32 short, top break, "owl head", serial number is 97xxx, Patent dates are 4/86, 2/87, 5/87 and 12/93.

Barrel and chambers are pristine, but pitting on the topstrap near the cylinder gap and at the "forcing cone" (really just the end of the barrel.)

Spring is leaf, not coil.

I am told some of these are black powder only. I've been told that if the owl is looking at the barrel the gun is BP only but I do not know if this is true.

By the way the gun store employee could not open it. He apologized that he was "supposed to open it" before he gave it to me but eventually let me show him how. He then swore up and down that it was a 32 S&W "Long" because the paper tag said it was. Of course it is a 32 S&W.

This is the second gun I have seen in the store bearing the wrong caliber marking. They are nice people, not dishonest, just not thorough, in my opinion. They had 32 long on their shelves and could have checked it in about 30 seconds, they would have known immediately that it was not 32 S&W long.

I did not care, I can load 32 S&W and I can load it with black powder if that is necessary.

The post-1909 guns are the ones safe for smokeless powder. They have four pins in the frame, one of them very thin. The older guns had only two. The newer guns have positive cylinder stops, the older ones don't. Those are the easiest ways to tell whether the gun is safe for smokeless.

The left photo is of a post-1909 revolver. Note the four pins and the positive cylinder stops. The right photo is of a pre-1909 revolver, with two pins and without positive cylinder stops. The right hand guns is hammerless, thus the Glock-like safety in the trigger.

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So mine has 2 pins. Any idea about the year of manufacture?

I will buy some 32 brass and load it with either Goex or Pyrodex.

Iver Johnson revolvers normally have the full serial number (usually with a letter prefix) under the left grip. The visible serial is usually just part of the full number. Does yours have a lever type latch on one side of the topstrap or the more typical T-latch? The lever was only used on early guns (1894 production). The T-latch was stronger and replaced it.

The 32's are small frame guns, one in the 96*** range without a letter prefix would be 1894/1895 production depending on the style of latch used. If it has a letter prefix I would have to know the letter to determine when it was made.

There are no serial numbers under the grips. The latch is the lever style. It is hard to believe two things: 1) that the gun is so old, because the bore and the nickel plating are so pristine. 2) I got the remnants of a box with it.

I'm pretty chuffed that it may be so old.

Cyrano - does your "Smokeless" Owl face the same direction as the Black Powder Owl? A web page claims that they face different directions but does not prove this with pictures.

Iver Johnson was born 1841, in Norway.

The late Bill Goforth told me that it was believed that the Owl was Mr. Johnson's Masonic symbol.

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With the lever style latch and no number under the grips yours should be 1894 production. The Iver Johnson book shows @ 100,000 made in the first year so yours would have been made near the end of the year. Sounds like yours was used very little. Seems like a lot of people bought a gun, shot it a few times and put it in the drawer in case of emergency.

On your grip question, third model grips are different than the earlier versions. Without having them side by side it's not as obvious but essentially the owls head is rotated so that the bottom of the beak is more in line with the vertical axis of the grip on the third model not angled forward as on the earlier ones.

I'm glas that Desi2358 was able to answer your question. I have disposed of most of my IJ collection and the only post 1909 (safe for smokeless powder) model I have is one with wooden grips, witnout an owl.

The combined expertise on this forum amazes me.

Also amazes me.