This isn't a Smith & Wesson, but I hope you all will tolerate its presence here because this gun was an early competitor to S&W's tip-up models. It was produced in the last couple of years of the Civil War, and then went out of production after patent violation claims were enforced against it.
S&W was operating under an agreement with Rollin White, who held the patent for a bored-through cylinder that could accept unitary cartridges. In an attempt to evade the White patents, several firearms were designed with different cartridge case designs and different cylinder loading approaches. This gun is a cup-fire revolver that was loaded from the front; empties were ejected to the front after firing. You did not need to remove the cylinder to reload, though you would obviously have to take it apart to clean it after firing black powder cartridges.
The empty slot on the right side held an L-shaped steel piece with a knob handle that operated like a miniature bolt to push fired shells out the front of the cylinder.
This particular revolver is branded as an Eagle Arms Co. product. Other guns on this pattern were identified as Plant guns from New Haven Connecticut. I guess there was a K shortage when this barrel mark was created:
The cartridges were rimmed in front to sit solidly in the cylinder, and the projectiles sat completely inside the cartridge case, like modern wadcutter ammo. The exterior cartridge diameter seems to be .32, which means the projectile and bore diameter are .30 caliber. The base of the cartridge was concave and rested against a flange inside the charge hole; the rear hole of each chamber had a smaller diameter than the front.
Cylinder front:
Cylinder rear:
Note the distinctive hawk's beak profile to the hammer nose. When the hammer fell, it actually intruded into the concave base of the cartridge, and the "beak" crushed the primed lower extremity of the cartridge against the wall of the chamber. In this regard it differed from the S&W rimfire revolvers, whose hammers crushed a primed rim against the rear face of the cylinder.
This gun is in pretty good shape, despite the loss of the ejector rod and the chips out of the stocks where someone tried to remove them without realizing locator pins at the rear of the frame held them in position. I can repair these stocks as soon as I get a couple of scraps of cherry to work with.
The frame is silvered brass. I would say about 80% of the silver remains, though it is pretty tarnished by now. Barrel and cylinder are steel. No blue remains, but exterior pitting is minimal. The chambers and bore are actually in decent shape, considering the gun's age. (I'm guessing this is 1864 production; there are 1859 and 1863 patent stamps on the cylinder.
Chambers:
Bore:
I think I may be missing a trigger spring, as the hammer doesn't cock consistently unless I manually push the spur trigger forward to engage the sear at the end of the cocking motion. The mainspring is unbelievably tough. I backed the strain screw out a full turn and a half before I could comfortably cock the gun. It seems to have enough force to fire a round in that position, but of course that is just a supposition on my part.
I understand about 20,000 of these were made. This is number 5949. Next to the serial number on the butt are three small initials APC. Anybody know what those refer to? Other guns like this one also have those initials.
This gun sat on the shelf at my LGS for nearly a year with a ridiculous $900 price on it. When I was in there today, I noticed the price had crashed to a little over $200, and I thought, "What the heck, I'll take a look." It was labeled as a .32 rimfire, and it wasn't until I took the cylinder out and noticed its peculiarities that the light went on. And then I reached for my checkbook.
S&W was operating under an agreement with Rollin White, who held the patent for a bored-through cylinder that could accept unitary cartridges. In an attempt to evade the White patents, several firearms were designed with different cartridge case designs and different cylinder loading approaches. This gun is a cup-fire revolver that was loaded from the front; empties were ejected to the front after firing. You did not need to remove the cylinder to reload, though you would obviously have to take it apart to clean it after firing black powder cartridges.
The empty slot on the right side held an L-shaped steel piece with a knob handle that operated like a miniature bolt to push fired shells out the front of the cylinder.
This particular revolver is branded as an Eagle Arms Co. product. Other guns on this pattern were identified as Plant guns from New Haven Connecticut. I guess there was a K shortage when this barrel mark was created:
The cartridges were rimmed in front to sit solidly in the cylinder, and the projectiles sat completely inside the cartridge case, like modern wadcutter ammo. The exterior cartridge diameter seems to be .32, which means the projectile and bore diameter are .30 caliber. The base of the cartridge was concave and rested against a flange inside the charge hole; the rear hole of each chamber had a smaller diameter than the front.
Cylinder front:
Cylinder rear:
Note the distinctive hawk's beak profile to the hammer nose. When the hammer fell, it actually intruded into the concave base of the cartridge, and the "beak" crushed the primed lower extremity of the cartridge against the wall of the chamber. In this regard it differed from the S&W rimfire revolvers, whose hammers crushed a primed rim against the rear face of the cylinder.
This gun is in pretty good shape, despite the loss of the ejector rod and the chips out of the stocks where someone tried to remove them without realizing locator pins at the rear of the frame held them in position. I can repair these stocks as soon as I get a couple of scraps of cherry to work with.
The frame is silvered brass. I would say about 80% of the silver remains, though it is pretty tarnished by now. Barrel and cylinder are steel. No blue remains, but exterior pitting is minimal. The chambers and bore are actually in decent shape, considering the gun's age. (I'm guessing this is 1864 production; there are 1859 and 1863 patent stamps on the cylinder.
Chambers:
Bore:
I think I may be missing a trigger spring, as the hammer doesn't cock consistently unless I manually push the spur trigger forward to engage the sear at the end of the cocking motion. The mainspring is unbelievably tough. I backed the strain screw out a full turn and a half before I could comfortably cock the gun. It seems to have enough force to fire a round in that position, but of course that is just a supposition on my part.
I understand about 20,000 of these were made. This is number 5949. Next to the serial number on the butt are three small initials APC. Anybody know what those refer to? Other guns like this one also have those initials.
This gun sat on the shelf at my LGS for nearly a year with a ridiculous $900 price on it. When I was in there today, I noticed the price had crashed to a little over $200, and I thought, "What the heck, I'll take a look." It was labeled as a .32 rimfire, and it wasn't until I took the cylinder out and noticed its peculiarities that the light went on. And then I reached for my checkbook.
)
