My grandfather immigrated from Sweden to go the Alaskan Gold rush.
On the way he bought an Iver Johnson 38sw hammerless break top revolver that is still in the family.
My father got an EE degree in 1944, got an ME job in 1949 and in a few months had made a long list of patents and sold artillery mostly to Detroit Arsenal that later fought in Viet Nam, like the M55, M107, and M110.
In 2002 my brother and I started buying all the break top Iver Johnson revolver we could at $35 each broken and $50 working. I mostly fixed broken trigger springs.
I started overloading the revolvers to try to blow them up, as I do.
Unlike many revolvers, the IJ break tops have problems before they shoot loose or split the cylinder and break the top strap: the break top mechanism gets loose.
As an example, a 32 acp semi rimmed cartridge fits and shoots in a 32sw antique IJ revolver. But just one shot will make the action loose. There is tiny screw on which the break top latch pivots, 4-56 or something. That screw is captured by a thin piece of sheet metal with two holes in it. The small hole captured by the latch pin will stretch into an oblong shape.
My father said it was caused by bullet friction and recoil acceleration on the mass of the top half of the barrel assembly.
I have a hard time getting my mind around that, but the damage can be avoided with soft Lead bullets and super wimpy powder charges.
On the way he bought an Iver Johnson 38sw hammerless break top revolver that is still in the family.
My father got an EE degree in 1944, got an ME job in 1949 and in a few months had made a long list of patents and sold artillery mostly to Detroit Arsenal that later fought in Viet Nam, like the M55, M107, and M110.
In 2002 my brother and I started buying all the break top Iver Johnson revolver we could at $35 each broken and $50 working. I mostly fixed broken trigger springs.
I started overloading the revolvers to try to blow them up, as I do.
Unlike many revolvers, the IJ break tops have problems before they shoot loose or split the cylinder and break the top strap: the break top mechanism gets loose.
As an example, a 32 acp semi rimmed cartridge fits and shoots in a 32sw antique IJ revolver. But just one shot will make the action loose. There is tiny screw on which the break top latch pivots, 4-56 or something. That screw is captured by a thin piece of sheet metal with two holes in it. The small hole captured by the latch pin will stretch into an oblong shape.
My father said it was caused by bullet friction and recoil acceleration on the mass of the top half of the barrel assembly.
I have a hard time getting my mind around that, but the damage can be avoided with soft Lead bullets and super wimpy powder charges.