I can tell you that around the turn of the Century Iver Johnson completely redesigned their revolver line to be safe to fire with Smokeless Ammunition. I don't know much about the other companies, such as Iver Johnson and Harrington and Richardson, except to tell you that they were making Top Breaks long after S&W moved on to Hand Ejectors. Sorry, I do not know exactly when that happened. All the others should be shot with ammunition loaded with Black Powder.Īt some point, Smith and Wesson's patents on Top Break revolvers expired and other companies were able to get into the Top Break market. As such, they were made with modern steel and are the only S&W Top Breaks that I can recommend shooting with modern Smokeless ammunition. This model was made from 1909 until 1921. In order to open the gun, both latches had to be operated at once, or the gun would not open. This was an unusual model in that it incorporated both a thumb piece to open the action, and a Top Break latch at the top of the frame. The last Top Break that S&W introduced were the 38 Double Action Perfected Model. These revolvers are pictured with their appropriate ammunition, 38 S&W for the 38, 32 S&W for the 32. The 38 Safety Hammerless, 3rd Model at the top of this photo was made in 1905, the 32 Safety Hammerless, 2nd Model at the bottom of the photo was made in 1896. The 38 Safety Hammerless revolvers first appeared in 1887, the 32 Safety Hammerless revolvers first appeared in 1888. That resulted in their nicknames the Lemon Squeezers. They had a grip safety, much like the 1911 does, which had to be squeezed to pull the trigger. Then there were the Safety Hammerless revolvers. S&W also made double action Top Breaks chambered for both 32 S&W and 38 S&W. You will see some boxes labelled that way, but it is incorrect. By the way, the proper name of the cartridge is 32 S&W, not 32 S&W Short. Smith and Wesson started making 32 caliber Top Breaks in 1878. The main difference is the Baby Russian had a longer extractor housing under the barrel. Not a Baby Russian, this one is a 38 Single Action 2nd Model (the Baby Russians command a lot of money). The 38 Single Action had a spur trigger, no trigger guard, as did many early revolvers. This revolver was chambered for the then new 38 S&W cartridge, not to be confused with 38 Special, which came along later. Smith and Wesson began building smaller Top Breaks in 1876 with the 38 Single Action nicknamed the Baby Russian. The American Model was followed by four other large frame 44 and 45 caliber Top Breaks the Russian Model in 1871, the Schofield Model in 1875, the New Model Number Three in 1878, and the 44 Double Action in 1881. This is a photo of the S&W American Model. Being a very crafty old New Englander, Daniel Wesson took out patents on this design which prevented other manufacturers from making Top Break revolvers until the patents expired. As it happened, the next really big thing in revolver design, the Colt Single Action Army did not debut until a few years later in 1873. A revolver that would except cartridges from the rear, and could be broken open to eject all the spent rounds simultaneously. With the White Patent due to expire in 1869, Daniel Wesson was sure the other gun makers would be ready to jump into the cartridge revolver market with their new cartridge revolvers, so he came up with something revolutionary. This patent gave S&W the exclusive right to make revolvers with the chambers bored through to accept cartridges from the rear. The Rollin White patent, which S&W controlled was about to expire. This large, 44 caliber revolver, first introduced in 1870, was built on what S&W called the #3 frame. The very first Top Break revolver made by anyone was the Smith and Wesson model that eventually came to be known as the American Model. Much too big for an adequate discussion in a forum like this. What advice do you have for a beginner in this category (give as much detail as you can). I would like anyone's opinion about pursuing this urge (shooting a. My local gunsmith refuses to work on them and claims there is no parts market for them, therefore a waste of time and money. I would like to explore the 19th and 20th century top break revolvers made by Iver Johnson, H&R, S&W, etc., with the intention of satisfying my nostalgia for this niche in our firearms history.
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