A Friend in War
I came into possession of my blued 6” Smith & Wesson Model 14 K-38 Target Masterpiece .38 Special revolver in November 1986. I hadn’t planned anything special for the day, except my dad and I were visiting a close friend of ours, Harry. My dad and Harry worked together at a coal company for over 20 years and forged a friendship.
I came to know Harry when I was just a kid but was later privileged to be counted as his friend when an adult. Sometime in 1979, when both were retired, the two decided they wanted to visit each other on a more regular basis, so once or twice a month I would take my dad to visit Harry. It was during one of these visits I learned Harry had shot competitive Bullseye back in the 1950s and ‘60s.
One Saturday that November, we were sitting at his kitchen table talking about pistol shooting when Harry asked me to come with him because he wanted to show me something. I followed him to a back bedroom where he went into the closet and took something off the shelf. When he turned around, in his hand was his Smith & Wesson Model 14 K-38 Target Masterpiece in a well-worn shoulder rig. He took the revolver out of the holster, opened the cylinder, dropped the cartridges into his hand and then handed the gun to me. He looked me in the eyes and said he wanted me to have his revolver.
I was overwhelmed and humbled, but what he said next was an added kick to the gut. He said he wasn’t doing very well physically (something I already knew) and had recently been to see his doctor and was told he didn’t have much time to live. He knew how much I appreciated quality firearms and how much I enjoyed shooting and reloading and wanted me to have it.
He explained a little more about the gun, like how he had worked on the action so it would be as smooth as glass and as crisp a let-off as it could be for competitive shooting. Firing single action, it touched off at 2.5 pounds every time with no take up, no creep and zero overtravel, and in double action there was nothing equal to it. He had also replaced the factory wood stocks, but instead of purchasing a set, made his own out of Rosewood slabs and hand checkered and finished them.
Harry would pass in mid-1987, but I still have his revolver and love shooting it. I even use some of the .38 Spl military brass he gave me, loaded with his competition handload of 2.8-grains of Bullseye with a 148-grain lead wadcutter capable of tearing one-hole groups at 25 yards all day long! From information I’ve found online, the revolver was made in 1957 or ’58, which coincides with conversations I had with him.
Harry was a master mechanic, gunsmith and machinist — a true artist in woodworking and metal. But more than anything, he was also a great friend. His shoulder holster hangs on a hook in my reloading shop. Inscribed in its tan leather are the handwritten words “Thor. Son of Thunder. Friend in War.” That was Harry.
T.F.
