Identification Help for a newbie

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micrphone

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Hello I am new to the forum so hopefully i am doing this correctly. I recently accuired an older revolver. Just by looking at it the hex barrel is marked with american bull dog. the chambers measure .385 with the calipers, and under the grip on the left side is stamped 1825. The barrel measuers 4 in. That is all i really know, Any help would be appericiated, Thanks
 

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one of the many guns made in that era ( late 1800's - early 1900's )... likely chambered in 38 S&W, grips are not original...

there are no other manufacturer names or marks, & or patent dates ???

just a guess, that it may have been made by Hopkins & Allen, but the other players all did private label guns as well, so without more info, that's just a best guess
 
American Bull Dog was a name used by Iver Johnson and Harrington and Richardson for their revolvers, at one time.
1825?
Neither one was around that early, and that date is long before the invention of the cartridge revolver.
 
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I wish I had more information on this gun, No other markings can be found, just the american bull dog. , and the 1825 under the grip, it does apear that the grips are not orignal judging by other pictures i have found of iver johnson guns that look really simular. The hammer only pulls back with the trigger if you first slighty pull the hammer back, other wise only the cylinder spins with each trigger pull,

this is a pic of under the grip my best guess was a serial number or batch number??
 

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If you decide to try it out, it's probably NOT a .38 Special, but rather a much weaker type of .38, like a .38S&W or .38Colt.
So, be careful.
 
It looks like the Iver Johnson model of the name.

The gun is broken, both in the lockwork and the trigger guard.
I would not shoot it or sink any amount of money into it.
 
I will def not try use a .38 sp this gun was probly never designed to use new type ammo from what i have been reading. thanks for you help

mantel piece more likely it will be, just didn't know what it was really
 
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FWIW, If you discuss that revolver elsewhere, FYI the barrel contour is "octagon" or "octagonal", not "hex" (which is AFAIK a curse).




.
 
It is an Iver Johnson.

There are several distinctive traits, including the shape of the hammer and the three-band knurling on the cylinder base pin.

It's rather unusual in that it appears to have a 5" barrel. Most had very short barrels.

I'm finding some indications that they were made only between 1883 and 1899, so they would definitely be black powder only.
 
Thanks everyone for the help. Mike-"black powder" meaning a .38 S&W round? or something different- I don't really have plans to shoot the gun unless i can get everything fixed properly but it would be interesting to know for sure

i realize the gun really isn't worth much especially being broken at the guard, but if properly function any estimate?
 
No, actual black powder, the original gun powder, the kind they used during the Civil War, not modern smokless powder.

The .38 S&W started out life as a black powder cartridge, but it was later changed to smokeless powder.

The frames and cylinders on these old, cheap guns tended to be soft or ductile iron. It was cheap, and it was just strong enough to be usable with black powder.

When cartridges transition to smokeless powder around the turn of the 20th century, ductile iron just wasn't strong enough, so most manufacturers went to the now widely avilable and also cheap mild steel.


I've seen these guns at shows, in about the same condition (but with an unbroken trigger guard) for $100 to $150.
 
Mike Irwin said:
I've seen these guns at shows, in about the same condition (but with an unbroken trigger guard) for $100 to $150.
Click to expand...

It is still cool old gun!

If it were mine, I would leave it as is, make a shadow box for it, and hang it on the wall.

I would then contrive a long and exciting story about how my great-great uncle used it to rob the livery stable in Angels Camp, California some years after the gold played out. I would explain to friends how that gun was instrumental in his escape with four stolen horses! I would embellish his faux trip over the Sierras and through Nevada and Utah to the gold fields of Wyoming, carrying this revolver the whole way!

Just making up the story is worth $150, much less telling it over and over to anyone asking about the old gun hanging on my wall!:D
 
Yea,

Tell them it was your great granddaddy's gun.

Show them a picture where a posse is hanging someone in the background.

Tell them your grandaddy is in the picture.

When they ask which lawman is he.. say, "aw shucks, he's the one they are hanging."

Deaf
 
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