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S&W Hand Ejectors: 1896 to 1961 All 5-Screw & Vintage 4-Screw SWING-OUT Cylinder REVOLVERS, and the 35 Autos and 32 Autos


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Old 06-12-2013, 09:30 PM
lugginiron lugginiron is offline
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I would appreciate help in identifying this pistol. Images are attached via URL. I believe the finish is nickel, perhaps a "satin" nickel? It almost looks like stainless steel. The S/N is 9810, and the last patent date is 1901. Thanks in advance.

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Old 06-12-2013, 11:07 PM
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Welcome to this forum. No, it's not an I frame. It's a 32 Winchester Hand Ejector 1st model on the K frame. I had to blow up your pix.
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Last edited by Hondo44; 06-12-2013 at 11:21 PM.
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Old 06-13-2013, 12:50 AM
TACC1 TACC1 is offline
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Nice gun, nice pics.
Thanks for sharing, lugginiron.
Thanks, Hondo44.
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Old 06-13-2013, 03:28 AM
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The link wasn't appearing for me so I dived into the source code and restated a couple of images to make them appear in this thread.





One minor revision to the description offered above. That is actually an early Model of 1902 Military & Police in .32-20, and it would have shipped in 1902 or 1903. Thus it is a second model rather than a first model, which was made from 1899 to 1902.

That may have been refinished in a satin nickel, but the gun was not overpolished before it got its new surface. Because of the bright illumination I can't tell if the hammer and trigger show the original color case hardening. If they are plated, then the gun is definitely refinished because the factory standard was to leave those parts alone when they refinished a gun. Usually plated or blued triggers and hammers are found on guns refinished outside of the factory by services unfamiliar with S&W standards.
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Old 06-13-2013, 05:26 AM
Hondo44 Hondo44 is offline
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Oh my goodness, David you are so right. I changed it about 3 times because I kept typing it wrong, and in the end I wound up confusing myself! Thx for catching that. And I was so intrigued about it being just 1 number inside the Model 1902, 2nd Model serial range!
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Old 06-13-2013, 08:51 AM
lugginiron lugginiron is offline
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There's a lot I don't know about guns. Although there is a "32 Winchester" on the barrel, why would there be a S&W emblem on the frame? Also, where can I find more info on the pistol? Many thanks!
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Old 06-13-2013, 08:51 AM
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Jim, it looked like a 32 HE to me at first, but with the last patent date 1901, it could not have been a Model 1903. I have had nickel finishes like that on handguns I have owned in the past, but never quite figured out how the frosted look was achieved?
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Old 06-13-2013, 08:56 AM
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The trigger and hammer are not plated, but are just near-black steel. Does that help?
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Old 06-13-2013, 10:00 AM
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The typical way to get a frosted plated surface is to bead-blast the metal to give it a light "tooth" prior to plating. The smoothness of the base metal surface determines the reflectivity of the plated or blued finish. A light bead blasting would not obliterate the original stampings in the metal.

An unplated trigger and hammer are correct for a factory-plated S&W, but is not positive proof of originality. I doubt the frosted nickel plating is original, as I am not aware that bead-blasting was even performed during this period of manufacture. There could have been other procedures used instead of bead blasting, such as a mild acid etch, but I doubt it.

.32 Winchester was simply the common name of the cartridge back then. It was also called the .32 WCF (Winchester Center Fire), and the .32-20. All are synonymous.

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Old 06-13-2013, 05:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lugginiron View Post
There's a lot I don't know about guns. Although there is a "32 Winchester" on the barrel, why would there be a S&W emblem on the frame? Also, where can I find more info on the pistol? Many thanks!
lugginiron,

Sorry I mislead you. It is a Smith and Wesson revolver, and it's chambered for the .32 Winchester cartridge; also known as the 32 WCF (Winchester Center Fire) and .32-20 (.32 caliber bullet with 20 grains of black powder).

Modern .32-20 ammo however is loaded with smokeless powder and is safe to shoot in your gun.

A search in this forum for .32-20 will give you tons of info about your gun. Just click on 'SEARCH' in the very top bar on this page.
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Last edited by Hondo44; 06-13-2013 at 05:15 PM.
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