Lemon Squeezer

That term comes from the safety on the back of the grip of various guns. Primarily the old S&W models like these. When you properly grip the gun, the safety is "squeezed" into the frame and disengaged.


Smith and Wesson continues to make one or two models that feature this kind of safety. I believe they are the Model 40 & 42.

The term "lemon squeezer" was originally a small pistol held in the palm of the hand, with the barel protruding between the middle and ring fingers. Squeezing the gun in the palm pushed in the firing lever on the back side of the pistol to fire the gun. It was a revolver, but instead of a cylinder, the cartridges were held in a flat disc, similar in arrangement to the Lewis gun, arrayed radially.

When Smith & Wesson introduced their hammerless top-break, it was dubbed a "lemon squeezer" as it had a grip safety. Then when the S&W Centennial was introduced, it too, had a grip safety and has been dubbed "lemon squeezer."

More than you ever wanted to know, I'm sure.

Bob Wright

Yup,
I failed to mention the old timer.

Fixed it.

The term "lemon squeezer" was originally a small pistol held in the palm of the hand, with the barel protruding between the middle and ring fingers.

Click to expand...

You learn something new every day! I had never heard the term "lemon squeezer" applied to anything other than S&W J-frame revolvers with the grip safeties.

A lemon-squeezer nickel-plated Model 40 Centennial was the first firearm I ever owned (bought used from an acquaintance). With the saw-handle grip and the serrated backstrap safety, it was prolly the most NON-ergonomic handgun I could ever imagine shooting.

But somehow, that started a love for J-frames that has stuck to this day (in spite of all its ergonomic shortcomings, it was still amazingly accurate for what it was).


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Incidentally, at the S&W factory the top-break revolver was known as the New Departure or Safety Hammerless (sometimes just "Safety" for short).

But they strongly objected to the term, "Lemon Squeezer," and those in-the-know never used it around S&W management or employees.

Believe it or not, a "lemon squeezer" was originally (ready for this?) a lemon squeezer. It was a gadget that was held in the hand and used to squeeze the juice out of a half lemon. For that matter, just squeezing a lemon by hand uses the same basic idea but without the leverage. The action of those S&W's reminded someone of squeezing a lemon and the nickname was born.

Jim

Iggy ~ the Perfected model.....

One of the last top-breaks made by S&W, so I understand, was the Perfected Model, which had the thumbpiece like modern S&W revolvers, don't know if it were hammerless or not. But to break open the gun, the thumb piece had to be pressed while opening the topstrap latch.

The thinking at the time was that a detective, holding a gun on a culprit, could be disarmed by the culprit's reaching over and suddenly unlatching the T-shaped latch.

Cany you show us an example?

Bob Wright

Jim K:

Believe it or not, a "lemon squeezer" was originally (ready for this?) a lemon squeezer. It was a gadget that was held in the hand and used to squeeze the juice out of a half lemon

Click to expand...

I believe I have seen those in old movies!

Bob Wright

I wish they would come out with this one again.

That is very cool! Maybe Uberti would do it….

Howdy

As some of you may have gathered by now, I love S&W revolvers. All except for the Perfected Model. The Perfected Model has to be the dumbest thing Smith ever did, maybe with the exception of the Governor, or what ever they call that ridiculous thing that fires both 45 Colt and 410 shotgun.

But I digress.

I love the little 'lemonsqueezers' I have a few of them. This is a little nickel plated 32 Safety Hammerless, 2nd Model.




Here is a 38 Safety Hammerless, 3rd Model. The grips are worn and the finish is less than perfect, but it still works.




Here are the insides of the 38.



These things are fun to shoot. The grip safety works beautifully. When you hold the gun normally, you depress the safety. You never even know it is there. There was a variation of the 38 Safety Hammerless, 5th Model with a short 2" barrel. These are known to collectors as Bicycle Guns. The idea was you could slip one in your pocket while taking your sweetie for a spin on a couple of those high wheeled, late 19th Century bicycles and protect her from ruffians and ne'er do wells. I don't have a Bicycle Gun in my collection yet, they command a premium.

But the Perfected! Yes, I have read how they were designed so a crook could not reach over the top and unlatch the gun because the side latch had to be pushed forward at the same time. Frankly, I think that is a lot of hooey. Has anybody here ever tried reaching over the top of a Top Break in the hands of a competent shooter and tried to open it up? It ain't as easy as it sounds. As a matter of fact, it requires two hands to open most Top Breaks anyway. One hand to hold the grip and the other hand to pull the latch up and rotate the barrel down. I don't own any Perfecteds because I am not interested in them. But I have handled them and worked the actions. Yes, you have to lift the latch and push the slide release forward at the same time. It's pretty awkward. Not something you want to have to do if you need to reload in a hurry.

The Perfected Model was produced from 1909 until 1920. It was the last Top Break that S&W designed. But if you look closely, the frame was just about the same as the 32 Hand Ejector Model of 1903. A side swing revolver. Same integral trigger guard. Side plate on the right side of the frame, rather than the left. Same internal parts, including the sliding latch to free the cylinder. Very different from the parts inside any other Top Break.

Personally, I think S&W used the same basic frame as the 32 Hand Ejector for the Perfected just because it was easy to do. The parts had already been designed. They stopped producing them in 1920, probably because the Hand Ejector design had proved so practical.

All this is of course just my own opinion.

P.S. I'm pretty sure the Perfected in the photo has had its barrel cut down. They were made with 3 1/4", 4", 5", or 6" barrels, and the front sight was usually integral with the barrel, not pinned in place.

I just asked about them, I didn't say I liked them!


Bob Wright

The original:

Squeeze Theeze...

Iggy mentioned this one,,,

S&W Model 42 in their Classic line,,,

Click here please,,,

It's on their website so I believe it's still available.

Aarond

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That link says it's no longer in production and only exists on the site for reference purposes.

There's also was the Model 40. I think the difference is the 42 has an aluminum frame, while the 40's was steel.

Model 40:

The current grip mounted safety Centennial models are the only S&W revolvers not made with the internal lock.
The grip mounted safety apparently meets their lawyers requirements for a safety.

Well,

I love lemonade;

The current grip mounted safety Centennial models are the only S&W revolvers not made with the internal lock.

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Partially correct. The new 642/442, which has no grip safety, also has no ils. They started making these again in June of 2013. At least that's the first one I saw.

It's interesting to note that S&W has reverted to using the old dash number for the new 642. The new one's I've seen are marked "642-2". Prior to this, 642's with the ils were marked ""642-3". First time I know of were a S&W dash number went backwards in time.

Iggy, post #2, those are some beauties son ! They both look brand new, you have some dandy revolvers, man you do !