indiucky
Grandmaster
I have this thing for K 22's....In my humble opinion they are one of the finest and funnest firearms on earth to shoot...They are reliable, gorgeous, and here lately kind of expensive...Because of that my collection of K 22's, while legion, has no "safe queens" to speak of other than a 1947 one liner that I do not shoot because I have got quite a few others that I will shoot....
When the shop first opened 4 or 5 years ago a gentleman from Austin came in and we began talking guns...I told him I was a fan of K Frame Smith and Wesson .22's and he said, "Hold on a minute...Let me show you my truck gun..." He then went out to his late model truck and brought out a model 18-2 that had hardly any finish left, wood grips worn smooth, and covered in grime....He said, "I bought this gun new in 1964 and it has ridden under the seat of every truck I have had since then..."
My heart skipped a beat...It was love at first sight...."Would you ever consider selling or trading that?" and he smiled and said, "No, this one goes to the grave with me." I said I understand and that was that....
Fast forward to February of this year...I (who was also born in 1964) was recovering from a major operation...I, like that Smith I saw, was just north of 50 years old and had a few scars as well....One of my customers came in and said, "Hey man...I know you have been looking for a beater model 18 to carry around the farm as you do your chores and I was just up at Dale's (Sport 256 Garden) in Austin and he has one he would take $400 for...He said a local farmer had passed away and it was his truck gun...Dale said the grandson just traded it in on a deer rifle.."
My heart began to pound...Could it be?
I call Dale and ask about the gun...He said it's filthy but the timing is good...I asked him to hold it for me and he did...Due to my operation and my little friend on my belly I was very leery of getting too far away from home and Dale's is a 60 mile round trip but I did it....I was nervous the whole way home and kept touching the grips of the gun saying to myself "Is this that guy's gun? I mean what are the odds of there being two "truck guns" that were 18-2's in Scott County?"......I may never know but it really doesn't matter...I had my "pound puppy" (Snorko's excellent descriptive term for a gun to be saved) in my hand and I was happy.....
A customer of mine was the Armorer for a large police department back in the 1970's-80's and agreed to strip her down to nothing and clean her up for me...The cylinder was sticking a bit due to the cylinder notches having little burrs on the outside...This is common for a weapon that has been in a holster and carried a lot or in this case "vibrated a lot" due to being on the floorboard of a truck for 50 years.....He cleaned her up for me and I grabbed one of my fine polishing stones and hit the burrs a few times and she opened up fine...He took pics of the grime that was in every part of the revolver and it was dirty as can be....
When he brought the gun back I knew something was special about it because the first words out of his mouth were "Do you want your $400 back?" I just laughed...He said it has one of the smoothest actions he has ever felt on a Smith and that mechanically she was sound and had surprisingly little wear on the internals....She was just scarred up and ugly....I thought to myself, "Just like me..."
So now she is the weapon I shoot the most...Every weekend I carry her on my hip and put at least 200 rounds through her...I changed the grips out with some vintage fake ivory grips and a vintage Tyler T grip adapter...One inch steel .22 targets are boringly easy to hit double action at 20 yards and after 2000 or so rounds she has never failed to fire...
I wanted to share this story with INGO because we often hear of "truck guns" and this was a true "truck gun" who has gotten a second life as a "farm gun"....A reliable .22 with some scars and wear but a beauty that is so much deeper than skin....It reminds me of a rough time in my life where I didn't quite shake the hand of the Grim Reaper but I did give him a fist bump....I love her and wanted to share it with "mi amigos es amigas" on the forum...
Thanks for letting me share and thanks to INGO for giving us this forum to share these stories in.....Pics are forthcoming....
When the shop first opened 4 or 5 years ago a gentleman from Austin came in and we began talking guns...I told him I was a fan of K Frame Smith and Wesson .22's and he said, "Hold on a minute...Let me show you my truck gun..." He then went out to his late model truck and brought out a model 18-2 that had hardly any finish left, wood grips worn smooth, and covered in grime....He said, "I bought this gun new in 1964 and it has ridden under the seat of every truck I have had since then..."
My heart skipped a beat...It was love at first sight...."Would you ever consider selling or trading that?" and he smiled and said, "No, this one goes to the grave with me." I said I understand and that was that....
Fast forward to February of this year...I (who was also born in 1964) was recovering from a major operation...I, like that Smith I saw, was just north of 50 years old and had a few scars as well....One of my customers came in and said, "Hey man...I know you have been looking for a beater model 18 to carry around the farm as you do your chores and I was just up at Dale's (Sport 256 Garden) in Austin and he has one he would take $400 for...He said a local farmer had passed away and it was his truck gun...Dale said the grandson just traded it in on a deer rifle.."
My heart began to pound...Could it be?
I call Dale and ask about the gun...He said it's filthy but the timing is good...I asked him to hold it for me and he did...Due to my operation and my little friend on my belly I was very leery of getting too far away from home and Dale's is a 60 mile round trip but I did it....I was nervous the whole way home and kept touching the grips of the gun saying to myself "Is this that guy's gun? I mean what are the odds of there being two "truck guns" that were 18-2's in Scott County?"......I may never know but it really doesn't matter...I had my "pound puppy" (Snorko's excellent descriptive term for a gun to be saved) in my hand and I was happy.....
A customer of mine was the Armorer for a large police department back in the 1970's-80's and agreed to strip her down to nothing and clean her up for me...The cylinder was sticking a bit due to the cylinder notches having little burrs on the outside...This is common for a weapon that has been in a holster and carried a lot or in this case "vibrated a lot" due to being on the floorboard of a truck for 50 years.....He cleaned her up for me and I grabbed one of my fine polishing stones and hit the burrs a few times and she opened up fine...He took pics of the grime that was in every part of the revolver and it was dirty as can be....
When he brought the gun back I knew something was special about it because the first words out of his mouth were "Do you want your $400 back?" I just laughed...He said it has one of the smoothest actions he has ever felt on a Smith and that mechanically she was sound and had surprisingly little wear on the internals....She was just scarred up and ugly....I thought to myself, "Just like me..."
So now she is the weapon I shoot the most...Every weekend I carry her on my hip and put at least 200 rounds through her...I changed the grips out with some vintage fake ivory grips and a vintage Tyler T grip adapter...One inch steel .22 targets are boringly easy to hit double action at 20 yards and after 2000 or so rounds she has never failed to fire...
I wanted to share this story with INGO because we often hear of "truck guns" and this was a true "truck gun" who has gotten a second life as a "farm gun"....A reliable .22 with some scars and wear but a beauty that is so much deeper than skin....It reminds me of a rough time in my life where I didn't quite shake the hand of the Grim Reaper but I did give him a fist bump....I love her and wanted to share it with "mi amigos es amigas" on the forum...
Thanks for letting me share and thanks to INGO for giving us this forum to share these stories in.....Pics are forthcoming....
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