Iver Johnson 38 s&w revolver identification help

[whatever]

I've got my grandfathers old iver Johnson revolver that used to hang in the fruit basket next to his couch. The thing looks as old as heck and is in rough cosmetic shape. I'm looking for a possible date of manufacture from the experts. The serial number is on the bottom of the grip frame (not inside the grip panels as I've seen other ij revolvers have). The serial number is 183xx.

I'd like the date of manufacture and to see if this is the black powder version or if I can use modern 38 s&w in it.

I'm also considering refinishing it in honor of my grandfather but before I do that I'd like to know I'm not messing with a valuable gun.

Ay help is appreciated.

 

[Radagast]

Top break or solid frame. Concealed hammer or exposed? Folding trigger or standard trigger with trigger guard? .22, .32, .38?

 

[whatever]

Top break, 5 shot, exposed hammer, 38 s&w. Not sure what a folding trigger is, but the trigger ang guard look normal.

 

[gyvel]

According to Goforth's book, your gun was made in 1894, and is a "First Model" hammer version. It should have a side lever to release the barrel instead of the much more common "T" latch.

Photos would help, and specifically, a clear photo of the barrel markings.

 

[Japle]

Be advised your gun may have been manufactured for black powder ammo. Shooting smokeless loads might not be a great idea. The stuff is loaded to low pressures, but not as low as the usual BP ammo used in the late 1800s.

 

[whatever]

Here are a few pics:

 

[gyvel]

My mistake: The serial numbers repeated themselves when the "Second Model Hammer Version" was introduced, and would be a Second Model pre-first variation gun, according to Goforth.

According to the 2nd Model list, your gun was made in 1895, with something like a million copies made between 1895/96-1908. It is definitely a black powder gun.

If you can provide the legend on top of the barrel, we will know for sure.

 

[dagger dog]

If the grips are original it is a blackpowder only, if the OWL is looking into the back of the cylinder it has BP grips and or is a BP gun.

 

[whatever]

The inscription reads:
IVER JOHNSON ARMS & CYCLE WORKS, FITCHBURG MASS. U.S.A.
PAT'D APR 6 86 FEB 15 87 MAY 10 87 DEC 26 93 PATS PENDING

 

[gyvel]

Thanks. That pinpoints it to 1895.

 

[Clark]

I am the executor of my father's estate. I figured out a couple months ago that my grandfather's 38 S&W Iver Johnson revolver that he carried in the Alaskan Gold rush somehow disappeared since the 1990s [when I fixed the trigger spring].

I did shoot his revolver in 1972.
In the 1990s I started going to gun shows and buying more guns than I will ever have time to test fire. I got more than a dozen Iver Johnson break top revolvers [often @$35 each], and I have Goforth's books; 1991 and 2006.

I over loaded some IJ break tops with hot handloads [38 Super +P level with JHP bullets] and stretched the eye of the latch, making the actions loose.

I said something about too much pressure to my father. He snapped back that it was bullet friction and recoil on the barrel mass that stretched the latch. [He was chief engineer over 150 engineers and draftsmen designing military guns and vehicles for 40 years, and could really yell and pound on table tops] It took me a while to get my mind around that it was not pressure that did the damage. But eventually I got it.

But now I shoot wimp loads [ ~ 2 gr Unique or 1 gr Bullseye] and soft lead bullets in break tops with thin latch links.

http://www.westernbullet.com/ly3150gr.html

That keeps down the recoil and the bullet friction.