Hand ejector. Serial number on butt of Handel is 23624. Has a lot of markings stamped onto it.
.,45 caliber , 7.5 inch barrel. Lanyard loop also
6 shot

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Welcome to the forum.

You have a pretty darned nice ".455 MK II Hand Ejector 2nd Model" and yeah it's a classic; the 3rd version British Svc Revolver made under contract to S&W for WW I. It went overseas in 1916.

Have you shot it? Which cartridge? It looks like it's been converted to 45 AR/ACP or Colt. Is the serial # still on the rear face of the cylinder?

Do you have a photo of the barrel cartridge marking?

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Thanks. I have shot it with 45 long colt and 45 acp with 1/2 moon clips
No caliber on the barrel at all.

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I don't want to damage it with modern cartridges . I might handload some light ones just to keep it working every once in a blue moon.

Looks like it was in Canadian service at one time too.

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Life NRA, Life TSRA, C&R FFL

Welcome to the Forum.

That's a good idea to load light. The .45 ACP is about 25% more powerful than the original .455 chambering.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Muley Gil above, is correct. The only factory ammo you don't want to shoot is 45 ACP, it's rated 19,000 pressure to reliably activate the a 1911 Auto's slide. The 1917 revolvers chambered for ACP have heat treated cyls. Your 455 does not.

However, the 455 MK I and II, 45 Colt, and 45 Auto Rim are all rated at 14,000, therefore any of those off-the-shelf standard factory loadings are safe. Or reload 45 ACP to 45 AR specs.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

That's a 6.5 inch barrel, not 7.5 inches. Get a new ruler.

I had one of those in the original .455. Nice guns.

I am a bit concerned about how you can fire 45 acp in moon clips and 45 colt. These rounds headspace differently. Headspace in a revolver is the distance between the face of the case and the recoil shield. A 45 colt cartridge rim is much thinner than a 45 acp with a moon clip. A 45 acp cylinder is about .035 shorter on the rim end than a 45 colt cylinder. If the 45 colt rim sits flat on the cylinder and you fire it in a gun that allows for 45acp in moon clips the case will have an extra .035 run at the recoil shield and slam into it with extra momentum.

There are 2 ways that this can be avoided if the cylinder was set up to do this. One is the center portion of the cylinder is recessed for full moon clips and the outer edge is left with a partial ledge that part of the 45 colt rims sit on to headspace it correctly. The other method is when reamed to 45 colt the reamer is taken to a depth where the front edge of the case sits on the tiny ledge where the chamber converts to bullet throat diameter. This is not the best method as a 45 colt uses a roll crimp on the case mouth as apposed to a round that is designed to headspace at this location using a tapered crimp. It is not a real positive headspace method with a roll crimp cartridge as a roll crimp gives a rounded front edge as apposed to a square front edge on a tapered crimped one.

Please check the cylinder when you chamber a 45 colt. If the front edge of the rim sets flush with the cylinder face your going to have a horrible headspace and firing the 45 colt round will be very hard on your frame and I would NOT use 45 colts in it.

Another way to check is place a fired round in the cylinder and bring it to 12 o'clock and lined up on the firing position. At most a .010 feeler gauge can be slipped between the face of cartridge and recoil shield. If you gun is not correctly done you will see a large difference between the 45 colt space and the 45acp space in this location.

Another cylinder or cylinders in either 45 colt or 45acp could be fitted to this gun. Or one correctly set up to fire both. Here is a picture of a cylinder set up for 45 colt and milled for 45acp in moonclips. A cylinder set up this way will not fire 45 auto rims as the 45 AR case will hit the outer ledge and is to thick to allow the cylinder to close.

Welcome to the forum from North Dakota Nice old S&W you've got there. As you have read already on this thread, there are real experts here.

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John

Thanks for the info everybody. This is the first place anyone could tell me anything about this pistol.

It is very very seldom I can disagree with Hondo44, but I happen to have S/N 26007 which was shipped in Nov 1915, so yours being 2384 lower "should" have shipped a few months earlier in 1915. Being war time production I'm fairly certain it would have shipped shortly after mfg.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Welcome to the forum.

Regarding shipping dates and serial numbers assume nothing. I have two post war M&P .38 specials, 4" barrels. S/N C155xxx shipped in May 1950, S/N C113xxx shipped in Sept 1950.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I might be able to help with the proof marks on your excellent .455 MKII.


On it's trip to England it collected the small marks - top, back receiver.
Top - Broadarrow = British military acceptance mark
Next - Regent Crown = ownership by British Crown
Next - (lightly struck) E? = Inspected/Accepted at Royal Arsenal at Enfield and ? = inspectors number grade (can't make it out) likely a 2
Bottom - II = Mark 2 model, as opposed to Mark 1 Triple Lock

The large marks were applied after shipment from England to the Canadian military.

"C" encased Broadarrow = Canadian military acceptance mark

Broadarrow point to point = Deassession mark, meaning deassession/decommissioning by Canadian military and likely sold out-of-stores (out of inventory) as surplus. Although, I've never seen this mark over-struck this way. Presumably, the up-pointed arrow was lightly struck and the Canadian armourer re-struck both arrow shafts with the closest stamp type he had at the bench, kind of interesting.
Hope this is heplful.

PS, Its true that serial numbers shipped out of sequence is common with S&W in times of peace, but WWI production was much more fast & furious and revolvers like your WWI 455 didn't normally languish at the factory . They were shipped ASAP.

This is my favorite S&W N-frame even above the highly coveted Triple Lock. But, most here AND the great Elmer Keith disagree. Congrats on an early, non-refinished MKII.

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Jeb