Need help with ID caliber

katt66

October 09, 2009 12:01

My husband recently got a small top action revolver off of a friend of his. He was told it's a 32 cal but that's not on the gun itself anywhere so we're not even sure of that. On top of the barrel is

IVER JOHNSON'S ARMS AND CYCLE WORKS. FITCHBURG, MASS. U.S.A.
PAT'D APR.6.86 FEB.15.87 MAY 10.87 DEC.26.93 PAT'S PENDING

It's the top action with hammer and trigger guard.

Any info on this gun that anyone could give us would be greatly appreciated. Are these dates 1900's or 1800's? How much is the gun worth? And what caliber is it?

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  11b6r

  October 09, 2009 12:21

  The dates are from the 1800's, and the type of action is commonly called a "top break". If there are no caliber markings on the side of the barrel, this may be a revolver originally made to fire BLACK POWDER cartridges, and not a good idea to shoot it with modern ammo. They most common calibers in handguns of this type were .22 rimfire, .32 S&W, and .38 S&W. Pictures would help.

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  b.goforth

  October 09, 2009 16:34

  those four patent dates were used by iver johnson between 1894 and 1896 so this revolver is either a first model or early second model. both the first and second model were designed for black powder cartridge pressures only. depending on condition value can be any where between 100%=$300 down to 10%=$60
  bill

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  katt66

  October 09, 2009 18:06

  Thank you for the info. Here's a couple of pictures. They're from my cell phone so the quality's not that great.
  
  
  

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