I'm guessing a nickeled trigger guard on one of these is usually evidence of a refinish, but other than the trigger guard, everything else on this one appears kosher to my eyes.

Were these ever known to have shipped with a nickel-plated trigger guard from the factory (e.g. as part of a special order)? If so, would a factory letter be able to confirm this?

The gun in question (87XXX) has all matching parts except the grip panels.

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Hello Bubba, nice little 32 cal. Tough call from pics. Just shoot it and dont loose any sleep over it.

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

It appears that your revolver is nickel?? The trigger guard does not match the rest of the gun. The trigger and hammer are very faded, so the gun has been well used. My guess it that some owner wanted to plate the trigger guard after the bluing wore off. Having said that, anything is possible from the factory, but the work on the trigger guard looks too new??

The photo shows the parts on a 32 DA that were normally not plated.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

That's my guess as well. The bluing wears off and some owner along the line removed the guard and had it plated. The color and sheen on the guard indicates more recent work than the rest of the gun.

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

The case colors on the trigger and hammer are indeed faded compared to my other top breaks. The "flats" of the trigger guard have the same matte sanded appearance as the blued ones do on my other top breaks and the one in your photo (i.e. if it was originally blued and plated over, they didn't buff it first), which makes it looks look brighter in the photos. I've attached a closeup of the area. I may try and take some better pics outdoors this weekend.

That said, it makes sense the trigger guard could have been removed and nickel plated separately after the fact.

The gun itself has some "handling marks", but virtually no finish wear except around the grips (the nickel is mostly worn off the butte).

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If you look through period Major Distributor catalogs? They sold original factory replacement parts for Smith & Wesson revolvers. So it’s just as likely the trigger guard was at one time replaced likely from the gun being dropped and damaging the original guard. How many times have you seen a dented trigger guard? I’ve seen a few!
Very easy to change them and they aren’t numbered.
It looks very nice in my opinion.

Murph

Funny you should say that, as the two most prominent dings are at the end of the barrel and on the knurling on the right-hand side of the gun (first photo). This side also has the known non-matching grip (serial number 215XXX stamped like my 1909 DA perfected, my 1889 38 DA has the serial scratched on the grips). I had considered the possibility the gun had been dropped and possibly broke the grip on that side, but of course this is pure speculation.

As for a replacement trigger guard, would it have been available nickeled?

I don't have my reference books in front of me but the trigger guard should be the 'recurve' type. This trigger guard looks like the round type. I believe it to be a replacement.

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Mike Maher #283

Major Distributors were capable If just about anything. They are documented as receiving guns “ Soft” or “in the white” From the factory. Meaning no finish. Only to finish the gun in whatever the customer preferred and even apply elaborate engraving.
I have a silver finish Smith & Wesson that was shipped nickel according to factory records. The Silver finish is very old and on the backstrap is engraved fancy KAISER. Obviously done special order by the distributor.

They could have also received spare parts soft and decided to nickel finish some. You have to admit, it does look nice.

Murph

Per the SCSW, the rounded trigger guard is correct for the 4th model 32 DA. The 38 DA continued to use the recurve trigger throughout its production.

I'll take it!!

This thread is why this place is so great. A simple question about a possible refinish on trigger guard has spawned the sharing of a wealth of information regarding operations at S&W 100 years ago. So cool.

There is a dealer in Georgia (Brent Wilburn at Antique Arms) that has sold a few of these 32 DA's with nickel trigger guards and claims they are factory, though from the descriptions in his previous sales I'm inclined to believe he came to this conclusion on his own vs. relying on any definitive documentation (see here and here for two examples). My gun was not purchased from him, nor does it appear to be one he's sold, but it does have the same type of guard.

It seems credible there was a source for these at some point (vs. one-off refinish jobs), if not from the factory then a parts supplier or distributor would make sense.

Excellent examples Bubbashakers,

I’ve had this same discussion with 41 Derringer Remington collectors where they argue that Remington never nickel plated hammers claiming “ refinish” but every one of their Smoot Revolvers has nickel plating on the hammer that is obviously factory!
The more you research the subject the more you can find examples that in my opinion are directly related to the extreme popularity of nickel plating during a time when corrosion was a real life issue! So factory finish is always possible!
Murph

BubbaShakers is correct. 4th Model .32 DA has the round trigger guard. 3rd Model has the recurve guard. I searched my records and the only nickel guard found was from a factory engraved example that I had. Since this was an original revolver and lettered, a factory nickel guard is possible.

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Mike Maher #283