An extreme rarity, so much so that its identification remains not entirely certain - regardless, I don't ever expect to come across another. You won't find one of these in any book.

wow thats a well worn s&w revolver and its probably old than my 88 year old grandpa

Examine the logo, medallions and ejector rod tip very carefully . . . I don't believe it's an S&W.

Russ

Now that's a real mutt.

I can tell you it's definitely not a Spanish knock-off, which wouldn't be uncommon..

Not sure what it is but I don't think I would shoot it. Might be okay for pistol-whipping someone though.

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Expect no quarter.

NRA fine...retains 80% original finish with mirror bore and strong rifling...grips unnumbered...collect or shoot, your choice.

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Regards, Ty

Is the bottom word in the logo on the left "DAVAO?" Hard to tell from the photo. Davao is in the Philippines.

Russian??????

Perhaps a look at the markings atop the barrel will resolve the mystery....

I've spent waaaay too much time on GB. So what is it?

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Regards, Ty

Czech???????

Whatever it is , it's NOT a Smith & Wesson.

Oh, that really helps . . . maybe not so much!

Russ

The "TRADE" and "MARK" above and below the S&W logo are also gibberish, as is the supposed caliber marking on the right side of the barrel.

The stocks are carved from horn and inset with evidently genuine S&W medallions.

It must be Greek, cause it's all greek to me!

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Don Mundell

Manufactured by someone who doesn't know English for sale to someone else who doesn't know English but who thinks characters in the Roman alphabet, upside down or not, are evidence of S&W manufacture if they are stamped on the same part of the gun.

I get a heavy Khyber Pass vibe from this effort.

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David Wilson

What does it say on the end of the box?

You did get the box didn't you?

Now that's funny

It's from India!

I'm obsessed with this post

My thoughts align with DCWilson's. I'm going to go with "hand made in the middle of nowhere", ala "Khyber Pass" guns.

Rob

Me, too ! "Khyber Pass". The gibberish stampings are the giveaway.

Larry

Cannot rule out Kashmir, for sure.

Excellent analysis, sir. Across that region there is a long tradition of fabricating functional copies of modern arms using nothing but the simplest of hand tools. The choice of horn as material for the stocks also is suggestive of that part of the world being this revolver's birthplace.

However, I cannot exclude the possibility of this being of Chinese origin. They certainly also copied many western firearms (and some Japanese ones, too), and Smith & Wesson revolvers were not uncommon in that country in the first half of the last century.

Incidentally, the overall workmanship is not bad at all. There're really no rough edges, the action is functional and actually S&W smooth. It's not crudely made, aside from the individually stamped, nonsensical characters I've noted. It's even serial numbered, with the four digits on the butt being the same as the four applied to the rear face of the cylinder. So it's matching, go figure.

is the markins backwords???

sorry my spelling is Bad

Not so bad as the person who applied those markings....

So Goony...do you actually KNOW the source of this gun? Are you just messin' with us? Or is it entirely open for speculation and debate with the truth never to be determined?

Rob

When does this end?

Oh man where did you get that?

That gun belongs to me. It was stolen from my Great Grandfather in 1944.

When he returned from the War, my Great Grandmother bought it for him as a gift on the occasion of the birth of my Grandfather. His name was Hnv4kas.

The markings are actually and inscription which reads "For my dearest Coryelle. May we never be parted again."

It brings tears to my eyes that someone finally tracked this momento down.

My poor Great Grandparents both suffered from dyslexia. They could read it just fine.

I hope soon, I haven't ate supper yet cause I'm wanting to find out.....

Usualy they are spain or beligum, but that looks ruskie to me!

I changed my mind. I think its made in the phillipines. Google is your friend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davao_City

How about Vietnam? Dale

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"Long live the S&W 3rd. Gen.!"

I do not know with certainty, and I in fact stated that in my initial post. I've given you my best estimate - either the northern Asian subcontinent, or China. I just thought S&W aficianados would enjoy seeing an oddball such as this.

Obviously, I aggravated someone in charge, too, because the thread has been moved....

That's a real dandy! If it shoots good then you got it made. I've seen guns that rough before that were good shooters. Not really BBQ quality, but reliable. Have you shot it. Is it a GTC LPS 83.? That does kinda look like Russian writing to me, but then what the heck do I know.
Good luck with it,
Gordon

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better have that checked

Those marks are even more hosed than the average Khyber Enfield. I agree that it is likely from there.

I couldn't find this post and I was freaking out but I'm good now.

Yes, it chambers .38 Special (.38 S&W does not fit) - so theoretically, I can run 147 grain +P+ through it???

In all honesty, its major flaw is that the crane does not latch in tight - a bit too much play to be comfortable shooting it as is, although the condtion is probably correctible.

I've seen a fair amount of these handmade firearms over the years and they can be very interesting projects to try to decypher their origin. I saw Chinese made specimens in Korea and bring backs from WW2 and Nam. Goony's gun I'd say came from the Phillipines. Ed.

photoshopped

Send it back to the manufacturer, they have the skilled technicians that can make it work like new, even if they have no idea which side is the top of a roman alphabet letter. (which would suggest Khyber more than the Philippines).

Life time warranty?

So,how much did it set you back? I was waiting for somebody to ask,but I need to go to sleep.
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

I had a buddy in 'Nam who had one like it, but chambered in .43 Bubbenstein Improved.

Have you fired any +Ps in it yet?
Or do you think its not rated for +Ps?

Rule 303

My guess would be that it was made in one of the areas of China that had a heavy "White" Russian presence after the Russian Civil War. Well "nominally" China - most of these areas had various oddball warlords for a great many years. Manchuria - which was fairly industrialized - even maintained a large White Russian presence during its days as a Japanese puppet state.

The stamping to me looks like someone didn't read Russian or English, but thought to make something that looked like it would combine the two. Some of the warlords were actually Russians.

For quite some time, the Khyber guns that were copies seem to have evidenced curious attempts at markings that more closely matched English. For examble you might see an AK copy stamped "Rolex" or "Glock". If it was a khyber gun, a lot of the locals knew at least some English as a trade language. Thus they'd have tried to call it a Webley or Colt or even a Mauser.

I'd be tempted to try shooting it with .38 cowboy loads and seeing what happened.

Anyway, Japanese officers had to obtain their own handguns, and the PLA also pressed everything laying around into service for Korea. Either could have then led to it being a GI bring back. Still later the PLA gave odds and ends of aid to the Viet Minh/Viet Cong and the Russians dumped a lot of old captured weapons on them - hence another potential entry source into the country.

That was my first thought too.

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

As I said, China's on my list as a place of origin for this piece. It's got to be somewhere where familiarity with the English alphabet is low, and I deduce this from not just the fact that the markings are gibberish, but that characters are frequently upside down, too.

The one thing that I think is expecially interesting and that nobody has latched onto yet is that those appear to be genuine S&W medallions inset into the horn grips. So wherever this gun came from, there had to be a supply of those, and China might qualify on that count also (think of all the Royal Hong Kong Police guns that have been posted on this forum that have had Victory-style plain stocks substituted for the originals).

One other tidbit. I mentioned earlier that this revolver bears a four digit serial number. Each of those digits are different, and they match throughout the gun (butt, rear cylinder face, crane, and frame again in the crane recess) which suggests that the number is a legitimate identifier. That in turn implies actual production as opposed to a "one-off" or a very small batch of guns. As I have also previously observed, aside from the markings the revolver overall looks manufactured as opposed to cobbled.

Looks like it's got a little "honest wear" on it. Make a good truck gun.

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S&WCA # 2045