What do I have here???

B

Bernie Link

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P1070765_zpspchdhtej.jpg.html
P1070765_zpspchdhtej.jpg.html
I traded a guy a knife for this gun. Can anyone help me identify the gun because I have no idea. It's a .22, 8 shot revolver. The markings are hard to read but at the top of the frame near the fixed sights I think it reads "IJ Target sealed 8, JA&C wks, ??? Mass USA. Serial # M 1952 5. It seems like I have to take the cylinder pin out & remove the cylinder to eject the spent rounds. I'd like to know what it is, when & where it was made, etc.
bernie.link.7
Help??? I hope the pic came through.
 
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Iver Johnson, more than likely. I think "bicycle works" was part of their name. They made mid-quality handguns in something like the late 1800's and early 1900's.
 
You have a gun made by Iver Johnson's Arms and Cycle Works. It is a Target Sealed Eight it was made post war some time between 1945 and 1993 That M 1952 is not the serial number , it may be the date made. It is a very accurate Woods Gun " , made for the working man ( there was a recession in the aftermath of the Korean war, there wasn't a lot of spare money floating around.) It served it's purpose as an inexpensive working gun for the farmer, trapper, hunter. People knock it as a cheap gun, no it was not a cheap gun, it was an inexpensive gun made for the times. made in the times when it was more important to put put food on the table rather than toy.s
 
M1952 probably is the serial number, the Target Sealed 8 had prefixes of M or N.
Low M number is pretty old but round barrel indicates post WWII manufacture.
Any road, it would have cost $10.50 in 1939.
The only way to be sure to pin it down would be Bill Goforth's book on Iver Johnsons, I don't think there is a free www source.
 
Thanks guys, You've been a great help. I don't care what the gun is worth, it's really fun & cheap to shoot, I'll keep & enjoy it. I thought it was an old gun, now thanks to you, I have the history on it. Really appreciate your knowledge & time on this!
 
No, that's why I wrote " Maybe ", M prefix was used 1904 and that is a post war gun, . while most pre war Iver's can be dated to a precise date, not so the post war guns. Frankly Scarlet, I don't know what M1952 means. There is a lot of information missing from after 1945, Iver Johnson was going thru a lot of changes trying to come up with a long term winning formulae . So; don't know, It's not listed as a post war prefix and it looks like a date. so it was just a guess on my part. I could be wrong, I think I've been wroung before, no, on reflection I can safely say, I know I've been wrong before:)
 
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