1954 model 55 Iver Johnson

Question
Bob.... I am trying to locate a gun that I owned as a kid. The 1954 Model Iver Johnson Target .22 has the same grips as mine and may have been made for several years prior to 1954. 1955 has a different grip. I have searched the web trying to find a high-resolution photo of this gun or the gun to purchase. Can you help?

Answer
Hi Bill.

Finding images on the web can be tricky.  Most people don't post photos of their firearms unless they are for sale and when the sales end the photos are usually removed.  Even if you do find the right photo they are often small or low resolution so they may not be suitable for enlargement or printing.  One tool that can help you is Google's Image Search feature.  Here is a link that will bring up the search results for you:

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&q=%22Iver+Johnson%22+revolver

This search returned 1,580 image results and I am not familiar with the specific grip style that you are looking for so you will need to browse through the results and hopefully you will get lucky.  If not then try revising the search terms by using variations such as "Iver Johnson Pistol", "Iver Johnson 1954", etc. and place key terms within quotes to receive more accurate results, but not necessarily all search terms or you may get fewer results.

Another good way to find firearms photos (and possibly a good deal on the firearm itself) is to search the various auction sites about once a week.  The ads posted on these sites change every day so you need to keep checking back until you come across what you are looking for.  Here are links to some of the more popular auction sites:

http://www.auctionarms.com/
http://www.gunbroker.com/
http://www.gunsamerica.com/

If this doesn't work then you might try visiting your local library or searching the web for books on Iver Johnson or other similar old-model revolvers.  Many times those books will have lots of photos and you could get lucky but this is a time consuming approach so I would recommend the other options above.

Good luck with your search!

Bob