model 1903 in 32 Winchester?

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giantpanda4

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Hi All,
I searched here and did not find the info that I'm sure many of you know right away...

I have (what I think is) a 1903 HE. It has a 6.5" bbl, and the barrel is stamped 32 Winchester Ctg. Not 32 Long. It also as an adjustable rear target type sight. Pinned front sight.
Serial number is 30777. There is a number on the frame also - 18248. maybe with a slash 1/8248. 30777 is also on the underside of the barrel. And, it has a square butt.

What is it? When made? I appreciate all info I can get.

Unfortunately, the internals are absent. No idea why, but I wish to restore it with the correct internals. It is only a barreled frame now.

Thanks, Mike Wank
 
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Hi Mike

giantpanda4 said:
I have (what I think is) a 1903 HE. It has a 6.5" bbl, and the barrel is stamped 32 Winchester Ctg. Not 32 Long.
Click to expand...
First off, it is not a Model of 1903. That was an I frame. The .32-20 HE is a K frame, so yours would be a Model of 1905.

It also as an adjustable rear target type sight.
Click to expand...
That alone makes it special! :) The target guns are much more scarce. Among target guns, the 6 1/2" barrel is more common than the shorter tubes.

Serial number is 30777
Click to expand...
Very likely shipped sometime in 1907. I show a fixed sight unit at 30116 that shipped in April of that year.
 
Welcome. Just wanted to advise you that the internals changed with about every change number in the 1905 M&Ps, especially the early ones. The 32-20 Hand Ejector , 1st Change (Model 1905 Military & Police) was the first revolver to have a rebound slide. The 1st Change was made from 1906 until somewhere around 1908, with only around 10,000 made. The 2nd Model had changes that would not allow many parts to work correctly in your revolver. To compound the problem, there was no hard date when the 1st Change ended production, so that makes it very difficult to tell if you are looking at parts for a 1st or 2nd Change gun? There were no patent dates added to the rib for the 2nd Change either, so both set of patent dates were the same.

Here is maybe the best reason why you might not want to tackle the job of putting the gun back together. The time and cost to assemble all parts will be more than the gun is worth. You can buy a functioning 1st Change for $250 - $300 and it will shoot great, but parts are likely to far exceed that number if you can find the parts at all. Just browsing through gunpartscorp.com I come up with over $500 for all the parts if you need the cylinder and associated parts plus all internal parts. If you have the cylinder assembly, maybe we are down to $350. Might be able to find some cheaper parts, but they will be very scarce for a model that only 10,000 were originally made.
 
Thanks all... I will get a few pics up in a few days if I remember!
So it is a 32-20 Hand Ejector , 1st Change (Model 1905 Military & Police). That is great to finally know.
I agree it would cost probably more in parts than worth when complete. But that is the thrill of the chase... Would it be worth finding a $250 pistol and donating it's parts to this target model?
 
It would be the cheapest way to find everything and if you could find another 1st Change for a good price, that would be a way to go. Of course it will not get you much value since a mis-matched guns are worth much less to most collectors, but you would have an early target gun. Good luck in your search.
 
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