Help with ID and any other info

[Treetrimmer]

My father left me a revolver he carried while being employed as a brakeman for the railroad during WWII.
Smith & Wesson
32 cal, top break, 5 shot, 3 screw, Strain Screw, fixed sights, 6" barrel, cylinder s/n matches frame s/n but unable to find a barrel s/n. Any info on this gun would be appreciated.

[murphydog]

Welcome! You have a .32 Double Action, 4th model that dates to sometime in the mid-late 1890s. The 6" barrel is unusual, the vast majority had shorter barrels. It is typical for the hard rubber stocks to have chips and cracks, as they were/are fairly fragile. This one appears to be in better than average condition for age, as many were shot with black powder loads, heavily pitted and/or refinished. Hope this is helpful.

[glowe]

Welcome to the Forum. The serial number tells me that your 4th Model was shipped in either 1891 or 1892. 32 S&W ammunition is hard to find, but keep looking in online ammo sites and you will run across either US or European boxes sooner or later. Standard currently made 32 S&W ammo should function fine in your revolver, as it looks to be in very nice condition. Curious if the gun holds solid in single action. I find many of these guns suffer from push-off, making shooting them in SA somewhat dangerous.

The Fourth Model was made from 1883 to 1909, with about 240,000 were manufactured. This is a pretty common gun, but the 6" barrel is scarce. The 32 DA has suffered from collector neglect and many are available for sale at very low prices. I picked up one in pristine condition 6" 4th Model a few months ago for under $250.

Forgot to reply to one of your comments. The serial number of the revolver is stamped between the "ears" at the rear of the barrel latch frame. The bottom of the latch should have the serial number and if you raise it and look at the rear of the top strap you will usually find 3 numbers on each side of the latch. If you watch ebay, you will find some 32 DA stocks for sale that will look nice on your gun. If the stocks are serial numbered to the gun (inside right stock) I would keep them to go with the gun. I have used black 2 part epoxy to do repairs on these stocks and there are experts who can repair the original stocks if desired.

[Treetrimmer]

Thanks for the quick response and thanks for the info. I don't really plan on shooting with this gun. I wanted to be able to tell my son what the gun really is.
Thanks again.

[Treetrimmer]

Thanks for replying. I'll look under the grips for s/n. Would like to replace the grips tho. Thanks again.