Won this S&W 1917 revolver at auction day before yesterday.

Bummer about the cylinder not matching. What's the serial on the cylinder?

Still not a big issue for for $425. You've still come out well ahead on the deal.
 
Hi Mike.

Sent you a P.M. on the serial number on the cylinder, crane, frame adjacent to the crane, and the serial number on bottom of the grip.



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I'm still not sure if the staghorn grips are real, or a really good plastic fake.
But at any rate, they have really nice inlaid, polished wood most of the way around the grips and under the grips. Making for a really nice wide hand hold which will help absorb recoil nicely. Here's a couple of pics I took just now, showing the inlaid polished wood under the staghorn, and you can also see the checkering on the metal backstrap of the grip.

Rear backstrap area.....
2796815740099763970S600x600Q85.jpg


inside area of grips....
2297026430099763970S600x600Q85.jpg


Does anyone here know who makes those grips and if they are fake staghorn or real staghorn? Seems like a lot of effort was expended in nicely inlaid, polished wood to put on plastic (if the staghorn is plastic). Not a pit, scratch, ding nor nick anywhere on the grips nor on the revolver. Blue finish is perfect with zero holster wear and no loss anywhere on bluing. Best one I have ever seen and it's a commercial model to boot! Happy as a lark! Woo hoo!

Just one problem with a perfect finish revolver though. Just as with a perfect paint finish new car.....having to endure first scratch syndrome. Lol. Going to be VERY careful when out shooting this one to always have padding to lay it on the bench.



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Well, there may be one way to determine if they are real or not...

Remove them, and look at the back side. It may give some indication of mold marks if they're plastic.

Or, try giving them a scratch test. Plastic will often scratch and leave a rooster tail curl. Horn, being hard and bony, won't.

Another possibility, heat a paper clip red hot and touch it to an inconspicuous place on the back of the grips. If you get melting and plastic smelling smoke, you know what they are.

Stag horn, on the other hand, probably won't smoke at all, or very little, and will just show a dark mark.
 
Oh, one other thing...

Based on the photos, which appear to show grips with a uniform "ground color," (the white area) that's a strong indication that they are plastic.

Real staghorn tends to show a wide variety of tonal colorations in the ground color.
 
Stag generally won't do that with a paperclip test, Aaron, at least not in my experience.

Not enough heat applied over a large enough area for a long enough time. We're talking less than a second to determine if they're plastic or not.
 
Hello Mike,,,

True, but if it smokes even a bit,,,
You should be able to smell the difference.

It was just an added thing he might notice to help determine.

Aarond

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Be sure to do it on the back of the grip!

Every once in awhile I'll a set of fake stags at a gunshow with a suspiciously paperclip-sized hole in a very obvious spot. :eek:
 
You mentioned the "steps" in the cylinder would indicate it is a 45 colt. The S&W 1917s had chamber mouths or steps for the 45acp and would work without the moon clips. The early colts were bored straight through and would not work without the moon clips. A single round would just fall into the cylinder which also meant the bullet was a loose fit in the cylider. Later colt changed that and made a stepped cylinder.

You got a nice looking gun. My dad had the colt 1917 he bought from Leonards farm and ranch store. They had them in 55 gallon barrels. I was with him when he bought it. He looked at several and picked what he thought was a good one. I guess it was. I shot it with him a few days later. I was 6 years old at the time. The first handgun I ever shot. That would be around 1963-1964.

And the price? Six bucks each, your choice.
 
ratshooter wrote:
You mentioned the "steps" in the cylinder would indicate it is a 45 colt. The S&W 1917s had chamber mouths or steps for the 45acp and would work without the moon clips. The early colts were bored straight through and would not work without the moon clips. A single round would just fall into the cylinder which also meant the bullet was a loose fit in the cylider. Later colt changed that and made a stepped cylinder.
Click to expand...

ratshooter, when you said "You" are you referring to me or someone else? Regardless of whom you were referring to, I think you may have misread.

Nowhere in this thread have I nor anyone else said that steps in the cylinder would indicate it is a .45 Colt. In re-reading back over the posts, I always said the exact opposite of what you thought I said. Which is, I said that steps in the cylinder's chambers indicate it is in .45 acp....NOT .45 Colt.

If I am in error, would you please point me to the post and passage where I or anyone else in this thread said steps in the chamber indicated .45 Colt?

ratshooter wrote:
You got a nice looking gun. My dad had the colt 1917 he bought from Leonards farm and ranch store. They had them in 55 gallon barrels. I was with him when he bought it. He looked at several and picked what he thought was a good one. I guess it was. I shot it with him a few days later. I was 6 years old at the time. The first handgun I ever shot. That would be around 1963-1964. And the price? Six bucks each, your choice.
Click to expand...

Thanks ratshooter, glad you liked it.

Interesting story about you and your dad getting that 1917 for $6.00 in the early sixties. Thanks for sharing that. Oh how I wish their prices were even 20 times that today. Let's see, you were six in 1963-1964. I was six in 1959. So you're about 53 to 54 and I'm 58. Both of us baby boomers who remember those great days when gun prices weren't insane. Even in the late 1970's prices were reasonable. I bought my first and only (until now) S&W 1917, with the cylinder chamber steps, that was in .45 acp, that was also in immaculate condition, for $125.00 somewhere around the late '70's. Still mentally kick myself to this day for ever selling it. That won't happen with this one.



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deal

Hey Bill,

I saw that revolver on auction myself, and thought it was selling right.

You got a GREAT buy and have a workhourse of a revolver, no matter if original or not.

A bit green with envy. Congrats to you.
 
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