S&W revolvers with transfer bars

nachogrande · Nov 7, 2012

newbie here from the sunshine state. sorry we made you wait so long for the vote tally AGAIN.I was wondering when S&W started using transfer bars instead of the firing pins on the hammers? I picked up a 640 stainless centenial snubby with rosewood handles ser #bkf**05 and a stainless 357 4" 68-1 with the firing pin on the hammer. ser # aea**44 & I guess the misprint mdl # is not as rare as I hoped. any clue to the ages? both very nice specimens, make my newer air wt snubby look like ****. got both for 725$ hours before the election results, whew. how did I do on the deal?

nachogrande · Nov 7, 2012

nachogrande said:
newbie here from the sunshine state. sorry we made you wait so long for the vote tally AGAIN.I was wondering when S&W started using transfer bars instead of the firing pins on the hammers? I picked up a 640 stainless centennial snubby with rosewood handles ser #bkf**05 and a stainless 357 4" 68-1 with the firing pin on the hammer. ser # aea**44 & I guess the misprint mdl # is not as rare as I hoped. any clue to the ages? both very nice specimens, make my newer air wt snubby look like ****. got both for 725$ hours before the election results, whew. how did I do on the deal?

ANYTHING WORTH DOING IS WORTH OVERDOING

nipster · Nov 7, 2012

In the 1997 timeframe for most models.

They dont call it a transfer bar either, I forget what the exact term is.

Dragon88 · Nov 7, 2012

Frame mounted firing pin. The bar that slides up and down is the hammer block. Transfer bar is Ruger terminology.

You can look in the Standard Catalog of S&W 3rd Edition to see which engineering change, in what year, added the frame mounted firing pin to the gun you are researching.

snubbyfan · Nov 7, 2012

Welcome from the panhandle of West Virginia.

Alk8944 · Nov 7, 2012

S&W revolvers do not have a transfer bar as noted above. What they have is a hammer block that is in the raised position to be a positive stop and safety against the hammer nose/firing pin striking the primer if the gun is dropped.

A transfer bar performs exactly the opposite function. It is raised between the hammer and frame mounted firing pin to transfer energy from the hammer, through the transfer bar, to the firing pin.

The transfer bar appeared sometime in the 1910-1920 timeframe on Iver Johnson revolvers, more than 50 years before Ruger adopted adopted the feature. I-J referred to it as the "Hammer-the-Hammer Safety".

The two parts, while looking similar, operate 180 degrees fron each other, and perform exactly opposite functions.

S&W revolvers with transfer bars

nachogrande

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nachogrande

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Alk8944

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