[firemanstrickland]

Hello all,
I have 2 S&w .32 long revolvers, thats about all i know of them, i want to find out how old they are and maybe a model number and value, please help. the wooden handled one has the numbers 63387 inside the swing arm for the cylinder and on the cylinder and bottom of the grip it has 425047.
and the pearl handled one has the number 4256 inside the swing arm and 218378 on the cylinder and 218678 on the bottom of the grip. the pearl one also apperas to have about 1/2 inch cut off the barrel and the front sight refitted.

[Radagast]

Pearl:
4256 is an assembly number, used to track parts in the factory. It has no meaning after the gun was completed.
218678 is the serial number, making your gun a .32 Hand Ejector Model of 1903 5th Change manufactured between 1910 & 1917 in the serial range 102501 to 263000. Back then S&W often stamped the serial number on the cylinder and underside of the barrel. The fact that your gun has 218 378 stamped on the cylinder suggests that at some point the cylinder was swapped out, or it may simply have been misstamped at the factory.
If the barel has been cut back then there is little interest from collectors and it is only a shooter. Probably valued around $250 max, if the grips are genuine mother of pearl they will be worth a few dollars by themselves.

This gun predates heat treatment of cylinders (which may explain the mismatched cylinder) and should not be fired with any hot handloads.
It also lacks any internal hammer block and should be treated as a five shooter, with the chamber under the hammer left empty. Otherwise if dropped it could fire.


Timber:
63387 is an assembly number, 425047 is the serial number. is the serial number on the bottom of the grip or the front strap?
If on the bottom of the grip, then it is a .32 Hand Ejector 3rd Model. If on the front strap then it is a .32 Regulation Police. Either way it was made between October 1923 (serial number 379160) & sometime in 1926 (serial number 4599xx).
Value is around $300 to $325 to a collector.

This gun has a heat treated cylinder. It lacks the positive internal hammer block safety introduced during WWII, as for the gun above, treat it as a five shooter.

[firemanstrickland]

the serial number on the timber is on the bottom of the grip. thank you for all the input, i really do appreciate it

[Radagast]

Take off the grips. If there is a step in the backstrap of the frame, then it is a Regulation Police. If the back of the frame is a smooth curve then it is a .32 Hand Ejector. The Regulation Police was the .32 Hand Ejector with the backstrap notched to take a specialised square to round butt conversion.

[Old Fuff]

Everything in post #4 is correct, but another way to tell the difference between a pre-World War Two .32 1903 Hand Ejector and Regulation Police models is the location of the frame's serial number.

1903 Hand Ejectors have the serial number stamped on the bottom of the butt, while on Regulation Police Models it will be found on the front or the handle part of the frame, above the mainspring strain screw. This was because the stocks on the Regulation Police covered the butt, while on the 1903 Hand Ejector they didn't.

[Ron James]

On the pearl, both the trigger and hammer looked as if they have been plated.

[Jim K]

If the hammer and trigger have been plated, the plating is not original, which probably means that the gun finish is not original either, but the pictures are too blurry to tell.

Jim

[firemanstrickland]

alrite, well, thank you for all of the info, i have what i need.