What do we call a 38 S&W Safety Hammerless 2"

[gmborkovic]

OK, we all agree on Bicycle Gun for the 2", 32cal., Safety Hammerless.
How about 38,2", SH or New Departure? That is an accurate description.
Or, just call it a 38 Bicycle Gun. Good, now we are all in agreement. Its a 32 or 38 Bicycle Gun. And we all know what the other guy is talking about.

 

[Boulder350]

Here are the 2 vintage reprints of S&W catalogs that I have. There is a separate page for the Bicycle model in 32 S&W Safety Hammerless. This 2" model is not listed in the Safety Hammerless section for the 32 or 38.

 

[BMur]

Early ads

Check out this early ad. It's a long barrel 38! And notice the ad directs you to send for catalog from the Smith and Wesson address?

I found a few more late ads that also use the term bicycle gun after WWI up into the late 40's. So I guess I'm now on the side of all Topbreak short barrels being labeled bicycle guns.

Murph

 

[singleshot1891]

I know the 2" 38's were custom ordered before they were made in production runs. Not sure when the production runs started.

As a side note on the 38 S&W SH with 1 1/2" barrels, there appears to be way more than 15 made. I have found 7 guns with this barrel length that I are custom orders from the factory. One is lettered as a special order being shipped to West Virginia but Roy could not find the invoice stating the barrel length. It shipped to Bluefield Hardware in West Virginia in 1921. Five are lettered with the short 1 1/2" barrel shipping in 1928, 1929, 1929, 1930, and 1938. The last one I found looked real but is not lettered. In the short time I have been looking I'm sure I did not find 40% of all that were made. My guess it there could be 50 or more made.

For the 32 SH with a 1 1/2" barrel I have only found 2 that letter. I owned one that went to Ohio in 1928. The other went to West Virginia in 1926.

Mark,
This guy letters as 1 1/2" .32 also. Been in my family's collection for about 20 yrs.

 

[Faulkner]

I have one in .32 that my grandfather purchased in a hardware store in Memphis in the mid 1930s. He carried it in his front pocket until he passed in 1968, then my grandmother carried it in her purse until she moved into a retirement home in about 2010 and she gave it to me.

The finish is about worn off but it still shoots.