The H&R 622 Revolver

This was my father's revolver, the only one he ever owned, as far as I know. I first shot it when I was around 10 years old. We owned a small farm when I was young which we rented out, and in between tenants we'd go work on the house and the grounds, and in between work I was allowed to do some plinking with this pistol and an old .22 rifle. It wasn't terribly accurate (note the 3" barrel and fixed sights) but it did teach me safe gun handling. It was rather clumsy to load and unload, too. There's a cutout in the rear shield on one side where one can hypothetically load and unload the cylinder, in the manner of a single action, but there's no ejector. I suspect the cutout was added by an amateur gunsmith. [n.b. See the comments below- I'm told this is a "witness slot" to see if the gun is loaded]  Practically speaking you had to remove the cylinder to load and unload, using the cylinder pin as an extraction tool.

The firing pin is a part of the hammer, as is common with cheap .22s. It's not a rebounding hammer, which means that you have to be careful lest you have the hammer resting on cartridge in the cylinder. That's an accident waiting to happen unless you leave one cylinder empty- not a big problem, as this is a 9-shot revolver, but still a safety hazard for the unwary.

My father kept the gun in his bedside stand, and later in his basement office in my parents' new home. When he died, I searched for it, but couldn't find it. A few years later, a woman who cleaned house for my mother found it, and in the manner of people unfamiliar with guns everywhere, she pulled the trigger. Bang! The bullet luckily didn't hit anyone or strike where it could do great damage (like a gas line, or my Mom); instead, it punched through the side of an old ironing mangle, where I found it several years later.

My mother phoned me and asked me to come over and get the gun, which I did, and transferred it to my name. I don't think I've fired it since then, and that was about 14 years ago. It's not accurate, it's impractical, clumsy, unattractive, and only worth about $50, if that. I don't want to sell it, because I think it's unsafe- an accident waiting to happen in the hands of someone not familiar with the problems in this design. Part of me thinks I should just take it down to the State Police for disposal, but it is sort of a family heirloom.

UPDATE: As heirlooms go, it's a pretty cheesy one, so I sold it. The new owner plans to use it as firearms training with beginners.