Hammerless 2nd Model Lemon Squeezer

[lamarw]

Scored this one at a local auction today and won it for a hefty seventy-five bucks.

I would consider, in my amateur opinion, it to fall in the 30% condition category. Mechanically it seems to be sound, but there is wear to the nickel finish and grips. More qualified view points would be appreciated.

I already have a more recent Model 42 hammerless lemon squeeze from 1962-63 era. So, this older one caught my eye and bid. With a serial number of 1293XX, I would guestimate this one came out of S&W in about 1905.

 

[Rpg]

Great buy!

 

[Club Gun Fan]

Nice price for a Safety Hammerless, Smith & Wesson never made a lemon squeezer.

 

[glowe]

That one is well worn, but the price was right even for a parts gun. It has obviously been shot and carried for a long time, but if it still functions all the better. You forgot to mention the caliber, but assuming it is a 38 S&W, it would have been shipped around 1900, and it would be a 38 Safety, Fourth Model. Unfortunately, it missed the antique cut off, since antiques are below 119,900. I am curious if the auction sent the gun as an antique or required an FFL?

Don - I never liked the term Lemon Squeezer either!

 

[lamarw]

Gary, you are correct in the caliber and correct model number. This also explains why there are no markings as to caliber on the left side of the barrel.

Just as a double check, I took a .32 ACP round and a .38 Special round and compared them against the chamber. The .32 slide almost through while the .38 is a closer fit. I totally understand these are incorrect rounds and I will have to obtain .38 S&W ammunition.

As you stated this puts the revolver in the year 1900 range vs. 1905. Yes, I was required to complete the form and undergo the background check. The auctioneer is an FFL. This process took about ten minutes in Alabama.

Fjestad in the "Blue Book of Gun Values" uses the term lemon squeezer. It seems to be a common term, and I realize how it obtained the slang terminology.

Thank you again for your correction and assistance.

 

[DWalt]

The Safety Hammerless revolver is also called the "New Departure," and I think S&W did use that term. But you don't often hear them called that.

 

[Club Gun Fan]

The grip safety was invented after D B heard a young boy shot himself with a revolver.

 

[Absalom]

Don - I never liked the term Lemon Squeezer either!

Has anyone ever researched the origin and original use of the "lemon squeezer" term? I don't just dislike it, it has always sounded ridiculous to me. I'm wondering how contemporary it is or whether it was applied later. I'm noticing that nowadays it's more often used by people who don't collect or are particularly interested in them. The question is probably best answered by someone who has a large collection of old S&W-related literature.

 

[DWalt]

I'd expect it would be impossible to pin down the origin and date of the use of "Lemon Squeezer." Note that both the Colt Model of 1911 and some early variations of the German Luger (plus a few other more obscure autopistols) also provide a grip-operated safety, yet I have not heard either of them referred to as any type of "Squeezer."

 

[lamarw]

As DWalt stated the M1911's (assuming he was referring to the M1911 and later the M1911A1) had a grip safety.

I own a Colt M1911 which was shipped to Uncle Sam in 1918, and I have carried the M1911A1 while serving and in Nam. These two pistols seemed to me to personally require the grip safety to release with pressure from the palm of your hand. With this S&W revolver and the S&W Model 42 I also own it seems the webbing between the thumb and the first finger seem to release the safety for firing.

I know there is a gadget called a lemon squeezer for the citrus fruit, but I have never seen or used one. I wonder if it is squeezed by the same part of the human hand. ???

I imagine Mr. Roy Jinks, the Historian for S&W, knows the answer. Although, I have heard he is way too busy doing research for Letters of Authenticity and speaking at firearm events to handle routine phone and email inquiries.

 

[Club Gun Fan]

Has anyone ever researched the origin and original use of the "lemon squeezer" term? I don't just dislike it, it has always sounded ridiculous to me. I'm wondering how contemporary it is or whether it was applied later. I'm noticing that nowadays it's more often used by people who don't collect or are particularly interested in them. The question is probably best answered by someone who has a large collection of old S&W-related literature.

I have, if I can be modest, one of the largest collections of S&W paper anywhere. There is nothing I have seen in any Smith & Wesson printed paper that calls a Safety Hammerless a lemon squeezer. Just like the Model M was not called a Ladysmith. Those terms are strickly from the public and collectors.

 

[DWalt]

The precursors of the Model 1911 did not have grip safeties, and their designer, John M. Browning, did not like the idea of a grip safety, as he felt it was an unnecessary complication. However, the biggest potential customer, the U. S. Army, insisted upon its having a grip safety, so it got a grip safety.

 

[Absalom]

The precursors of the Model 1911 did not have grip safeties, and their designer, John M. Browning, did not like the idea of a grip safety, as he felt it was an unnecessary complication. However, the biggest potential customer, the U. S. Army, insisted upon its having a grip safety, so it got a grip safety.

I'm not so sure about that. Other classic Browning designs like the Colt 1908 Vest Pocket or the FN 1910 which never were intended for or connected to the Army also had grip safeties.