What is this old gun?

[sunday bill]

Neighbor dropped by with a 5", pinned barrel 38 Special.

On top of barrel in two lines, all caps:

J.L.GALEF N.Y. SOLE DISTRIBUTOR
U.S.A.1923 MODEL

On left side of barrel, all caps:

38 SPECIAL CTG

The extremely thin front sight is a half-moon of about normal height, but is much shorter, front-to-back, than any S&W sight I've seen. Rear sight is much like the traditional S&W groove.

On right sideplate in a vertically stretched oval a fleur de lis appears (much like the symbol on the side of the New Orleans Saints helmets). TRADE is above the oval and MARK is below it. Either IRIS or 1915 appears on the horizontal ribbon 2/3 the way down the fleur de lis.

Serial # E 78X is lightly stamped on the butt. 74X appears to be the number visible under the extractor star and, I THINK the same #s appear on the back of the crane when viewed through a chamber. A 3 appears on the back of the cylinder and is visible without manually backing out the extractor star.

Cylinder rotation is counter clockwise (like an S&W).

Knurled ended-ejector rod is not anchored at the front (like a Colt).

The hammer differs a little from S&Ws or Colt's but is very similar to the S&W and is finely checkered.

Thumbpiece for opening cylinder looks like a high relief bullseye with a crescent cut-out at top and bottom. A strange, plugged (maybe the base of a screw) hole appears just below the thumbpiece and looks surprisingly like a plugged lock hole on recent S&Ws.

Grips are dark nicely-checkered wood with no medallion at the top, much like some 1920s or so Smith grips.

The leading edges on the cylinder are nicely beveled and the front of the frame appears to have been slightly rounded, but the frame appears thick in relation to the barrel when compared to a period S&W.

5 screws in the traditional S&W places. Side plate lines mimic period S&W.

Blue finish is about gone, bore is excellent, action is fairly tight, some endshake.

A picture may be possible.

Can someone identify this old handgun?

Thanks in advance, Rich

 

[deadin]

J.L. Galif & Sons were a large N.Y. distributor in the '20's and '30's. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they imported some Spanish made revolvers (which this one sounds like) and had their name put on them.

 

[mikepriwer]

As Dean suggests, this does not sound like a S&W. For one thing,
the serial number is totally wrong. For another, the barrel should
have patent-date roll-markings on top, not the name of an importer.
The circle below the cylinder release thumbpiece is the end of the
hammer stud. Pictures would definitely help.

Mike Priwer

 

[opoefc]

The revolver is a S&W copy, made in Spain by Orbea Hermanos ( Orbea Brothers), an Eibar, Spain, maker of multiple types of firearms, circa 1920s-1960s. Galef is the importer, and is still in busines, I believe, importing inexpensive foreign made firearms. I would suspect the gun was made pre WW2 era. IRIS was the brand name used by Orbea Hermanos. Ed #15

 

[DCWilson]

Ed, do you know the names of the Orbea Brothers' wives and children, and what flavors of ice cream they preferred? You're leaving out most of the details.

Unh! The stuff you know. It would take me hours on the internet to find even a fraction of what you have available in your head. You ought to write a book called "The Stuff Roy Jinks Didn't Mention." You could sell thousands of copies.

 

[JSR III]

You should hear all of the stuff that Gen. Lee told him when he was a young man.

 

[sunday bill]

Yeah, Ed, be sure to mark me down for an autographed copy of the 1st printing of T.S.R.J.D.M.

Thanks, all. I suspected the old gal may be of Spanish origin. Planned to get a photo today, but the neighbor headed to the swap session with the old 5" this a.m. I don't expect to see it again.