Howdy
When I first got into collecting S&W revolvers, my holy grail revolver was a Triple Lock, but they were all way out of my price range.
So I started looking for a 44 Hand Ejector, 2nd Model, the successor to the Triple Lock.
It did not take too long to find this one:
To those unfamiliar with this model, the 2nd Model did away with the legendary 3rd Latch of the 44 Hand Ejector 1st Model, the Triple Lock. Notice there is no massive underlug on the 2nd Model, which is what housed the 3rd latch. This was done to make the revolver simpler to manufacture, and allowed S&W to drop the price of the 2nd Model to $19, as opposed to the $21 price of the Triple Lock.
Anyway, shortly after I bought my 44 Hand Ejector I noticed some discrepancies.
The knurled knob on the front of the ejector rod did not have the typical large, mushroom shaped knob.
Like this:
Instead of the flat on the underside of the barrel having the serial number stamped there, there was this curious diamond shaped mark.
The underside of the grip had a curios crown shaped mark stamped there.
And most curious of all, was this strange mark stamped on the side of the frame.
So I sent off to Roy Jinks for a factory letter.
Some of you are already way ahead of me.
It turns out what I had was a 455 Hand Ejector, 2nd Model, that had been converted to shoot 44 Special.
The original barrel and cylinder had been replaced, hence the lack of the SN on the underside of the barrel, and the smaller knob on the end of the ejector rod.
The little crown on the butt was a British proof mark.
Most interesting of all, the strange mark on the side of the frame is a Canadian Broad Arrow. The typical British Broad Arrow, with a big letter C around it, to signify Canada.
I don't have the letter in front of me right now, but this one had been shipped to Canada in 1916, and marked accordingly.
At some point it was shipped back to S&W and converted to 44 Special. The diamond mark on the bottom of the barrel indicates the work had been done at S&W, although Roy did not have a specific date when it had been done.
Hope I have not hijacked this thread, but the title British Contract .44 Eley Triple Lock Revolver caught my attention.
I do have a few Triple Locks these days, all of them chambered for 44 Special, but I will not hijack this thread further by posting any photos of them.
Moderators: I am still ticked off about the photos that I post not coming through.