To start, this purchase was inspired by another bittersweet thread:
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....-a-Good-Friend
I had to put our 15 year old lab down. She was a constant companion to my wife and I ever since her adoption at the age of two. Lost count of the summits the old girl logged with me and the number of nights camped under the stars. She was unhealthy and abused when we got her. Hyper and needy to the end. And always just had to be right there with us.
What to get in memory of such a dog? Something stout and of classic lines for the indefatigable breed. Of full or medium frame. Yet compact enough to follow along any time. If it needed some TLC to get into proper shape, all the better.
Like a snub-nosed High Standard Sentinel Mk IV chambered in 22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire. One-and-a-half pounds loaded with nine shots thanks to a steel frame and aluminum gripframe. Just a touch smaller than a S&W K-frame but with a trigger that will never be as good. Wood stocks and blued finish. Previous owner ruined ignition reliability by trimming the hammer spring and then mangling it when stretching to attempt a half-assed correction. Chip out of one stock panel that needs filled to prevent further damage. And a chambering that barks:
I paid too much but don't care. Look forward to doctoring an old rarity to function in remembrance of an irreplaceable friend. Original hammer springs are out of stock at Numrich but have a lead on the original spec. and will try to dig one up through other channels. Failing that, I will make a spacer to slip around the spring guide and make it work that way. This may even finally get me to break out my sheet of leather and learn to make myself a strongside pancake rig.
Testing after picking it up, POI seems on at 15 yards with Winchester 40 grain full metal jacket. Plenty of muzzle blast but no recoil. Completely hit or miss ignition in single-action, and no dice in double. As an interim range holster, an OWB thumb-break for a K-frame snub works alright enough for the task.
By the way, anybody know anything about these guns, their use, and those who bought them? Seems mighty handy a carry gun for the era but they made all too few and I've yet to dig up any period writings.