help with an old revolver ID

J

jjmorgan64

New member
Does anybody know what this revolver is?

it is shown with a pocket positive for reference.

I picked it up for nothing at a flea market, and was curious as to what it was

The only markings are "spain" just behind the trigger guard,
"32 LO" on the left side of the barrel (32 S&w chamber very nice, have not shot it)
and serial # in the 18,000's on the bottom of the grip frame


as always thanks ahead of time JM
 
For some reason, the Spanish REALLY LOVED to copy Smith & Wesson revolvers at the turn of the century.

Colt revolvers were only infrequently copied, but dozens of manufacturers in Spain cranked out unlicensed copies of S&Ws. They ranged in quality from really good to absolutely frightening.

The one you have is a pretty standard copy of an S&W Regulation Police in .32 Long. It's probably actually chambered for .32 Long, hence the .32 LO marking, which means it will accept .32 S&W, as well.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't shoot this gun without a serious inspection at the hands of a competent gunsmith, and even then I would only shoot it with very low-power rounds.

There's also a pretty good chance that this gun could accept .32 H&R Mag. ammo.

NEVER, EVER SHOOT .32 MAG. AMMO THROUGH ONE OF THESE GUNS!

Chances are good you'll have chunky gun parts raining down all around you.
 
That revolver looks very much like the one

my esteemed father used to have.

It was also a .32 S&W long. I shot it a couple times in my misspent youth.

I finally removed it from my father's custody as it was a complete and utter dog. It's in the parts bin, somewhere.
 
Some of 'Em Were Dogs, All Right.

The Spanish arms industry, apparently centered around a place called Eibar, has always been pretty spotty about quality control. This situation remained until well after WW-II, when things improved quite a bit. Star and Llama have usually been pretty good, but the quality of the steel varied widely, I'm told. Strange, too, because the Spanish have usually produced some excellent quality shotguns for the higher-end trade.

Spanish handguns have usually been knock-offs of Browning design autopistols and, as pointed out by Mr. Irwin, S&W handguns. They sure liked the hand ejector .32s, and you used to see some .38 Long Colt and .38 Specials, too. They were a little casual about chamber dimensions, though, and the .38s would sometimes chamber .357 Magnum cartridges. Poor quality steel combined with the sloppy tolerences led to "traumatic disassembly" of some of those.

Most of the .25 and .32 autopistols functioned pretty well, for lilght duty, but except for the Llamas, I think I'd rather do without a handgun than use a Spanish revolver. One man's opinion.

Best,
Johnny
 
Most of those Spanish revolvers date from the post-WWI era, not from the turn of the century. There were a very few of them that were reasonably well made, but most were made of poor quality cast iron ("pot metal") and are best described as junk. Even in the less than muscular .32 S&W Long, they have a good chance of being dangerous to anyone standing beside the gun.

Some of the makers, though, got points for imaginative markings. It was common to mark the barrel "for .32 SMITH & WESSON ctg" with "Smith & Wesson in large letters and the rest very small. Other markings were "THE KING AT ARMS", "THE KING OF REVOLVERS", and various names seeming to reflect power.

Some of them bear Spanish proof marks, but it was not until 1923 that proof became compulsory in Spain and even then proof marks were often simply forged, or officials paid off, rather than submit the junk to proof.

Note that the gun uses a detachable trigger guard, a much cheaper way to make a gun than S&W's solid frame.

Some of the characteristics of S&W revolvers, like the case colored hammer and trigger, were copyrighted by S&W as trademarks to keep them from being used by the Spanish, and S&W undertook a vigorous program to prosecute distributors and dealers (mainly mail order) who claimed any connection with S&W. They also demanded enforcement by customs of copyright laws.

One of the claims made was that S&W had set up a factory in Spain and was actually making all their guns there, and that dealers in the Spanish junk were just selling the same guns at a lower price (which was $2.00-2.50 vs. $17-20 for a real S&W).

Jim
 
thank you folks

this gun will look nice cleaned up and put on a shelf, i'll have to invent some story about how great an old gun it was and now it's retired.
 
"after WW I, not the turn of the century."

That is the turn of the century to us younguns.

To those of you who remember it well.... :)


JJ,

Looking again at the close up you provided, the surface texture and pitting makes me think that the frame of your gun is, indeed, cast iron.
 
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