My Newest (Old) S&W

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FPrice

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Well, the dealer (not my regular FFL) finally went down on his price and I picked up this roughly 1908 .32S&W Safety Hammerless. Finish is still nice near the main part of the frame but the barrel is worn. The lands and grooves look really sharp so I surmise that it sat somewhere and was seldom used. This is now the oldest gun in my collection by far.

This same dealer has an approximately 1895 previous model of this pistol in nickle, but it looks very bad. I am passing on that one because I think it dates back to black powder days while this one should be okay with smokeless powder loads.
 

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Looks supah! Thanks for the pic. BTW, how was the bore on the nickle copy? I bet it's OK with smokeless. I have, and shoot, several 1890s firearms -- though I've never researched this issue for S&Ws of that era so I could definitely be wrong about that revolver being safe.
 
While some of the cheaper copies of S&W's Safety Hammerless are suspect, I don't think the original product is. Smith & Wesson period advertising says:

".32 S&W (Short) Cartridge either black, semi-smokeless or smokeless powder with lead or metal pointed bullet."

Smokeless powder loads for handgun cartridges were introduced about 1898 and were common shortly after the turn of the 20th. century. My rough rule-of-thumb on these guns is if they have the "T" barrel latch (starting at about 1902 at serial number 914xx) and are in good mechanical shape they can be safely fired using current factory loads. Do not do like some dim-wits and try to use .32 ACP rounds in place of .32 S&W.
 
Gee, that's too bad ......

I've seen them go for twice that. Well some people have to get lucky.
 
>> You don't get lucky very often in The People's Commonwealth of Massachusetts. <<

I know. That's why I was delighted to see how things turned out concerning this little S&W. I have found them to be an interesting revolver, and the internal workmanship reminds one of a fine timepiece.

One thing. Don't dry-fire it unless you have empty or fired cases in the chambers. Otherwise they tend to break firing pins or mash the firing pin spring.

Also, a blued gun is worth slightly more then a nickeled one because most of this particular model were nickeled. They were intended to be pocket guns and of course stainless steel was unheard of.
 
Thanks for the picture. It is a good looking collector/shooter for that price. I am new to the forum, but I have a soft niche for S&W revolvers as well as others from the blackpowder/somekless transition period forward to WW ll. I have read about them from the time I was a kid in the late 50's but rarely see an old 32 S&W in good shape for a price I feel comfortable with. Do you guys have any I frames ?

Regards
 
Mike Kerr:

>> Do you guys have any I frames ? <<

A number of people who post here have S&W I-frame revolvers. They run from the original 22/32 Kit Guns and Target Model through the 1903 Hand Ejector series and Regulation Police. I'm sure if you start a thread you can get a discussion going. If you are looking to buy a gun there is at least one 1903 Hand Ejector/.32/4" listed on Gunbroker.com
 
fiVe...

"Nice pic. Looks like a good collector's piece (or is it to be a shooter?)."

Thanks. It's a collector that's also a shooter, but not very often. I don't like to have guns I can't shoot. I'll play with it now and then.
 
FPrice

Very nice classic . Honestly , I had never had much interest in these old beauties until recently . Then I stumbled onto this 2nd Model and decided that I had been overlooking a true classic . Now I need to find a nice .38 ! :)

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guy sajer...

"Then I stumbled onto this 2nd Model and decided that I had been overlooking a true classic ."

Now that is a sweet-looking pistol. Looks in pretty good shape. The other Safety Hammerless this dealer had was nickled but the finish was in bad shape.
 
Thanks . The nickel is original and probably 97% . The grips are in georgous shape . I'm a pretty tough condition "grader" :)
Still looking for more .
 
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