Your revolver is the descendent of S&W's very first solid frame, swing-out cylinder revolver, called the .32 Hand Ejector Model of 1896. The frame they were built on became known as the I frame. There were various mechanical changes made over the years. When S&W assigned model numbers in 1957, the then-current .32 H.E. became the Model 30. The I frame was a bit too small to chamber the .38 Special, and S&W began making a new frame that was slightly bigger, called the J frame, in 1950, for the Chiefs Special. Over the next few years, S&W phased out the I frame, changing their small .22, .32 and .38 S&W revolvers to the bigger J frame to standardize production. As these guns were built on J frames, S&W added the "-1" to their model numbers. The change to the Model 30 occurred in 1960 and the .32 H.E Model 30 became the Model 30-1. The H prefix serial numbers began with H1 in 1969. Your 30-1 was shipped from the factory about 1971-1972. (Information from Roy Jinks' book 'HISTORY OF SMITH & WESSON.')
The Model 30-1 was USUALLY made with a round butt frame, with 2, 3 and 4 inch barrels, the last being the least commonly seen. Blue and nickel finishes. A very similar gun with a square butt frame is the Model 31-1. There were also revolvers made in the same formats chambered in .38 S&W, known as Model 32-1 and 33-1, and these were 5 shots.
The Model 30-1 was discontinued in 1976. The Model 31-1 evolved through 31-2 and 31-3 and were discontinued in 1991, but the small .32 revolvers were not big sellers and Model 31-2 and 31-3 guns aren't commonly seen.
The little guns, chambering the .32 S&W Long cartridge, are a lot of fun to shoot. They don't kick very hard. Handloading the cartridge is really inexpensive once you have brass, since it uses light weight bullets (compared to .38 and larger caliber rounds) and tiny powder charges.
Last edited by BUFF; 12-15-2012 at 04:06 PM.
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