J.L. Galef imported revolver?

[jjmorgan64]

Looking to get one of these and can't find any info on them.

It is a J.L. Galef "USA 1924 Reformed model" 32 Winchester (32-20)
Spanish made smith copy
Looks like a very solid gun, it passed the checkout except the BC gap is probrably double what it should be.

Supposed to shoot pretty well, Any info that you have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks ahead of time

 

[Jim K]

Galef was one of the importers of Spanish S&W copies in the 1920's. I doubt the guns imported by Galef were any better than the others, and AFAIK, all of them were cheap cast iron (pot metal) guns that are dangerous to fire. I have seen several of .38 Special caliber blown up and would not care to fire one in .32-20.

The guns often are nicely finished and look OK; they even pass the normal checkouts, but I recommend not firing them. A gun may work OK for a while and then let go. One of the .38's had had several hundred rounds (standard loads) through it before the cylinder burst. Another, converted to a "starter pistol" blew when firing blanks and a piece of the cylinder hit a bystander (fortunately no blood drawn). If in doubt about the value, remove the grips and sideplate (if it has one) and look at the "high quality" workmanship.

If you don't want to scrap the gun, grind off the firing pin, plug the hole with weld, and write "dangerous to fire" on it with electric pencil.

Jim