A Question about the Lemon Squeezer...

[115grfmj]

A friend of mine has an old S&W 3rd model Safety, frequently refered to
as the lemon squeezer because of the grip saftey. Any way this gun was
given to him during his days as LEO. I have a few questions about it.
First the left side of the frame is stamped " U.S. EX." We assumed this
was some govt agency, but unsure who. The gun is probably from the
early part of the century (1900's), and the gentleman who owned it
originally worked for the post office. Second we were told that it took
38 S&W Short. The gun shop owner gave as a box of remington Clean bore
stuff stamped 38 colt short. It seem to chamber fine, but even at 15 yards
I litterally couldn't keep it on the paper. Iv'e never had a pistol that shot
that bad. So I'm wondering if it's that same as 38S&W short. Last question
it has about 70% of the original nickel remaining, what are they worth.
I have a family member that owns a plateing business in florida who does
all my nickeling for free, but I don't want to redo it if its worth something
.

Thanks in Advance

Patrick

 

[Majic]

According to the SCSW, if the revolver is the .38 Safety Hammerless 3rd Model with that stamping then only 66 were made. The serial number should fall between 89249 and 89717. I wouldn't refinish it as it's worth a premium (50% to 100%) over the standard models. A standard model in that condition could be worth $300 or more.
It should be chambered in .38SW (there was no short that I know of). The .38 Colt Short is an entirely different cartidge (as you have seen it will chamber, but you know the results). Some of these so-called knowledgeable gunshop employees are beyond me. You can still get .38SW, it was the predessor to the .38 special.
May I suggest you go to the S&W forum and post on the "Revolvers 1857 to 1945" page to pick those guys brains. They know quite a bit about the old Smiths.

 

[Jim Watson]

I don't know about minor marking variations, but if yours is one of 66 somethings (instead of just one of 73,500 made 1890-1898) for sure do NOT replate it. That would change it from a rarity worth some hundreds of dollars to a nonentity worth a hundred or two.

38 S&W (not Short, there was only the one caselength) is NOT the forerunner of the .38 Special. It is larger in both brass and bullet. The .38 Special is a descendant of the .38 Long Colt, even though developed by Smith & Wesson. That is because they were trying to improve on the .38 Government (GI version of Long Colt) instead of souping up their own superior design. In those days Colt was the industry leader and S&W was playing catchup after years of depending on foreign contracts and sales of pocket pistols.

The shop clerk was a dolt. Aided by traditional error of many people calling .38 S&W a "Thirty-eight Short." Same people who call a .32 S&W Long a "Thirty-two Special." (There are two lengths of .32 S&W, the original .32 S&W - again just that, not "short" - and the neat little .32 S&W Long.)

None are the same as the corresponding Colt cartridges. Which Colt themselves dropped before WW I, adopting the S&W designs but calling them .38 and .32 Colt Police Positive first and .38 or .32 Colt New Police later.

 

[Old Fuff]

Well so far you've gotten some good answers. I'll add the following:

The "U.S. Ex" marking likely stands for "U.S. Express Company," but they usually marked their guns, "USX" so the markings may or may not be genuine. A $30.00 check, the gun's description, including a full serial number (found on the butt), and a snapshot photograph, forwarded to Smith & Wesson's company historian, Roy Jinks would bring you a letter with a full history of your gun as it is recorded in the factory records.

Refinishing the gun would reduce it's collector's value - but more to the point, disassembling and reassembling these guns is difficult, and requires a special set of pin punches. Since I have disassembled/reassembled a number of them I would STRONGLY recommend that you don't try it.