Italian revolver

O

oldcop1971

Inactive
is a clone of a j-frame smith, chief's special. it says 'italy' on the right side of the barrel and 'cal 38 special' on the left side of the barrel. on the left side of the frame below the cylinder release it has two concentric circles with crosshairs and the letters E-G inside the circles. on the right side of the frame (not on the side plate) are the Roman numerals XXI, the initials PSF under a small circle with a 5 pointed star inside it, and a coat-of-arms consisting of a small circle with a 5 pointed star inside it over a shield showing crossed swords or rifles, so small its hard to make it out. on the butt of the frame is the letter B inside a larger G, and a serial number with one letter followed by 3 numbers. the gun is nicely blued with app 1.75 in barrel, and thin fixed sights. any further info would be appreciated. thanks
edit. the grips are checkered wood with silver medallions designed as concentric circles, no other markings.
gene
 
Don't know who made your revolver, perhaps Tanfoglio - but the E-G logo is in fact EIG. Samuel Eig was the importer in the US. The other marks you describe are the Italian proof markings.
 
The concentric circles with the cross hairs are indeed EIG. After WWII, Italy along with the rest of Europe was in ruins. Most of the factories were turned into parking lots by American and British bombers. Under the Marshall plan, American industry helped to restore the economy by building new production lines and equipment and finding markets for the products. One of the products was a copy of the Chiefs Special ( I believe it was even called EIG"S Chief Special ) and imported it to the States. Who made it, hard to tell, most of the new factories didn't even have a name. What is known is the EIG Cutlery Imported some of the most inexpensive firearms known to man ( see, I didn't even use the word cheap or junk ) Firearms were imported from Germany { Rohm's RG-10 } Italy and Japan. The revolvers from Japan seem to be the best, at least they have a better appearance.. The Marshall plan was very complex and the information above was very simplistic, do not take it to heart. The little 38 from Italy was a very rough copy of the S&W Model 36, the Chief's Special.
 
I mentioned Tanfoglio as a possibility as Eig is known to have imported extensively from this Italian company. Around the time of the Gun Control Act of 1968 it appears Eig, who would have been prevented from importing foreign "Saturday Night Specials", were negociating with Roehm Gesellschaft (RG) and Tanfoglio to set up an assembly plant in the US. Apparently the New York Times estimated Eig's capacity to produce 200,000 handguns per year using Italian technicians.
In the 1980s the Hills Corporation, as successor to Eigs, were sued due to an accident involving a Tanfoglio deringer. I don't know the details or outcome.
 
thanks, all

i did find that the XXI stamp signifies that the weapon was made in 1965, hopefully that means it will be a little higher quality than one made soon after the war. the other markings are proofs, the PSF means ok for smokeless powder. i'll get some springs from numrich to fix the sticky extractor and should have a beater snub for cheap.
oc71
 
There is some confusion with Italian proofs, since the "PN" which elsewhere means Nitro (smokeless) powder stand for Polvere Nera or Black Powder in Italian. "PSF" is the smokeless powder proof and the letters stand for Polvere Senza Fumo or Smokeless Powder.

Jim
 
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