Hi purkle,
Welcome aboard. Nana sounds like quite a lady! I swear I remember reading 30-40 yrs ago about her guiding somebody's Kodiak hunt.

The frame of your gun is definitely a Model 1917 frame. This is confirmed by the "GHS" initials at the top corner- in front of the hammer. That is Col. Gilbert H. Stewart, the chief inspector for the 1917's.

The "cylinder arm" is called a yoke.
There will be a number on that yoke, and the same number should be on the frame, in the cutout where the yoke fits. This may be the 1943 you refer to. These are just assembly numbers, NOT a date, and really have little meaning to us. They were put there to keep a fitted yoke with the frame it was fitted to.

That yoke WILL have a serial number, but it is hard to see. It is on the surface facing the front of the cyl. In other words, you have to look thru a chamber to see it, or take the cyl out of the gun, which is very easy to do. Remove the front sideplate screw, and the yoke will slide out of the frame, then you can wipe the dust off and see the number. It should match the number on the butt.

I'd love to hear more.

__________________
Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Oh what wonderful news Hande!
Alright so it does say GHS.. Is the Make of the gun still a S&W? I'm still confused as to Who made this revolver, or whom made the rest of it besides the barrel.

The number 1943 is indeed on the yoke and on the frame matching up like you said.

Tomorrow i will have the revolver back and i will look for this serial..

I have so many questions still.. Was this gun put together of many parts? The frame came from a military revolver the barrel from a later revolver? I'd like to know how many parts are from different revolvers that made up this family heirloom..

Also, as it sits.. should i try to get some papers for this? do i need to get papers for the barrel and for the frame? Is the barrel from a different revolver and the rest of the gun from the same one?

Geh! i sooo want to find out all this =)