ID help please

[allen456]

I am checking on this old .32 S&W that is my cousin's. I can't find a model number on it in the usual places. On the reverse side it has 4 screws(one hidden by the current grips) It is labeled as a .32 long CTG. We are curious to the value and the date of production. Sorry for the bad pics. Thanks for the input and let me know if more info is needed. serial 798xx

 

[diamonback68]

You need to take those rubber grips off and tell us what is the serial number off of the butt of the grip frame. 798XX is not it.

 

[allen456]

my mistake, the serial on the butt of the frame is 5980xx. Thanks for the help. After further view, it might be a five screw, 4 on the right plate and on facing forward on the trigger guard, forgive my low knowledge on these, but you gotta start somewhere. Thanks again.

 

[DCWilson]

5980xx would be postwar production, maybe around 1951/52. This is a .32 Hand Ejector with what appears to be a 3.25" barrel. In 1957, this configuration would be designated the Model 30.

Somewhere along in this date range the design of this revolver was changed to incorporate a coil mainspring. Before the war and in the earliest postwar production the mainspring was flat. If this gun has a coil mainspring, it is an example of what is called the company's "improved" I-frame. The I-frame guns were the smallest made by the company just before and immediately after the war. By 1960 the I frame was retired and the slightly larger J Frame became the base of the company's smallest revolvers.

If the lockwork and timing are fine, it's probably worth a couple of hundred dollars. Maybe a little more to someone who really wants an older non-model-marked revolver of a certain caliber. If the finish were in better shape the value might move closer to $275-300.