US Revolver Co / Iver Johnson identification

[WagonDrift]

6E2DD518-BC32-49DB-9DCD-6B9A87509D61

• WagonDrift
• Nov 24, 2019

DDB464B7-096E-46BA-BDFF-06A1847B72A1

• WagonDrift
• Nov 24, 2019

Hi all,

A friend of mine brought me a 5 shot revolver that he is curious about, it has US Revolver Co stamped on the top of the barrel. I measured the chambers and they came out to .32-ish so I’m assuming it’s the .32 SW I’ve read a bit about. SN under grip and on trigger guard is 93888.

Any info about build year or really any info at all would be great!

Thanks!
Chuck

 

[jar]

Looking at the cylinder stops I believe that is a Black Powder era gun.

 

[Monac]

Does anyone know about how much that gun would have sold for new, back in the day? $5 or $6? Also, can anyone tell from looking at WagonDrift's photos whether it has a transfer bar or not? It used to be said that the guns IJ sold under the US Revolver label lacked the transfer bar, but I believe that was debunked by Bill Goforth.

BTW, Smith & Wesson introduced that general style of gun in the 1870's. A wide variety of companies made large quantities of copies after S&W's patents expired in the 1880's, eventually dwindling down to just Harrington & Richardson and Iver Johnson after World War I. (Iver Johnson had introduced a valuable improvement, the transfer bar safety mechanism, in the 1890's. It is still in wide use on modern revolvers.) IJ and H&R kept making these little guns about 1940, give or take a year or so. After that, they made only the larger 5-shot 38 S&W size, but mostly as 22 caliber target pistols. IJ failed around 1970, and H&R stopped making their last top-break, the Model 999, in the 1990's. All this is off the top of my head, so I may be wrong about some of it.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

This looks like a standard, black powder US Revolver. According to Goforth (whose book is the go-to reference), these were mechanically identical to Iver Johnson second model 'safety automatic' revolvers, except that they did not have the hammer-the-hammer safety feature. When IJ decided to bite the smokeless bullet they produced the third model, which differed from the 2nd in a few ways; chiefly in that they used a better steel. So the 3rd models are safe with today's factory ammo. The 1st & 2nd models will fire modern also but prolonged use of smokeless will stretch the frame and loosen the top latch. With tons of 2nd model parts on hand after the introduction of the 3rd model, IJ decided to make up revolvers for the mail order trade (through Sears' catalog, etc. Times wuz differnt.) Thus was born the US Revolver trademark. These sold so well from 1910 on that they stayed in the catalog until 1935. Goforth's book dates this one to 1916.

Goforth found a 1905 catalog that priced the 2nd model at $6, the best part of a working man's weekly pay. US Revolvers would have sold for the about same price.

I should add that even without the transfer bar safety feature these guns should be safe to carry with all 5 loaded. Fill the cylinder and, with the firing pin protruding, align the charge holes so the pin will fit between the rims of two adjacent cases as you close the gun. The hammer will be fully lowered and the pin, trapped, will prevent the cylinder from turning.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

That was very interesting Col. Thanks for sharing.
Were there ever any US Revolvers that were made specifically for smokeless powder or did the IJ's fill that roll?

 

[Col. Harrumph]

• I really don't know; Mr. Goforth gives no more info than that I repeated above. But he did explain that one of IJ's tricks to minimize costs was to make parts in batches. So that's why they had lots of 2nd model parts on hand when the 3rd was introduced. But the US Revolver sold in the 10's of 1000's over 25 years. It doesn't seem likely that there would be that many frames on hand in1910.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Thank you.