5 inch nickelplated smith&wesson

I aqiured this one today,a nice gun in used condition,some minor wear on surface , no flaking of nickel ,and in some areas nickel has become milky,barrel is in very nice condition
and absolutly no pitting
a very low serial ,don't know what caliber ,but looks like a .44
very nice, original to the gun,mother of pearl grips
I picked this one out because of the strange (?) barrel lenght
any info on this gun would be nice,
thanks,Reinhard







this one is just for fun

reinhard, please; if it isn't a Bar-B-Q gun (Hi Dan M.) your Smiths are Nickel plated. I saw your Safety Hammerless photo and loved it. Mike #283

mmaher94087 said:

reinhard, please; if it isn't a Bar-B-Q gun (Hi Dan M.) your Smiths are Nickel plated. I saw your Safety Hammerless photo and loved it. Mike #283

Click to expand...

sorry Mike ,I am just a belgian hick with some knowledge on english, but what do you mean by if it isn't a bar-b-q gun

That's a TARGET!
Nice gun. You'll get more data soon.....

That appears to be a nickel finish, not chrome. There is also a star on the butt signifying that the gun went back to the factory for some reason. If you pull off the pearl stocks, there should be a date code stamped on the frame. That will tell you when it went back to the factory but not why. The finish despite the milky spots and blemishes looks very strong in other places and may indicate that the work done was a refinish. Hard to say without seeing it in person. Nice looking gun though.

I am not a collector but I can tell you that a target model with barrel length other than 6.5" is very unusual.

I would request a letter from Mr Jinks at the factory and find out the original configuration of the gun. The star signifies work done back at the factory and it would be interesting to know if it meant only a minor repair or refinish or something big like shortening the barrel or replacing barrel and cylinder. The serial number is low and early. I saw No 440 in a Philadelphia gun shop about 20 years ago.

"Bar-b-q gun": a bright nickel plated revolver (or chromed like chrome on an automobile bumper) usually fully engraved (sometimes cheaply) but a very flashy appearing six shooter with carved Mother-of-Pearl Steer head stocks with red Ruby eyes. Often seen in the early movie and TV westerns. They were made to impress people. Jokingly referred to as suitable to wear to a western Bar-be-que. Dan M. had a nice display of Bar-b-q revolvers at the SWCA Tucson show.
Smith & Wesson's were nickel plated. Automobile bumpers are chrome plated. Your english is very good; I'm jealous. Mike #283

A fella going to a BBQ (party) would take off his old work clothes & gun, & get dressed in his finest clothes, hat, boots & pistol to impress the ladies attending.

da gimp

Reinhard, Nice find. As said above, if that's an origial 5 in. barrel, it's very uncommon for a New Model # 3 Target . It's a very old refinish, but expertly done by the S&W factory. Caliber is probably .44 Russian, if there is no caliber marking on the barrel, however that model was made in numerous calibers, as it was a favorite of target shooters of it's day and could be ordered in various European calibers for the matches at Bisley, etc.
There are several French & Belgian dealers, nice gentlemen, that come annually to the winter Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, Antique Gun Show and have been buying this type of gun quite often for import back to Europe, as the gun laws there allow revolvers in obsolete antique calibers to be imported. Due to the favorable currency exchange rates for the Euro vs. the US dollar, they can pay my asking price and still make a profit selling the guns in Belgium, so maybe you are the lucky recipient of their labors!
I would suggest you get a factory historical letter for your gun, as sometimes a NM#3 Target model will show shipping to a known famous target shooter of the 1880s. The low serial number and the 5 in. barrel, are strong indicators that the gun was a special order by an individual or a dealer for a special customer. Good Luck, Ed #15

Mike, thanks for explaining to me, Ed thanks for your expert opinion, the possibility is great that whe know the same man,one belgian antique arms dealer is very well known in the US ,this fantastic guy has manny connections,most dealers from whole over Europe purchase their guns from this man,in this muppet country where I live gun rules became very liberal a few years ago especially for collectors,for example you cann not buy a45 colt automatic whitout license
....but the 45 auto russian contract, and the norwegian Köngsberg in 45 are free for sale I borrowed a book from my friend the antique dealer ,a guide on s&w revolvers
but cant make out what model it is ,I thought the targets where only in 32-44 and 38-44, so I was thinking that it may be could be an other modell,everything on the gun has the same serial ,cylinder, barrel, and target sight, I will contact s&w and ask what they cann tell me.......Edd, the guns purchased in your country ,are the same payed as in the Us and are in fact more expensive, for example when a gun is payed $3000 in the US than I pay for the same gun 3000€ ,and taxes and import taxes ,plus the profit off the arms dealer,so please dont think these guns come sheap to us,in fact whe pay a lot more than in the US, if the gun shown here by me is a $3000 gun,than I pay 3000€ and taxes , and the profit off the dealer translate that to $ and it will be 4000$+......most of them are too expensive for the average collector, I don't mean that I am a rich man, just an ironworker ,but I am fortunate to live alone ........no nagging from anyone ,on expanding my collection LOL

just took the grips off, there is a code on the frame 4-22 and a little encirckeld stamp

Reinhard, The 4.22 , of course, translates to April 1922 when the factory repair/refinish was done. The little encircled stamp is the worker's stamp in the service dep't. that did the repair work. There is a good chance that in the 1,000 of invoices for repairs stored in the Conn. Valley Historical Museum's S&W archives, there is an invoice for the gun showing exactly what the repair was for and who sent the gun back to the factory for the work. These invoices are usually filed by month & year and are not readily accessable to researchers at the present. Eventually this information will be digitized by the S&W Historical Foundation and then a letter from them will furnish a copy of the invoice, etc. Until that time, we can only get factory historical letters from Roy Jinks, the factory historian. I would urge you to get such a letter for your New Model # 3 .44 target model , as I think it could well reveal some interesting information, being a 3 digit serial number and a 5 inch barrel. I do not see any Belgian proof marks on the gun in your excellent photos, which tells me the gun has only been in Europe for a short time, imported as an antique requiring no proofing, so perhaps the nice gentleman, we both know, had a hand in bringing it to your collection.
I didn't mean to imply that the nice gemtleman from Belgium who comes to the US and buys guns from me, and others, for sale to European collectors is taking any unfair advantage. In the past it took maybe 4,000 Euros to buy a $3,000 gun. Now it's more like 2,500 Euros to buy the same gun in the US. Isn't currency exchange wonderful! Good luck, Ed #15

Reinhard, you are finding some beautiful old S&W's! When you removed the MOP grips did you find any markings on the back side of the grips them selves? Thanks for sharing your photos with us. Kyle

Ed thanks, none off the exported antiques has a Belgian proofmark since it would increase value, I will contact s&w next week, Kyle the grips off the gun are original to the gun ,the fitt is absolute perfect,too bad, nothing on the back was written,they where kind off sticking on the gun ,not from glue but I think the last time they came off was in the s&w shop,I will keep you posted,I know this is not a smith but I just wanted this pic to share with you,the last week all these nice condition guns seem to pop up ,not a smith but still a nice original gun,iver -johnson ,nickelplated 4 inch barrel in original box



ps;cylinder ,barrel ,and target sight bear's the same serial(5inch s&w target)

Reinhard,

Nice New Model 3 Single Action revolver. Just a few observations.

The gun was re-finished at some time. The absolute evidence of this is the fact that the Nickel is plated over a very generalized light pitting over most of the guns surface. This is particularly evident in your photos showing the sideplate, butt and rt. side of frame by the knuckle. This is not a bad thing as it also is another indicator that the plating is factory work. Most refinishers would polish the gun sufficiently to remove the pitting. S&W, not wanting to compromise strength by removing metal typically would strip the old finish, pickle the gun to clean the pitting, carefully polish and then plate. So, the plating over the pitting is a very good indication the finish is factory, a good thing. Another way to tell it is likely a factory re-finish is the extractor. If it is blued it is probably factory as most re-finishers would plate the extractor, which is incorrect. The blue latch, front sight and triggerguard are further evidence of a factory job.

The barrel latch still has the fixed rear sight on it!. This is not usually found on original "Target" models. It would seem likely that when it was re-finished it was also converted to a Target by replacing the front blade with a Paine sight and converting the standard latch to a target by cutting it for the adjustable blade. That explains the odd barrel length for a New Model 3 Target.

The Pearl stocks may or not be factory and original, it is difficult to know. There are no markings on these early guns to indicate if it was originally blue or Nickel as there are on post-1900 manufacture. Any pencilled matching marks (SN) on the stocks would be easily removed by simply rubbing with the finger. They could still be factory Pearl, but if added at re-finishing would likely have Gold medallions in them (by 1922). Early guns like yours could have non-medallion factory Pearl though.

Caliber. It is most likely a .44 S&W (American) or .44 S&W Russian. American can be problematic if you want to shoot it, but a Russian is a simple re-loading situation. .44 Special or Magnum cases can be trimmed to Russian length and standard cast .44 bullets loaded. To tell which cartridge it is chambered for simply look through the charge holes. If it is an American they will be bored straight through just like a .22, a Russian will have a distinct step visible about 1/2 way through the cylinder.

Another interesting point is the ejector housing on your gun. "Early" production had the older style geared extractor and a "Long" extractor housing. Your gun has the later "Short" extractor housing making it evident that the early style didn't last very long before this change. Your serial number puts this gun in 1878-1879.

Absolutely none of this is intended to be the least critical of your revolver. For a gun that is about 132 yrs old it should be expected that is has some history, and if what it appears to be is correct yours is very interesting indeed. Back "In the day" when your gun was returned to the factory, the new stocks, re-finish, and convert the sights to target configuration probably cost a whopping $6-8.

A remark for everyone who continues to insist that Nickel plating "Has to" have a Copper under-strike because Nickel can't be plated directly on steel, please note the muzzle wear on this gun and you will see there is no Copper under the Nickel! And this is virtually certain to be a factory plating job for the noted reasons.

Cute I-J too. I assume it is a .32 (unless you have really huge hands!)? It is probably a re-finish too, but a very good one.

hi,alk 8944 ,I inspected the gun with a magnifying glass and could not detect pitting under the nickel ,there are small cracks on the surface off the nickel ,the gun is most surtain refinished at one time,but I am alost sure this was done on the date stamped on the frame ,let's see what smith&wesson has to say on this gun

I hope the S&W letter doesn't say the gun was shipped with a longer barrel than the current 5 inches ! That would indicate, of course, that the April 1922 work might have included cutting the barrel to 5 in. Is the barrel rib stamping of the S&W name & address centered on the barrel? Ed.

Texas Bar B Ques

In Southwest law enforcement circles, if you're invited to a Bar B Que, it often will include an informal shooting match. Officers tend to bring their best pistol. I remember Skeeter Skelton writing about such things when I was a kid.

Ed , the adress is right in the center of the barrel,

Reinhard, That pretty good proof that the barrel is an original 5 inch version. Very unusual for a three digit serial numbered gun. I'm still betting it is a special order gun You might be getting a very interesting factory letter!. Good Luck, Ed .