# This old .22



## Boardfeet (Sep 27, 2007)

Bought this gun about 20 years ago from a friend and neighbor. He was a retired Boston police officer. He told me when he was on the force, most all his fellow officers used this pistol to qualify because it is really easy to shoot and incredibly accurate. 
Today I got curious about this gun and started lookin around the internet. I was amazed to find it was a limited production run commissioned by a California gun broker named Philip Bekeart.
It is a .22 on a .32 frame manufactured between 1911 and 1942
They sell for around $1000.00 with an exceptional example selling recently for just over $2500.00.
Mine is in better condition than most I found for sale and has a custom holster by HHHeiser Denver CO. 
From what I’ve read it is capable of 1 1/2” groups at 50 yards. In a vice of course. 
I had no idea this thing was that rare and valuable. 
If I remember correctly, I paid $300.00 for it, and thought that was way too much at the time. Just thought I’d share.


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Very cool pistol with a great history.


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## The Hired Hand (Jun 27, 2016)

S&W K Frame Have 22 and 38 in it


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## Boardfeet (Sep 27, 2007)

Been trying to date the gun by the serial# 
Can’t seem to find a chart. I understand I can request a letter from S&W. SN 472196
http://oldsteelguns.com/home/1675-smith-wesson-2232-hand-ejector-philip-bekeart.html

The advertised Gun says it is pre1934 
My serial number is lower than the gun in the link


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## Boardfeet (Sep 27, 2007)

http://sportsmansvintagepress.com/read-free/smith-wesson-hand-guns/22-hand-ejector-bekeart/

These are not the modern K frame pistols. They are hand ejector models made pre WWII
More info in the link on Bekeart S&W pistols


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## Boardfeet (Sep 27, 2007)

Incentive for the next development in small hand guns came from outside the Smith & Wesson plant. Phil B. Bekeart was a San Francisco firearms dealer and for some time prior to 1908 he had been urging the firm to produce a heavier type of .22 revolver. He granted that the small .22 then being put out was a nice plaything for shooting at tin cans, but he wanted something that would compare in accuracy with the .22 single-shot pistols.

When asked to be more specific, Mr. Bekeart suggested that the lines and design of the hand-ejector .32 be used as the foundation for a gun to shoot the .22 long rifle cartridge. All that needed to be done was to take a .32 barrel blank and a .32 cylinder blank and bore, rifle and chamber for the smaller caliber, with appropriately reduced extractor and a hammer geared to rim fire cartridges and hitch them to a frame as then constructed. The firm thought it over and may have built an experimental model or two; then the report was made that it would be an expensive undertaking and did Mr. Bekeart believe that the demand for the new gun would justify putting it in production?

Smith & Wesson 22-32 bekeart roper stocks
Model .22/32 (Bekeart) Roper stocks.
Mr. Bekeart was so sure that he ordered a thousand of them at the prevailing rate to dealers with the understanding that he would pay for them as the demand increased. This clinched the deal and in due course of time Mr. Bekeart received his thousand .22/32 revolvers. That was around 1908, according to Colonel Hatcher, but, production on a larger scale did not begin until June, 1911.

The Bekeart model, designed for target shooting, is fitted with adjustable sights. Known officially as the .22/32 Heavy Frame Target Revolver, it has a flat face hammer which strikes a firing pin, and which in turn hits the cartridge at the top. The tang is cut near the butt to make a shoulder for extended square butt wood stocks of sufficient size to make a mansize grip. It is made only in a 6-inch barrel and in blued finish, but you have your choice of square butt, extended length stocks, or stocks similar to those on the .22 Perfected Model Single Shot Pistol. Its 23-ounce weight was considered adequate for a .22 up to recent years.

It is fitted with a Patridge sight and a square-notch adjustable rear sight. Up to a few years ago it was advertised to group in a 2 1/2-inch circle at 50 yards, but it now groups in a 1 1/2-inch circle at that distance due to improvements in cartridges—in a machine rest, of course. It is a six-shooter but is not designed for hi-speed cartridges.

Collectors need not look for a Bekeart revolver with a low serial number, for they were numbered with the .32 hand-ejector model which already had a good start when the .22 was first produced.


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## Boardfeet (Sep 27, 2007)

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...717-model-74098-a.html?posted=1#post140371595

Smith and Wesson forum was very informative


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## specktackler57 (May 15, 2011)

Very cool pistol


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## joebuck (Oct 1, 2007)

What a neat story and pistol ... Man, I love stuff like this! Thanks for sharing!


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