Dave DeLaurant
Member
Last month I found this S&W Hand Ejector (3rd change) in the display case at my indoor pistol range.
The finish was nearly gone but on inspection the bore was very good, the timing was spot on and it locked up like a bank vault. Serial # puts it around 1910. The tag said $300 and I said sold! The original grips were worn nearly smooth, so I put on the Magna grips from my K-22 Masterpiece for the time being.
The revolver is chambered for 32-20, a cartridge I haven't handloaded to date. However I had been looking for a .32-20 revolver to test a theory of mine. In the last couple years I have been acquiring 7.5-8mm European military cartridge revolvers that can fire handloads made from shortened 7.62 Nagant gas seal brass loaded with Lapua target HBWC bullets. These bullets are quite soft and can expand to fit oversize 8mm bores, and the chambers of all of these revolvers have almost identical diameters:
Traditionally, ammo for the 7.5 Swiss Ordnance Revolver was made from shortened .32-20 brass, so I was thinking that just maybe my sawed-off Nagant brass would work in a .32-20 revolver. The Swiss/Nagant/'Lebel' case is only the length to the .32-20's shoulder, but I figured the Lapua bullets were sufficiently malleable to negotiate the extra step in the chamber. Another possible difficulty was that the rim of the .32-20 was thicker than the Nagant's by about .005" -- would the firing pin have enough length for reliable detonation?
Well, I've put about 50 rounds of my compromise ammo through this revolver now. No failures to fire, occasional sticky extraction but no excess case swelling or splitting, and quite good accuracy.
Once Starline .32-20 brass becomes available again I will switch to bonafide handloads for this revolver, but as a stop-gap this kludge works surprisingly well.
As for this specific revolver's future, I'm waffling between leaving it as-is or having it Cerakoated. It has a certain 'rat rod' charm, but the sights are shiny and a gun this venerable (and non-collectible) deserves protection. We'll see.
The finish was nearly gone but on inspection the bore was very good, the timing was spot on and it locked up like a bank vault. Serial # puts it around 1910. The tag said $300 and I said sold! The original grips were worn nearly smooth, so I put on the Magna grips from my K-22 Masterpiece for the time being.
The revolver is chambered for 32-20, a cartridge I haven't handloaded to date. However I had been looking for a .32-20 revolver to test a theory of mine. In the last couple years I have been acquiring 7.5-8mm European military cartridge revolvers that can fire handloads made from shortened 7.62 Nagant gas seal brass loaded with Lapua target HBWC bullets. These bullets are quite soft and can expand to fit oversize 8mm bores, and the chambers of all of these revolvers have almost identical diameters:
Traditionally, ammo for the 7.5 Swiss Ordnance Revolver was made from shortened .32-20 brass, so I was thinking that just maybe my sawed-off Nagant brass would work in a .32-20 revolver. The Swiss/Nagant/'Lebel' case is only the length to the .32-20's shoulder, but I figured the Lapua bullets were sufficiently malleable to negotiate the extra step in the chamber. Another possible difficulty was that the rim of the .32-20 was thicker than the Nagant's by about .005" -- would the firing pin have enough length for reliable detonation?
Well, I've put about 50 rounds of my compromise ammo through this revolver now. No failures to fire, occasional sticky extraction but no excess case swelling or splitting, and quite good accuracy.
Once Starline .32-20 brass becomes available again I will switch to bonafide handloads for this revolver, but as a stop-gap this kludge works surprisingly well.
As for this specific revolver's future, I'm waffling between leaving it as-is or having it Cerakoated. It has a certain 'rat rod' charm, but the sights are shiny and a gun this venerable (and non-collectible) deserves protection. We'll see.
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