Top Break Revolver Identification help

M

mrowe

Inactive
Hello, I recently inherited a box of old top break guns. I have been searching to identify them, but information is confusing. I would like to get some information to know if I want to work on them, and if I need to register them (black powder loads). Any help would be appreciated.

Top right- Harrington & Richardson serial #12336 on handle, # is G12336 under cylinder

Top Left - Harrington & Richardson serial #401 165, says "32 S&W CTGE" on barrel

Bottom - Iver Johnson serial #C12448

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The first one ( clockwise) could be smokeless I see the improved cylinder stops. I'm not sure when H&R started that. The middle is blackpowder only. The last Iver johnson is a smokeless weapon. Maybe mid nineteen twenties?
 
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Register them?
There is no US federal requirement for you to register an inherited gun.
Some states do, but not mine.

Work on them?
Looks like somebody has already started, with rust removal and maybe some sort of finish; the IJ looks blued over pitting.
If you can find and install a pivot screw in the one and a mainspring, strut, and plate in the other, grips for all, that might be worthwhile. If they need more work and you would have to send them out, the gunsmithing cost would very quickly exceed their dollar value.
 
The first one (top right) is not smokeless. Rule of thumb - if it has caliber stamped on left side of barrel, it is smokeless. As for working on them, it looks like the top right H&R was burnished and the Iver Johnson was re-blued over pitting. Value-wise, none of them are worth more than $150 on a good day. Regarding registration, look up your State's law. Most States do not have registration.
 
I live in MI and it says I have to register anything with a serial number unless it is older than 1898, or does not shoot modern ammo, which I assume is black powder or smokeless. Can I tell the year of manufacture or model by these serial numbers?
 
I was at the gunsmith's shop today, picking up the last of my guns he has refurbished after The Incident and subsequent house fire.

He showed me a couple of old topbreaks in for "restoration." One had been prettied up with bumper chrome and looked like a chrome plastic cap gun, the other pretty ragged in peeling original nickel plating.
Neither functioned and the replacement parts said to be suitable did not fit.
As I said before, do not give a gunsmith a blank check.

I am not qualified on your registration requirements, but will say:

Bottom - Iver Johnson serial #C12448

Almost surely "modern" the type was made up until WWII.

Top Left - Harrington & Richardson serial #401 165, says "32 S&W CTGE" on barrel

A "smokeless" model made after 1905. "Modern."

Top right- Harrington & Richardson serial #12336 on handle, # is G12336 under cylinder

This one is the tough one. With no caliber marking, it is a "black powder" model. but all that means is that it was made before 1905. I don't have anything to say whether it was made in 1896 or 1904.

Ammunition: We make distinctions of "black powder guns" vs "smokeless guns" based on what was in use when they were made or how proof tested.
However, .32 and .38 S&W are not loaded any hotter than they ever were and are no different in external dimensions. It is not like they were .32 rimfire, which is almost unavailable, you can buy a box of fresh smokeless ammo and cut loose with them. They might not last as long, if you credit discussions of pressure curves and such, but they will shoot and probably won't blow up.
If I were a bureaucrat, I would say that ammunition is "readily available."
 
The Iver Johnson was manufactured in 1910 and is a smokeless frame. Any H&R that has the caliber marked on the barrel was made after 1905 and is a smokeless frame.
 
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