Old S&W 22 back to life.

[MBTcustom]

When this pistol came to me it was in sad shape. Deep rust speckling, finish was almost gone, hardly any checkering left, and somebody had whittled off the thumbrest on the left grip panel with a dull Barlow knife to judge by the marks they left in the wood. The client told me "I know it's in sad shape, but what can you do with this to bring it back to life?"
I gave him a rundown of what I could do if we pulled out all the stops and just went for broke. To my surprise, he agreed.

I spent a good deal of time working the rust out from around the S&W emblem on the side plate. There was nothing to do but flip down the visor and start pushing oil stones. I was trying to strike a balance between removing the rust, and removing the engraving, and/or getting a wavy reflection in the metal. I feel that I did a decent job of accomplishing this task.
The hammer and trigger were polished out with stones and sent to Turnbull custom rifles with an admonition to do what they do best.
I also did a better job of filing off the remnants of the thumb rest, along with the gouges and nicks from the Barlow knife kung fu expert, and I swept the checkering up into that area to mimic the RH panel.
Attachment 135200
Finally, there was also a leather holster with the pistol the client asked me to refurbish, which I did.

The end result is simply delicious to the eyes. Compared to how this pistol came into the shop, it's absolutely gorgeous. There is very little about this restoration that I am displeased with.
I thought you guys might like to see it.

Attachment 135201
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[leebuilder]

Wow. Good workmanship.
One pic you can almost read the time on the watch as it is reflected on the frame.
in awe

[MOcaster]

Oh my. Great job!

[Dan Cash]

Beautiful job with the Smith but then you put it in that God awful finish eating holster. Oh dear Tim. I may have a 6 shooter for you to give that treatment to if I can afford it.
Dan

[Artful]

Someone truly lucked out in finding someone that can bring back to life a great revolver.

Excellent work - Nice Job - thank you for sharing

[Bzcraig]

Beau-ti-ful Tim! Next time take some before pictures so we can truly see what an artisan you are!

[tward]

WOW !!! Great work Tim
Tim W

[dragonrider]

You are exactly right we do want to see it, nice job it looks beautiful.

[MBTcustom]

Beautiful job with the Smith but then you put it in that God awful finish eating holster. Oh dear Tim. I may have a 6 shooter for you to give that treatment to if I can afford it.
Dan

Believe me, it was GINGERLY slipped into that holster just long enough to take a few pictures and then carefully removed. You have to understand, when the pistol came here it looked like it was on it's last legs just because it had been used and carried so much. Fortunately, it was still remarkably tight, and the crain lockup is good, which means the owner actually shut the cylinder gently instead of using a cool looking snap of the wrist .
The point is, it looked perfectly at home in that beat up holster. In fact, the holster's finish had been worn clean through on the nose. It was just a beat up old gun in a beat up old holster, and the guy told me to make it all new again, including the leather.

The guy is going to see it Monday and I want to see the look on his face when I hand it back to him.

[MBTcustom]

Beau-ti-ful Tim! Next time take some before pictures so we can truly see what an artisan you are!

I really need to do that. Angie keeps telling me the same thing, but I never felt inclined to take a picture of a lousy looking gun. All of the guns that come through the shop leave looking better than they came, but some are just really hard to hand back to the client when they are done. This one is like that.

[cuzinbruce]

Looks like a K-22 Outdoorsman? Prewar version of the K-22 Masterpiece if I am right.

[rintinglen]

Cuzinbruce is right-a very neat old gun given a great new look. It looks like a second model pre-war k-22 Outdoorsman-- A very rare gun that was worth 300 bucks even in it's rust-bucket condition. They made very few just before WWII as an improved version of the earlier 1st model.
Wish I could take my tired old body into a shop and get all prettied up like that...

[SSGOldfart]

Good work I know you had to have a good bit of time into this one,can you give us a ballpark price to have that done,I understand each gun is going to be a individual case which is why I asked for a estimated cost?

[MBTcustom]

This one was $500. That was the Turnbull, the checkering, the bluing, the leather, everything.

[taco650]

Great job! Did you test fire it before giving it back? Did the bore need any attention?

[MBTcustom]

It was tested for function only, not accuracy.
When the client gave it to me, I was informed that he was very pleased with the accuracy of the gun, but wanted it completely re-blued because it was getting rusty. He asked me what all I could do to help it, and I gave him a rundown what I am capable of producing if we gave it the whole nine yards. He told me to go for it, and I did exactly what I said I would do.

[Petrol & Powder]

That is very good work. !!!!

[MBTcustom]

Thank you sir.
That first picture is one of my favorites. Clients ask me for an example of the quality of my bluing and I show them a string of pictures while their eyes get bigger and bigger, then finish with that one and ask "what time is it?".
Works every time!

[Char-Gar]

Tim..That is high class work indeed. Absolutely first class.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The great thing about a .22 is that it may never have known ammunition that didn't actively prevent bore rusting. Whether to look for replacement left grip may have been a tricky decision, but the owner may have inherited it from the Barlow knife man, and have some attachment to his choosen style in a better executed form.