Help identifying a revolver

[jiphillips]

My wife got a lump of rust out of a barn and thought I would have "fun" fixing it and figuring out what it was.

Originally, it had so much rust on it that the cylinder wouldn't rotate and the top break wouldn't. After a vinegar bath I could open it and pull the trigger. After some elbow grease I could pretty much read the serial numbers and after the sonic bath I'm sure I can read the serial numbers. After looking at I don't know how many pictures on Google I think it's a US Revolver Co top break automatic revolver, only two pins in the bottom of the frame, with the serial number of 37918. It measured (basic tape measure not calipers) to .38 caliber. I don't know if that means .38 special or .38 S&W or some weird and obscure one I've never heard of.



Other than the grips I have all of the pieces but I'm assuming that it won't be worth much but it gave me some stress relief after dealing with kids and jobs, plus now I want to complete it just because I started it. Any information such as verification of maker and year would be great. Thank you.

 

[Sarge7402]

US Revolver was a trade name brand marketed by Iver Johnson prior to World War II. While very similar to the Iver J, the all lacked the Iver J's patented hammer the hammer feature. Your's probably dates to about the turn of the Century. Later Iver J's have a very pronounced locking bolt slot in the cylinder that this one does not

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

My wife got a lump of rust out of a barn and thought I would have "fun" fixing it and figuring out what it was.

Originally, it had so much rust on it that the cylinder wouldn't rotate and the top break wouldn't. After a vinegar bath I could open it and pull the trigger. After some elbow grease I could pretty much read the serial numbers and after the sonic bath I'm sure I can read the serial numbers. After looking at I don't know how many pictures on Google I think it's a US Revolver Co top break automatic revolver, only two pins in the bottom of the frame, with the serial number of 37918. It measured (basic tape measure not calipers) to .38 caliber. I don't know if that means .38 special or .38 S&W or some weird and obscure one I've never heard of.

View attachment 782098 View attachment 782099

Other than the grips I have all of the pieces but I'm assuming that it won't be worth much but it gave me some stress relief after dealing with kids and jobs, plus now I want to complete it just because I started it. Any information such as verification of maker and year would be great. Thank you.

It would most assuredly be in .38 S&W. The cylinder shouldn't be long enough to chamber the Special, but even if you could cram a wadcutter in there, it would be extremely inadvisable to do so!

I would be extremely wary of trying to shoot this unless the bore, timing, carry up, frame latch and final lockup were perfect....

 

[4v50 Gary]

Good luck finding the parts and restoring it.

 

[jiphillips]

Could anyone figure out a year on it? I wasn't planning on shooting it, just wanted the pride of knowing that I got it working really. The only parts I need are the mainspring and grips. I might have my brother make some out of mesquite or hickory but those would probably be worth more than the revolver so I not sure about that part now. Thank you everyone for the help and the encouragement.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

Grips and most springs should be available at gunpartscorp.com

 

[Mr. Standfast]

US Revolver was a trade name brand marketed by Iver Johnson prior to World War II. While very similar to the Iver J, the all lacked the Iver J's patented hammer the hammer feature. Your's probably dates to about the turn of the Century. Later Iver J's have a very pronounced locking bolt slot in the cylinder that this one does not

It has cleaned up remarkably well from the condition you describe. That has happened to me, with a revolver which was given to a friendly gun dealer ("Is it a real one?", who gave it to me. What emerged from the rust in surprisingly good condition and in all respects functional, was Colt's factory rimfire conversion of the 1862 Pocket Navy. Well, functional except that I think Colt converted an extremely good cap and ball revolver at the cost of boring the rear of the cylinder terrifyingly thin.

Here is the "Hammer the hammer" transfer bar on their Safety Automatic revolver as sold under their own name. It is the solid black thing in the picture, and is simply the lockwork of the French 1873 ordnance revolver, with the mentonnet or chinpiece hammer lifter extended upwards to form the transfer bar.

The significance of this is that the transfer bar might well have been an expense that needed saving on the low-price revolver market, the coilspring surely wasn't. It might seem like this means your revolver predated the "hammer the hammer" feature, which I believe appeared in 1894. Well the Safety Automatic had several versions, all pre-World War 1, so it is likely that your revolver was made before at least the last of those.

The Iver Johnson revolvers weren't of top quality, and would probably wear faster than the Colts or S&W. But they weren't unduly weak for a traditionally loaded .38S&W, and were surely a more effective close-up defence weapon than the .32 or perhaps even .380 automatics, which were limited to FMJ bullets at the time.

 

[tark]

Could also be a .38 Short Colt.

 

[Jim Watson]

Probably not. All the second tier revolvers I have seen or read of were for .38 S&W by then.

 

[Blkhrt13]

Rust is like cancer on steel. If you let it get bad enough it can get deeper than you think. I’ve cut through the stuff with a grinder and had steel act like butter. I’ve seen stress cracks caused in blends way better than what that is made of. I do not reccomend coming close to firing that. Even if you get it working I would disable it again. Just because someone else may not realize it’s as dangerous as it is.