Hello. This is my first post here and looking for some help. I just purchased my first .32 S&W Hand Ejector revolver. Serial number is 18087 so im guessing this might have been made 1903 or 1904? Overall, its in great condition and the bore is very good. All the numbers match including the right grip panel being stamped with the full serial number. The only part that I'm confused about is the front sight being pinned to the barrel. Has anyone seen a early hand ejector with this type of sight besides the model 1896 hand ejector? Normally, all of the ones that ive seen including my .38 Military & Police 2nd model of 1902 have a solid sight without the pin. I included a pictures for anyone to look at. If anyone has information on the front sight, feel free to share. Thank You.

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Merry Christmas and welcome aboard.

You have a little jewel and it appears to have it's original nickel plated finish. Once you get into these S&Ws a little, one of the first things you begin to realize is that although there are trends of how these guns were made, the main rule is, there are no rules!

For example, your front sight. Yes the Model 1903 - 2nd Model usually has the front sight blade forged integral with the barrel, except for target sights which will be pinned. But there can always be exceptions. Your pinned front sight looks perfectly factory and most likely it is. One thing you should do is pull the left grip and check for a "rework date" which will verify if the gun went back to the factory for any repairs, refinish, etc. If the front sight was damaged and went back for repair, that's how the factory would do it.


Photo thx to Colby Bruce.

__________________
Jim
S&WCA #819

Very nice, and welcome

Your S&W .32 HE was made June 11, 1904 as part of a production of 100 nickel plated revolvers with black hard rubber stocks. As said above, S&Ws with features uncommon to collectors show up all the time. It usually just means the factory was using up parts on hand, as they did not like to throw away any thing they could figure out a way to include in the manufacturing process of later models, or a gun was returned to S&W for modifications/repairs. In the case of you gun, if the forged front sight, or the barrel became damage, and it was returned to S&W for repair, I can see that a barrel with a pinned sight could easily have been used to replace a damaged barrel. If that was the case, you could expect to see a factory work code date on the left frame, as suggested above. Also a replaced barrel may. or may, not have the same patent dates as the original barrel. Ed.

Hello guys. I just brought the gun out of my safe and carefully removed the grips again to look for a factory rework code. The only mark I see on the left side of the inside grip frame is a small letter F. That's the only mark I see. My other question I forgot to ask before is what do the numbers stand for that are marked on the cylinder crane and the inside of the frame....normally this is the location where colt revolvers are marked with their serial numbers. Both sets of these numbers match. Thanks again for the help and merry christmas.

Those numbers you see are assembly/work numbers. They are used to reassemble fitted parts that have been disassembled after the soft fitting process in order to either plate or blue the gun. They have no relation to the serial number nor anything else and are not recorded anywhere as is the serial number. Since you did not find any repair codes, then your gun probably received the pinned sight barrel during original assembly, due to S&W using up old parts, or the barrel was repaired by a source outside the factory. The small "F" stamp is a fitter/assembler/inspector's stamp Ed.

Hi Ed. Thanks again for your responce. To me I think the gun is all original. Looks too good to be a modified sight. However, I have two other smith and wessons of the same period that I was wondering what year they were made. Would you be able help me with the years or dates in which they were made if I provide the serial numbers and what models they are?

Thanks again.
Will

Will, Pls. see PM. Ed.