Old revolvers recently purchased

[WE0H]

Bought some old Iver Johnson's & a H&R over the past two months.

The H&R 32 has a very tight action, The IJ 32 is pretty tight & the IJ 38 is shootable but more loose and has a ugly pealing chrome finish
I bought these during my travels the past two months.

Mike

 

[Arquebus]

That's actually a nickel finish, quite common on handguns of that era.

 

[WE0H]

I should have known to type that instead. Thanks for the correction

Mike

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

that is an easy & fun era of gun to collect, ( at least it is for me ) the prices are reasonable, there were alot of manufacturers, & inovation was at it's highest, so there are alot of models, options, & improvements out there... & top break guns are just plain cool... I've bought almost 3 dozen similar guns over the last year & a half, & am having trouble weaning myself off of guns of this era... I guess I've slid just a bit older with most of my latest purchases being spur trigger single action guns... my latest is a 5" barrel S&W 2nd model spur trigger in 38 S&W...

I'm a bit undecided as far as which barrel lengths I like in these old guns... when I 1st started buying, I liked the shorter more CCW type "pocket" guns... I've since collected some mid length & longer barrels, but don't really see much increase in speeds over the chrony with the longer barrels, so, since I'm loading for, & shooting these guns, the snubbies seem more practical in all aspects, except for sight radius...

they all seem to have some interesting options... I think the older Iver Johnsons with the trigger safety ( kinda like the Glocks ) are cool, but Iver made those guns in the 1800's... I look for early hand ejectors in the top break models... H&R was the most prolific manufacturer of those... & the solid frames with loading gates & folding hammer spurs are some of my favorites, & those are only found on Hopkins & Allen ( or Forehand & Wadsworth, or Merwin & Huberts made by Hopkins & Allen )... Meridian / Eastern Arms, & whom ever else they manufactured under had revolvers with modern styled safety buttons on the frames above the grips...

all seemed to offer engraving, though H&R & Hopkins & Allen seemed to produce more engraved guns... also the blued guns seem more rare than the nickel guns, so I enjoy finding nice blued guns of this era...

now that I got almost all I want... I gotta get others interested, so the prices go up & mine are worth more

 

[WE0H]

I was wondering where you were To tell you the truth, you posting about those top breaks a few months back or whenever that was got me interested in them. So I started watching for them and learned a little about them in the process. I like that they can be owned for under a hundred bucks. I got spoiled though last week when I ran across a S&W top break.

Now owning that, my standards for top breaks has gone up. I still like the IJ & H&R but the quality of the S&W is incredible

Now I am going to get into reloading so I can load up some very light plinking rounds to feed these, so they last as long as I am around

Mike

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Glad I could get a few others interested... your last one being blued, & in such great shape is a premium find... since you are from MN... if you got me some brass, I'd trade ya some loaded rounds, if you wanted to do some shooting before you get loading... PM me if interested ( I live pretty far south, but venture up to "the cities" a couple times a month )

this is actually one of my best finds of late... I bought it for about 1/3 what it's worth, & it's in very good shape ( BTW... S&W was really a premium manufacturer back then, a good quality Smith is much more solid than a very good "other brand" ) as you can likely tell now that you have a few...

this is a very early H&R ( no patent dates ) hand ejector top break in 38 S&W with the old style ( more detailed ) grips, in very good shape... I'm still looking for the right 32 S&W to match

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=423797

 

[Arquebus]

I was at our local gun show this past weekend & very nearly bought a very nice condition Forehand & Wadsworth nickel plated top-break revolver in .32S&W with, I'd guess, a 5" or 6" barrel. It was honestly the best condition one I've ever seen, probably 95%+. It came with a full box of Remington factory loaded ammo for $150. I reluctantly decided to pass on it & put that money towards a commercially made Martini Henry Volunteer-pattern rifle, & brought that home instead!
I've had a handful of the top-break revolvers in the past, the nicest one being a nickel-plated .38 caliber S&W Lemon Squeezer.

 

[WE0H]

Ouch, $150 sounds like a good deal to me

Magnum, I will get a hold of you in a week as I have to leave town for a bit.

Mike

 

[Hardcase]

I think that I've posted this before, but even if you can't shoot 'em, those old pardners make some excellent conversation pieces:

 

[WE0H]

That looks like my 32 but yours is a 38 I presume.

Mike

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

HARDCASE... that's one of the nicest boxes I've seen... I like the box label added... a nice touch...