What is this?

[Nomadicone]

A friend of mine has had a H&R Arms passed down for a couple of generations (see pics). The only stamping anywhere on the gun is the H&R Arms. There is no caliber anywhere. The cylinder comes out like a single action and it is loaded like a single action but it can be fired double action. He was told by his father it was a 32 caliber so he asked at a local gun shop for ammo and they gave him 32 auto but they did so without seeing the gun. He fired one round and the empty case was difficult to extract. It did extract however and the case did not appear bugled. I looked it up in my traders book and I did find the gun but it was chambered for a number of calibers. Anyone have an idea what he has and what it may be chambered for?
Since the loaded rounds seem to be head spacing on the mouth and the base of the case protrudes enough for the firing pin to strike the primer yet lets the base clear the frame I’m wondering if I can do some measurements with a caliper and come up with cartridge dimensions. Any experts out there?

 

[a7mmnut]

.32 S&W or .32 S&W Long? Maybe this will help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_&_R_Firearms


-7-

 

[Hawg]

As you can tell from the link in the previous post it's an H&R American. Caliber is .32 S&W. It's definitely not .32 ACP.

 

[gyvel]

I'm making a semi-educated guess here:

You definitely have a Harrington & Richardson, and I think it is a Model 1900 (aka "American"). You are very fortunate that the .32 ACP round didn't blow the side of the cylinder out.

These guns were made for a much lower powered round known as the .32 S&W, and I believe yours was chambered for the .32 S&W Short, since you state the .32 ACP rounds headspaced on the case mouth.

Further complicating matters is the fact that this type of gun was made at a transitional changeover period from black powder rounds to smokeless. There are reference works that can tell you the approximate date of production and from that, it can be deduced if the gun is safe to use with smokeless powder rounds or not.

Personally, I think it would be best if the gun was kept as a collector's item and not shot at all. BUT, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD .32 ACP BE SHOT IN THIS REVOLVER.