I randomly bought a .32 Long Hand Ejector Revolver a few days ago; I bought it for the pearl grips but after looking around a little bit I fell in love with this revolver, but I'm really wanting to know when it was made, if anybody could help me.
The butt of the gun has the numbers 85**, and so does another spot, although that has a "B" with it. If I open the cylinder I can see the numbers 117** twice, once with a "B" again.
From my own research, I'm PRETTY sure it was made around 1903, but I want to know for SURE and also which Model it was.
The patented numbers show April 9, 89; March 94; May 21, 95; Aug 4, 1896; Dec 22, 1896; etc... continuing until Sept 2, 1902; which is the last one.
Thank you for any help!!

That would be a .32 Hand Ejector, Model of 1903 (or Second Model). Your gun probably dates to 1903 or 1904.

You should also see the serial number on the flat underside of the barrel and on the rear surface of the cylinder. A couple of other places, too, but they are harder to see without partially disassembling the gun.

The five digit number is a process control number that means nothing once the gun leaves the factory. That was just the way S&W tracked parts before the serial numbers were applied.

Those old .32s are great fun to shoot. They can handle modern .32 Long ammo, but I restrict myself to .32 wadcutter target loads just to keep the stress down.

Pics? We love pics.

EDITED TO ADD: Excuse my manners. The first thing I should have said is, "Welcome to the forum."

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David Wilson

Ok then I'm pretty sure the serial number is 85**. The people who had it before didn't take good care of it at ALL, so that's why it looks so terrible in the picture. We just started trying to get it cleaned up.

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