Top Breaks?? pics??

[BigBill]

Let's see a few pics of your top breaks or what ever there called.

The only top break I have is an older H&R 999 sportsman.
Sorry for my ignorance when it comes to the top break era. I think the scholfield is in that era.

 

[Hondo44]

Perfected model, c. 1917, 3 1/4" barrel, shortest available. Same action as the 32 HE Model of 1903 - 3rd Change.

 

[H Richard]

32 Safety Hammerless 2nd Model (2" Bicycle gun).


1st model, 2nd model, and 3rd model Safety Hammerless


Model 1 1/2 32 New Model (center fire)


32 Double action


Third model "Perfected" Single shot.

 

[Dosgatos]

.32 & .38 New Departures (AKA Safety Hammerless or Lemon Squeezers)

 

[dltvette]

.32 Single Action (Model No.1-1/2 Single Action)
Manufactured 1878-1892
Serial Numbers 1 - 97574
Barrel lengths of 3-1/2" are most common, 3" are not rare, 6", 8" & 10" rare.
According to Neal & Jinks book, revolvers before about serial number 6580 were equipped with an eccentric mainspring strain screw mounted under the grips. Somewhere between serial numbers 6559 and 6603 the company returned to the more standard strain screw mounted in the front strap. The change was made in May of 1878.

1st photo:
Top: 3" barrel, serial no. 13443, external standard strain screw.
Second: 3-1/2" barrel, serial no. 144, internal eccentric strain screw, shipped April 1878.
Third: 3-1/2" barrel, serial no. 7692, internal eccentric strain screw, shipped Sept. 1878. As of Sept. 2013, Roy Jinks stated this is the highest serial number known for having the internal eccentric strain screw.
Fourth: 6" barrel, serial number 96761,
external standard strain screw.

2nd Photo shows the external standard strain screw & the internal eccentric strain screw.

Dave

 

[BigBill]

Nice pics, nice guns. Bill

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

H&R USRA Pistol, called but not marked Model 195.

 

[duckhunter28432]

Pictured is a S&W model 1 1/2 shipped in Dec. 1879, a .38 Safety Hammerless, shipped approx. 1939, and a .38 S&W Perfected Model shipped in 1913.

 

[BigBill]

Here's a funny story about s&w top breaks.

I just got home from work and was lying on the couch half a sleep when my 10year old son ran by me holding a silver revolver and I was half a sleep I swear I saw the cylinder turn. I woke up really quickly. My neighbor gave my son this old broken revolver he had as a kid. I made him take it back. I told him it was too dangerous for a child to have. Any Leo would think the kid is armed. The silver revolver didn't bother me but when the cylinder turned I woke up really quickly. The kid got a real gun. It was a top break s&w 32cal.

I wonder why we never seen top breaks in n frame sized revolvers to this day. I think the ejection part of top breaks design is awesome to this day.

I still love wheel guns to this day where pistols are taking over. How would dirty Harry say did I fire five or six? How could he say that with an auto?

 

[jleiper]

1st, 2nd, and 3rd issue First Russian Contract
(Assembly numbers, Serial numbers and enlarged trigger pin)
Joe

 

[stevens22cal]

Thought these were kind of interesting. M 2 38 DA's with serials 25 apart and Checkered Walnut' Regulation Police Extension stocks (pre WWII) Silver Medallions. Client brought them in and had a story about an Uncle that was PD in Madison WI. Don't know about the story but liked the matching guns. These are not for the purist ,they were altered to accept the stocks, still nice. I bought them on the spot. Gotta wonder though... was an officer in WI carrying around a pair of 1883 TB's in the 30's?

 

[raljr1]

Perfected model, c. 1917, 3 1/4" barrel, shortest available. Same action as the 32 HE Model of 1903 - 3rd Change.

What's with the thumb release on a top break? Please educate me....might be another one I need to look for.

 

[2ndAmendmentNut]

What's with the thumb release on a top break? Please educate me....might be another one I need to look for.

Supposedly S&W started producing the "perfected" model after hearing about a police officer getting the snot beat out of him when a bad guy managed to empty the cops gun.

 

[raljr1]

Here are my three. A 2nd model duded up, a 4th model, and a baby bicycle model ...not as pretty as some others here, but I love them just the same.

 

[Hondo44]

What's with the thumb release on a top break? Please educate me....
might be another one I need to look for.

Although by physical description, the gun breaks at the top, but literally it's a ".38 DA Perfected Model".
Made from 1909 to 1920, #s 1 thru 59400, on the P frame, it has the same action as the ".32 HE Model
of 1903 - 3rd Change", with a .38 DA 1st thru 5th Model top break barrel and cylinder arrangement.
Chambered only in 38 S&W, there are a few variations around w/o the thumb latch but rare.

The added thumb latch takes two hands to open and was designed to prevent a thug from reaching
over the top of the gun, pulling the latch up and disabling the gun. S&W chose the Perfected name
to denote this model as the pinnacle of the top break design evolution and was a fad marketing word
of the time. Not unlike today's Smart word as in Smart Phone, etc.

 

[jleiper]

Revolver and holster carried by Lt. Col. Igor Stefanski with General Wrangel in the Crimea in 1920.
Joe

 

[stevens22cal]

This old hog spent 50 years on my Grandfathers hip, carried it on the farm to "Kill them damn varmints" as he said. 44-40 Frontier DA.

 

[peakedamon]

38 perfected 2 inch barrel

Has anyone seen a perfected 38 with the bicycle gun 2 inch barrel? I have one it was my grandmothers brothers police leg gun.

 

[peakedamon]

38 perfected 2 inch barrel

Has anyone seen a perfected 38 with the bicycle gun 2 inch barrel? I have one it was my grandmothers brothers police leg gun.

 

[stevens22cal]

Pic. and serial would help... Police could carry what they liked in the day, if there sarg. didn't mind. Detroit and Chicago PD were the first, after Hover's men(maybe before, up for debate) to have full auto in a Metropolitan area.

 

[stevens22cal]

Thanks 4 the pics. Cool gun with the PD back ground. Looks like a 38 Perfected with the muzzle cropped. I don't think that S&W man. them in shorter then 3-1/14 inch barrels , (not at home to check books now) but could have been special order or sent back for rework. If I remember right only around 50,000 made between 1908 or 9 to 1920. Post serial and someone here with much more knowledge than I will help.

 

[Hondo44]

Post #15, 59,400 made.

That is just the neatest, handiest Perfected Model and a great back up, back in the day!

A bicycle Perfected model was not made as any standard production. The factory would
do almost anything you wanted though, in those days. A letter from S&W would verify if factory.

However I'd give it a 1% chance of being an original factory barrel length. It would be a piece
of cake because I believe the right model of the 38 DA 1st thru 5th Models barrel might interchange.

But the gun has been re-plated and not of factory quality polishing also their protocol was not to plate the
hammer or trigger. Therefore I'd give it a 99% chance of the barrel being cut or replaced after
factory and wouldn't spend the $50 for a letter.

But who cares, It's a wonderful family heirloom in very good condition to keep and pass down
with its provenance to the following generations!

 

[DesmoEd]

Very early .32 on the bottom and a pair of .38's

Nickel top break hogleg sheathed

 

[seinen]

Here's a New Model 3 with Japanese markings.

C/

 

[dltvette]

Here's a New Model No. 3 "Australian Model" shipped Dec.14, 1881 in crate no. 1950, one of 13 crates, containing a total of 250 revolvers.
Revolver & holster, detachable shoulder stock & stock pouch.
Dave

 

[ACP230]

I have never been a big fan of top-break revolvers.
Gave my H&R 926 to my daughter.
However, the S&W bicycle guns interest me strangely.
I have never seen one for sale, or even handled one.
I think I'll start keeping a lookout for one.

 

[BRush]

Here are a few.

 

[rhmc24]

Here's a few of mine, some deja vu ----

 

[vinny77]

38 S&W DA 3rd model 3 1/4...

 

[peakedamon]

Thanks for the info and advice. Sadly for me I broke out the supper size magnifier and found that it has been cropped. Fortunatly it was a fine piece of work in which they must have also been proud of. In very tiny letters hand engraved reads PJB 1915 or 18 like i said very tiny letters. I still love it pedigree or not after all I too am an american mutt with no pedigree.

When i found this old girl 20 years ago in a night stand my grandmother asked me to move it was wrapped in a old rag so dirty and dry that it took quite a long soak to even break open. My father who was 57 said he had never seen it before. After deep thought grandma remembered it was her brothers given to her when grandfather died 48 years prier. When she saw the look in my eyes she said that he must have put it there for me and walked off. I have still never even fired it. So i know it has not fired a round in at least 68 years.