32.20 extractor question

[Judith Vassar]

I recently received from a distant relative my dad's old pistol. I am very new to this and any help you can give me about this gun will be appreciated. It is a 32.20 ejector model with a number on the bottom of grip 8008. It has black plastic grips with the SW on the top of grips in a round concave. On the barrel it has 32 Winchester otc. There are four screws on the right hand side. There is a screw in the frame close to the bottom of the frame in the grip. As you can tell, I am not a gun person but loved my dad and I know he had this gun when he was a kid back before he was married to my mom and this would be before 1920.

 

[DWalt]

If the SN on the butt is 8008, what you have is a .32-20 Hand Ejector, Model of 1902 revolver, probably from 1902. These early revolvers were originally caliber-stamped on the barrel as .32 Winchester, then .32 WCF, and beginning in 1914, .32-20. All are the same cartridge. Similar S&W revolvers were chambered in .38 Special, and those are far more common. .32-20 and .38 Special revolvers were serial numbered separately. What you have is one of the very early (but not the earliest) S&W K-frame revolvers, which in 1957 (and after numerous engineering changes) became the Model 10 Military and Police revolver, of which millions were made. Pictures would be good to allow further assessment of what you have.

 

[Muley Gil]

Welcome to the Forum.

What do you need to know about the extractor?

 

[JP@AK]

These early revolvers were originally caliber-stamped on the barrel as .32 Winchester, then .32 WCF, and beginning in 1914, .32-20.

This is not quite correct. The 32 Winchester CTG marking was changed to 32 W.C.F. CTG in about 1914. The 32-20 CTG marking did not appear until about 1922.

Serial number 8008 was probably made in late 1902 or early 1903. However, the shipping date may not correspond to that, since S&W did not ship their product in serial order. For example, .32-20 HE number 8037 did not leave the factory until March, 1904. And for S&W revolvers, the shipping date is considered the "birth" date. So the best we can do without a factory letter is say that your gun probably left the factory sometime between 1902 and 1905. If you want a precise shipping date, you will have to purchase a factory authentication letter from the company.

 

[JP@AK]

What do you need to know about the extractor?

Given the contents of original post's title, this is the right question!

 

[adowns]

I think the original poster accidently confused "extractor" with "ejector" and he only wanted information about his "S&W hand ejector" revolver.