Forehand .32 neglected little fella, what is?
Dug out of a bucket of junk in a collapsed shed. .32 revolver, 2 1/2 bbl., nickle, oct. bbl., marked on top Forehand Arms Co. Worchester Mass. Pat. Jun 2 1881. Pull pin type cylinder. I assume for .32 S&W short, but a .32 Long fits in rather longish cylinder. Scrubbed out bbl. and chambers and in fair to good cond. 5 shot. No grips, hadda improvise on trigger return spring. Tho cylinder turns fine, pull pin thoroughly rusted into cylinder, can't budge it. Any suggestions? Remover the little ''lock' that holds pin in and of course spring fell out in pieces. Loades some .32 S&Ws with 71gr. lead bullet and 1.5 gr. of Bullseye and the little sucker lines up and hits a pie plate at 20 feet. Misfires sometimes, think cyl. too far front, may need thin washer between cyl. and frame?? SN: 702xx.-
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Made ca. 1890-1902, listed @ $1.70 in 1898 Sears catalog.
(Company name changed from Forehand & Wadsworth to Forehand Arms Co. after Wadsworth died 1890)
You can try tapping on the cylinder pin from rear with a dowel or brass punch (might have to remove hammer)0 -
32 S&W Long, which is more available than the 32 Short, has same chamber pressure as 32 Short so they can be safely used.
Keep at it with Kroil and some heat and you may get lucky.
I drilled thru the rear of a Baby Hammerless frame to enable driving a pin forward that was stuck fast as yours. It didn't work and I had to drill thru the cylinder from the side to destroy it plus the pin to remove them. Replacing cylinder and pin restored the gun.
Dealers at gun shows have buckets of cylinders for those old Suicide Specials. There are also on-line dealers in these parts.
Until you fix it properly you can make cylinder spacers from a cut up coke,beer can. Cut U-notches in the shims and bend the ends over to keep the shims in place.0
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