller set of service grips also shown, and many serious shooter's ordered a set of these from Matheis Gagne who worked for Roper making these custom grips. They were used extensively back then at all competition pistol shoots and were widely used at the Camp Perry Shooting Teams as well.The grips had to be Customer ordered and a pencil tracing of the persons hand had to be sent to Mr.Gagne before he would make a custom set like these. he used a simple V Chisel to place all the elaborate clover leaf pattern checkering he was famous for, and went off pencil lines he placed prior to this, making sure to suite the Customer's Pencil hand drawings for each set he made. The only power equipment he used was a huge sander of which he made certain both half's were perfectly flat, after they were Quarter sawed. His Son who worked with him went on to S&W when Mr. Gagne retired, and was responsible for the design and development of the Famous Coke Bottle style S&W target grips which came out in the Mid 1950s. We can see from that grip as well, that the palm swell was evident that Matheis used in all his grips, along with the slight bell shape at the bottom to hold a shooters hand in place. Oddly, I purchased the Roper custom grip's shown a few years ago, on a modern K-22 used from a local dealer, and noticed that these are scribe marked by Mr. Gagne on the rear the date of 1936 when I got the K-22 they were on home. I had no idea I would be coming across and purchasing the exact same year revolver they were made for the K-22 Outdoorsman shown, and be reuniting them again. These grips greatly improve the handling of this revolver and are the most comfortable grips I have ever owned. I have three book's Roper wrote about Mr. Gagne and he was an amazing Old World Artisan that adhered to nothing but top quality in his hand made custom Shooter grips. I have never read just how many custom grips he has made, but if you were not lucky enough to order a set of these back then, you will be hard pressed to find them today as they do not come up often. I recently watched a set on Flea-Bay that had been altered and I felt they showed a much higher level of wear that mine do, go to $311.00 and they did not Hit the sellers reserve price, when the auction closed ! The Pre-War K-22s have all hand fitted actions and parts, and sadly after the War all revolvers like this went to production drop in parts which this level of quality was to never be seen again. Shortly after the War S&W also dropped the High Polished deep black Carbona style bluing and went with the Matte looking bluing on all K-22s as well. Best regards, Hammerdown
Regards, Hammerdown