Help Identify an Antique?

T

tallball

New member
I recently got this for next to nothing. I am not finished working on it, but it is cleaning up well. The rifling is pretty good and it locks up very tight. I am curious about when it was manufactured and would like to learn whatever else I could. There are some markings: the top of the barrel says "Smith and Wesson Springfield Mass USA" and a bunch of patent dates; the left side of the barrel just says "Smith and Wesson"; the right side of the barrel has three blurs and then "long ctgd" - the second two blurs are probably "32"; on the bottom of the grip frame it has serial number 264xxx.

I am assuming it is 32 S&W long caliber. Can anyone tell me when it was manufactured or anything else about it?

Thanks! :)



SW20Hand20Ejector20Right_zpszz2eq3mo.jpg




SW20Hand20Ejector20Left_zps3cci7brk.jpg
 
It's a Smith & Wesson I frame in .32 S&W Long....

What's perplexing me is that the cartridge marking is, IIRC, usually found on the left side of the barrel and the Smith & Wesson on the right side of the barrel...

There also doesn't appear to be an S&W logo stamped on it...

The definitive way to pin down the date & model is by serial number...
 
Go to the sticky @ head of this forum and give first four digits

and you get an idea of the year made.

Can you take a photd of the front screw [on right-side fram, ahead of the trigger]???

I need to make a replacement for a relative.
 
I believe that the barrel markings are correct for a post war pre model 30. But I think that there should be a S&W logo under the cylinder thumb piece.
 
From another site: "Tallball, .32 Hand Ejector 3rd Model, probably manufactured 1917. Caliber is .32 S&W Long. Built on the .32 sized I frame, the .38 special sized J frame is slightly bigger."


Jroth - do you mean the one in the very front, right ahead of the trigger guard?


IMAG0913_zpsbgrizq3n.jpg
 
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Yep, it retains the cylinder crane.

I have a future SIL [:eek:] that has his grandfather's and it has a ''non-typical" replacement. [someone screwed a "phillips head screw" into the frame, but the cylinder keep sliding off!

Will have to re-tap the thread, believe they are a "5-44 UNS".
 
The screw in front of the trigger guard does not hold the yoke in. The sideplate screw nearest the front does. The screw in the front hold the spring that tensions the cylinder stop.
 
The .32 Hand Ejector Third Model began with about #263001 in 1911, so #264xxx would have been made in 1911 or 1912.

FWIW, I think that gun has been rebuilt. The cylinder, yoke, and screws appear new, while the frame and barrel show the aging appropriate to a 100 year old gun. The grips look like replacements also, probably plastic rather than the original hard rubber. That is not bad and should make the gun a better shooter. Those .32 HE's are not rare collectibles (they made some 534,000 of them) but are sweet shooters.

Jim
 
Easy to tell, in those days the barrel, cylinder, yoke, and extractor were numbered to the gun. Did they number replacement parts to match? I dunno.
 
It shot great, no problems at all. It is locked in the safe atm, but IIRC there were matching assembly type numbers in two or three places.

I didn't figure it was worth big bucks. I was just curious about its age and so forth. It looked worse when I got it, but it cleaned it up okay. Not bad for $155, imho. :)
 
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