My fathers 1944 H&R 922 s/n E7679

[DoctorReno]

I apologize if this is in the wrong catagory and I ask that this post be moved to the corect catagory.

My 88 yr old father had a siezure at the kitchen table during breakfast and died in my arms a few days ago. My mother asked me if I was interested in having his old .22 pistol. I accepted.

The pistol is a H&R 922 .22lr s/n E7679, double action, 6" round barrel, long cylinder pin, polished hammer with medium tang, one piece nylon grip, gold front sight, blued frame and barrel. It has a 9 shot cylinder I believe 1904 730 is stamped on the side of the cylinder and on one end of the cylinder is stamped 7696.

I have a vague memory of him saying he bought it new in 1944 when he was discharged from the U.S. Navy in May of 1944. For those interested, dad served aboard the U.S.S. South Dakota.

The s/n seems to indicate it is a 1944 Model 1, 5th variation.

I would be grateful if anyone can provide more information about this gun. I'd be interested in knowing when in 1944 it was mfg. How many of this gun were mfg that year. Is this gun scarce or fairly commonly found today. Basically anything that I can find out so I can put that information to the story and history of this revolver.
Also, is there any source to get a manual, schematic and parts list?

Thank you in advance.

Dave

[Jim Hauff]

Dave (DoctorReno),
Sorry to hear about your father. Welcome to the forum.
From your description, you've properly IDed your 922 as a 1st Model 5th Variation (1940 - 1947.) Wartime commercial H&R handguns are very SCARCE. I've seen or heard about only a handful during my years of collecting H&Rs. Apparently, H&R, during slack time from producing war goods, put a few pieces together, most likely from parts made before 1942. The numbers stamped on the side of the cylinder are the remnants of Patent numbers covering the "SAFETY RIM" cylinder and the "RICE" type, bird's head shaped grip frame. The roll stamp seems to have been wearing out for a number of years and H&R simply used it until there was nothing legible being stamped any longer.
When H&R began using the year code letter system - the letter code was followed by a sequential numeric which indicates the gun's manufacture number and not associated with the model. So, your gun was the 7679th hand gun produced in 1944, not necessarily all M922s. Not knowing how many commerial handguns were produced during that year, it is nearly impossible to pin down a date or month of production.

[DoctorReno]

Thank you, Mr Hauff. This is a treasure to me and it's nice to know that it has a bit of scarcety behind it's history. I need to find a gunsmith who is competent working on the older H&R's as the timing is a bit off and to just give it a thourough cleaning and an A-OK to fire the gun.

Again, thank you.
Dave

[Jim Hauff]

Dave,
You're very welcome. Glad to help out and thanks for thanking.

[colorado kid]

I was just given this exact model to me by my father. it was missing some internals, but after hrs of research and ebay watching, i have been able to track them all down. I'm having some issues not knowing how to install the trigger spring, as the original was long gone upon receiving it. I have not been able to track down a schematic, as well as most who have tried. can anyone help with this situation. its a 1st gen 5th variation 9 shot round barrel

[hrf]

Originally Posted by colorado kid

I was just given this exact model to me by my father. it was missing some internals, but after hrs of research and ebay watching, i have been able to track them all down. I'm having some issues not knowing how to install the trigger spring, as the original was long gone upon receiving it. I have not been able to track down a schematic, as well as most who have tried. can anyone help with this situation. its a 1st gen 5th variation 9 shot round barrel

Does it have a flat or coil mainspring? Numrich shows a schematic for the late type with coil mainspring that also used a little coil spring (part #36) for the trigger:
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/...spx?catid=8014

But their list for the early model 922 shows a replacement trigger spring of the V-type so obviously not interchangeable.

[colorado kid]

It has the flatmainspring and the horseshoe style trigger spring. It was all missing so I have nothing for reference to install the new one