S&W 32 HE First Model

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I was driving past a local shop last weekend and I figured what the heck, I'll stop in. Small shop, deals mostly with modern stuff, occasionally something old and interesting shows up. Holy Cow, as I came to the first display case there were two Colt Police Positives, a Colt New Service in 455 Eley, a Model 14, an Official Police, a Colt Model 1903 Pocket 38 ACP, and this 32 Hand Ejector, 1st Model, also known as the Model of 1896.

Turns out the owner's Dad, who is the previous owner, is getting ready to retire to Florida and is thinning out his collection. I already have a couple of Police Positives. The New Service was beautiful, but I don't load 455 Ely. The Model 1903 was beautiful, but he wanted really big money for it. But the 32 was in my price range, plus I did not already have one.

This is the very first side swing model revolver that S&W made. They were made from 1896 until 1903. The cylinder locking system harks back to the old Tip Up design, with the bolt above the cylinder, not below it. Very interesting piece.

Yeah, the finish is really beat up, but there is no rust, and it functions perfectly. Grips are like new. So I took it home. SN is just four digits, 36XX, so it must be pretty early. Heard from Roy and it shipped in December of 1898.

Now where did I put that 32 S&W Long ammo??

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Very cool Driftwood! Enjoy!

 

[reddog81]

Nice piece! Doesn't the bolt on the top interfere with the sights? Or are the incorporated into one unit?

 

[Radagast]

Cool find, thanks for sharing. I've only ever seen one of them and it was missing some parts.
Interesting that Mr Jinks gave you a 1908 date, as the 1st model was replaced in 1903. Another case of S&W never tossing old stock.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Interesting that Mr Jinks gave you a 1908 date, as the 1st model was replaced in 1903. Another case of S&W never tossing old stock.

Ooops. My mistake. It shipped in December of 1898.

Nice piece! Doesn't the bolt on the top interfere with the sights? Or are the incorporated into one unit?

The bolt on this gun is very unusual. As I said, the design harkens back to the old Tip Ups (not Top Breaks).

Here are a few photos that may help explain it.

Here is the bolt protruding down from the underside of the top strap.





The rear sight is integral with the bolt. The bolt is one long piece, pinned to the top strap. Sorry, this photo is a bit out of focus.





The firing pin has a nib sticking up above the hammer.





The long piece with the lengthwise groove in it is part of the bolt. Underneath the bolt is a split spring. The spring pulls the bolt down so the part that fits into the slots on the cylinder is normally protruding down from the frame.





The nib on the firing pin is rounded at the rear, but has a sharp vertical edge at the front. When the hammer is cocked, either single or double action, the rounded part of the nib rocks the split spring up, which in turn rocks the bolt up, clearing the cylinder so the hand can rotate the cylinder. The rear sight is situated directly above the pivot pin, so when the bolt rocks up, the sight rolls just a tiny bit forward. When the hammer falls, the sharp vertical edge of the nib separates the two halves of the split spring. While the two halves of the spring spread the spring is still keeping the bolt down.

Really quite an ingenious system. The same basic system that S&W used with all the old Tip Ups, starting in 1857. When the Model 1903 32 and 38 Hand ejectors came out, the bolt was moved to under the cylinder, where it has been ever since.

 

[WestKentucky]

These are really cool guns. It's a shame that they aren't more popular among the reproduction companies, especially that sweet little tipup you have there. Something just seems right about the little 32 tipup.

 

[reddog81]

Wow, thanks for the photos and detailed response. Very unique and interesting.

 

[Radagast]

Thank you for the in depth lesson & excellent images.

 

[Jim K]

That is an interesting gun. I get the feeling that S&W rushed it into production because they were getting their pants beat off with the new Colt swing cylinder revolvers. Apparently they didn't have time to figure out how to do a cylinder stop from the bottom without colliding with Colt patents, so they did a sort of time machine thing and went back to the first model design. It works, but it was kind of ugly and everyone who knew anything about guns knew that the idea was old. It was not too good, either. I have seen a few of those on the old guns and one on a Model 96 with one of the sides of the spring broken off.

Jim

 

[rcmodel]

It's a shame that they aren't more popular among the reproduction companies,

There isn't a gun company left in the world that still knows how to make flat springs that good anymore you could afford to buy.

Even with all the 'modern' manufacturing methods available to them.

And I'm not joking.

rc

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

That is an interesting gun. I get the feeling that S&W rushed it into production because they were getting their pants beat off with the new Colt swing cylinder revolvers. Apparently they didn't have time to figure out how to do a cylinder stop from the bottom without colliding with Colt patents, so they did a sort of time machine thing and went back to the first model design. It works, but it was kind of ugly and everyone who knew anything about guns knew that the idea was old. It was not too good, either. I have seen a few of those on the old guns and one on a Model 96 with one of the sides of the spring broken off.

Interesting idea about rushing it to market, hence the use of older technology. Never thought about it that way. Personally, I always thought the system as it was devised for the Tip Ups was a very elegant and simple solution. But you are correct that the split spring could break easily. I have a First Model 2nd issue that has a broken split spring. I did not inspect it closely enough when I was buying it to notice.


Smith completely redesigned the lockwork with the 38 HE Model of 1899 and the lockwork was basically the same with the Model of 1902.





With the Model 0f 1905 the lockwork was redesigned to feature the rebound slide and the 'sliding' cylinder stop. This is the same basic action that S&W is still building all these years later, although there have been a few modifications.





I have not taken the sideplate off of the Model 1896 yet, but when I do I will post photos.

 

[Mike Kerr]

Very Interesting thread. Pictures are good and they convey a lot of detail description where words often clutter the issue. I wish I had it and you had a better one.

regards,

 

[antiquus]

Found this on GB one day, fell in love and bought it, totally impractical but I couldn't resist. This one seems to be near the beginning of production and has a 4 digit serial. I only own one gun that's purely for sentimental reasons and this is it.



A little closer look at the engraving. Dates are patent dates.



Here's the cylinder lock mid action. Your can see now why the sights are where they are for stability and why there's a pin in the top of the frame. Driftwood gives you a view of the cylinder lock above.

This is also the gun that introduced the .32S&W Long.

 

[Jim K]

FWIW, I got a First Model HE in an odd way. I was at a gun show when I saw an exhibitor looking at something he had on his lap. I looked at it and saw the cylinder with markings on it. I asked how much, and he told me $400. I gave him the money and left with the HE. It is not in perfect shape, but has no rust and most of its original nickel finish, so I think I did OK. The grips are MOP, with a couple of chips out of them, but I plan to leave them on. I don't know if they are factory or not.

Jim