Hello I am new to the forum thank you for having me. I have a Smith & Wesson old army No.2. It is a bit od

Looks like a 3 pin to me. Probably couldn't get the 3rd pin out before a refinish, so they just buffed it down. (you can see it just aft of the center pin.) What does the other side look like?

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Welcome to the Forum. That is a 3 pin from 1865. The 991 should be the assembly number which was stamped on the butt-frame, the front of the cylinder and the rear of the barrel assembly. Heavy buffing is most likely the reason why the barrel number is gone. The messed up slot and depression below the barrel was actually a small headless screw that held the latch in place.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

What the gun has going for it is that the metal is smooth and not badly pitted from black powder shooting. The problem areas are that the stocks look as if they have been sanded to the point they are way undersized on the frame and there is basically no original finish left. That condition would put your gun in a Good condition rating category. Even at that rating, there is still a market and I would make a guess at $400.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I believe we are looking at an early attempt at a restoration or at least a reblue. This appears to be a basement reblue such as my father tried in 1958 when the #2's were not worth squat. I agree that the third pin has been buffed flat to the frame and the grips sanded undersized. The overall appearance is nice but I suspect either a cold blue or a salt blue gone bad. If I didn't own the revolver that was redone by my father, I'd say it was his work; except that the springs are not broken from the hot-blue bath. I hope the "Model 2 Project" tome (Ron Curtis, et. al.) will be published in my lifetime as these S&W, #2 Army's are fascinating to me.

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Mike Maher #283

My golly . that poor ole girl is over 150 years old. Can you imagine how
many little boys hands that gun has been thru. Its amazing she made it this far. We use to take them down by the creek and shoot up every old box of ammo we could find. Darn the 50s were fun.

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

I agree with the above comments. The gun is a 3 pin gun. The 991 is the assembly code. $400 is about tops that it would bring in an auction as a parts donor or wall hanger. On the issue of when Ron Curtis's tome on the Model 2 Army might appear, it's probably not in the cards in our lifetime. Ron's notes, research and manuscript has been turned over to Roy Jinks to write the book as a joint author, as Roy has records of the Civil war shipments of Model 2s to Kittridge& Co. & the Kentucky cavalry that were not made available to Ron. Roy's work with factory letters, etc., does not presently allow him to devote any time to a Model 2 book, plus Roy would like to bring his "History of Smith & Wesson" book up date to include guns made after the book was originally printed, etc., however cooperation of the current S&W management is needed and they are balking. Ed.