H&R 960 Starter Pistol

[pjpjr]

I recently acquired above mentioned pistol and can't seem to find much information on it. Mine is a 32 S&W Blank 6 shot revolver. Beautiful condition!
Anybody help out here?
When was it made?
What is it worth?

All help appreciated.

 

[2152hq]

The 960 was made from just after WW2 to about the mid 1970's,,maybe 1976/77.
They made a 961 model,,same revolver but in nickel finish. Those were mfg'd late in production I think.

Should be ser#'d bottom of the butt frame. H&R used a letter prefix with the ser#. The prefix was a yr/date code.
Here's a good reference to the codes and yrs of mfg they represent:
Harrington & Richardson date codes

The revolvers are a simple pull the center pin, drop out cylinder and use the center pin to poke out the emptys operation.

I recently had a customer bring me one that he had put conversion inserts into the 32cal chambers to enable it to fire much cheaper #209 shotshell primers.
I put lighter weight springs in the action, put a lanyard ring on it and made an oversize set of checkered walnut grips for it too. His wife uses the revolver in K9 field trial work.
The tiny factory grips and orig heavy DA pull didn't work out too well but now with the mods it's a favorite I understand.

I'd guess they sell for around $100 +/- in nice condition,,just a guess though on my part. I didn't ask him what he paid for his.
Check the gun auction sites,,closed auctions,,should give you a good idea what the market is on them.

They made a .22rf blank caliber edition too. Model 970 (blue),,971 (Nickel)

 

[pjpjr]

2152HQ
Thank you for the very informative response!
I am interested in the conversion to allow 209 primers....much cheaper to shoot!

Regards

 

[2152hq]

This is like what he had in his cylinder to convert to the use of 209 primers,,but the ones in his were made of steel,,and 32 cal of course.
LCS Brass Pistol Inserts-Lion Country Supply

I almost think he said he bought the inserts off Ebay,,I'll ask him the next time I see him. Maybe I can get a pic of the revolver too.


They are just a machined copy of the case/blank cartridge that the cylinder is chambered for including the case rim to keep headspace correct.
Then the center of the insert is simply bored straight thru to fit a 209 primer,,and a small rim recess for the primers 'flange; cut also.

He had used loctite to install the inserts in place so they never fell out. You simply dropped the 209 primers in place and put the cylinder back in the gun and shot it. The fired primers for the most part fell free by themselves when you took the cylinder back out to 'reload'. But the cylinder pin can still be used to knock them out if they are stubborn. Orig dia cyl pin still works through new 209 sized chamber.

I gave him a brick of older Peters#57 size shotshell primers I had (they are about .002/3" small in dia than the standard 209 of today. Used to be Remingtons standard back in the 50's and before. They work fine in the gun and will get used up.

The firing pin in these revolvers is flat faced at least his was,,no rounded tip.
I made a new one w/a rounded tip to fit his pistol but found the original fired the 209's just fine and never hung up or miss fired. So he got a spare firing pin anyway!

There was a gent in NC making and selling the inserts too.
I think this is the same person ,,Gay Ansell,,but no guarantee! Retro fit your 32 NEF & H&R pistol to a 209 primer pistol • Guns and Ammo : Gun Dog Forum 2013
name and contact info in first thread

 

[DWalt]

I've seen some of these, never gave them much thought. But I have wondered whether they are classified by BATFE as being a "firearm?" I wouldn't think so, as they are not designed to fire a projectile, but I don't know.

 

[2152hq]

They have a mfg'rs Model designation stamped on them that's assigned to a 'blank/starters revolver' as well as a mfg'rs ser#. They left the factory in that configuration with the solid bbl w/ spade or pencil point wad break up forcing cone for blank ammo only.
GCA 'firearms' fire a projectile, these don't.
Through bored bbl 'blank guns' would probably be another matter and many older guns especially some European made models have that feature.
Like flare guns,,used for their intended purpose and with their correct ammo you're OK. Try to make some other use of them and you run the risk of changing their deffinition.
State laws may place blank firing guns in with 'firearms'.

USPS regs used to group blank firing handguns right in with regular cartridge/projectile firing handguns for shipping purposes. They fell under the deffinition of 'firearm' and then 'handgun'.