Picked up my cut barrel 1917 S&W from my dealer today. It was in much better shape than I had thought from the auction photos. Even at the dealer's the hammer and trigger worked and the cylinder turned although on several of the cylinder's chambers it was hard to turn and needed my manual help to turn. I saw that the cylinder release button was forward so there should have been nothing holding the cylinder in the frame. So I gently tapped the cylinder against my knee several times and it popped right out.
When I got it home I found out what was causing the cylinder to lock up on several chambers and also what was causing the ejector rod to bind. The ejector rod was easy to unscrew. In fact it was slightly loose. I unscrewed it, took out the skinny rod and set that aside, and on inspection found that the ejector rod was slightly bent and would not eject cartridges fully.
Shiny spot on middle of ejector rod below is where it was bent....
Ejector rod laying next to revolver.
So I laid it on a flat surface and rolled the ejector rod til I found the high spot. Then carefully tapped it straight with a hammer. It works back and forth smoothly now and fully ejects. Fixed pretty good with just a few strategic taps of a hammer. However; I'm still going to get a new old stock ejector rod for it that I've found because the big end of the rod where it is knurled is buggered up and the knurling is scratched away and gone from it being bent. It works but doesn't look pretty and still slightly binds on several chambers when the cylinder turns so I'll put on the new one and save the old one for a spare part that needs further straightening to prevent binding on all chambers of the cylinder when it turns. So everything is working pretty good mechanically now and I didn't have to soak it in kroil oil or anything. All I did was spray the insides with a bit of WD40 to slick things up a bit.
I haven't taken the side plate off and gotten to the innards yet. Even still, by all mechanics and appearances I think everything inside is okay. Cylinder lockup on both hammer back and hammer down with trigger held back is VERY tight. Much tighter than on most new revolvers! Not bad for an antique! I was very impressed with its tight lockup. The yoke mates to the frame so well that I can hardly see the seam!! They just don't take the time to hand fit revolvers like this anymore. The old saying is true...."They don't make them like they used to." I'd actually rather have this revolver than a brand new one. This is a T34 tank and made like a Swiss watch to boot!
I took it out back and fired six rounds out of it and it functioned smoothly and perfectly except for dragging a little on two chambers because of that still ever so slightly bent ejector rod that I got hammered pretty straight, but not perfect (new ejector rod will take care of that). Rifling looks good too but you can't really tell from this pic. End of barrel was nicely rounded....
Next I took off and inspected the grips that came with it, and like the experts at the Smith and Wesson forum had told me from looking at my auction photos, the grips were indeed genuine India sanbar stag grips and they told me they are worth about $200.00
I'm going to sell those India sanbar stag grips to help defray some of my cost on the revolver and after that, I'll only have about $200.00 in it. Then maybe another $50.00 for a friend to hot tank blue it (after I buff out the rust and pits),
and I'll have a like new S&W 1917 snubby for around $250.00 Not too shabby when they are going for $800.00 and up on Gunbroker! I saw a nice but not perfect S&W 1917 go on Gunbroker last week for $1300.00! I've seen them go for $1500.00 and almost $2000.00 too. Prices on S&W 1917's have gone insane and they have become collector items.
I was VERY lucky to get both this one and my commercial model for the prices I paid.
Wearing an oven mitt, I heated a paperclip with a torch lighter til it was red hot, then touched that to the back of one of the grips. It did not melt. Just made a little brown mark. Also I can see some of the "bark" of the stags on the inside of the grips as well as see different color tones going through the grips. No doubt they are geniune India sanbar stag grips. There is some pencil writing on the back of them that is the number "306" and a name written in cursive "Onama" or "Onawa" not sure if that second to last letter is a m or a w. Perhaps they belonged to an Asian chap at one time.
Backside of India sanbar stag grips showing "bark" going through partially to backside along with number 306 and Onama or Onawa.
Backside of India Sanbar stags off the revolver
Top side of India sanbar stags off the revolver
Continued next post due to 6 pics per post limit....
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