# Help identifying a small revolver.



## CDRaff (Dec 6, 2007)

Hello I am very new here(my first post). I am a musician by trade so you can imagine that I have absolutely no knowledge of handguns so please excuse my ignorance.

My father recently passes, and he left me a storage shed 20'x20' full of his things. This included an antique dresser that belonged to my grandfather. While cleaning the dresser I found a small compartment hidden behind a small drawer. In this compartment i found a small revolver.(I only tell this small story to let you know that I have no idea how long the revolver has been there.)

Here are some pictures. If higher resolution ones are needed I can provide them.





































The revolver has five chambers, I believe that it is a 9mm. The barrel is 2.5in with another 4.5in to the back end of the gun. The barrel also has an octagon shape to it. The top of the handgun has an inscription that says "Marquis of Lorne", is there meaning to this?

Thank you for any help identifying the revolver.

Chris.


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## Baldy (Jun 21, 2006)

All I can tell you is that old gun goes back before 1900 hundreds. The name on it is some old boy who played a big part in Canadian history back in the 1880's. Your going to have to find someone who is into these real old and rare guns. Good luck.:smt165


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## CDRaff (Dec 6, 2007)

*Wow!*

Thanks for the info, if anyone has any more information I would be very happy.


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## drummin man 627 (Dec 25, 2006)

Oooo, a mystery. Very interesting. More questions. Does the cylinder pin need to be removed in order to unload/reload? Does that button-looking thing on the port side move? When you draw back the hammer, is there a firing pin mounted on it?
There may be more markings on the frame hidden by the cylinder, did you check there? 
My caliber guess would be .38 Smith & Wesson, (not .38 Special), and probably not 9 mm.
For goodness sake, don't shoot it unless you have a competent gunsmith say it's O.K.
Oh, and by the way ...Welcome aboard from the sandpile.


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## DJ Niner (Oct 3, 2006)

I found several references to this gun during a Google search. Here are two links which may provide some info:

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-234601.html

http://www.antiqueguns.com/auction/item.cgi?robles/robles-33822

Most references to this style of gun indicate either a 5-shot .32 caliber, or a .22 caliber, 7-shot weapon.

If it's similar to other weapons of this type that I've handled, the manual of arms would be to bring the hammer to the half-cock position; squeeze the cylinder pin release latch at the front/bottom of the frame, and withdraw the cylinder pin by pulling forward on it, freeing the cylinder for removal from the frame. The cylinder pin would be used to poke any empty cases out of the chambers, then the chambers could be reloaded and the cylinder reinstalled in reverse order. Once the cylinder was back in place, the gun could be fired by pulling the hammer back to full cock, then pressing the trigger stud (repeated for each shot). As said above, it should not be fired (or even loaded) until it has been inspected by a gunsmith and given a clean bill of mechanical health.

Neat gun; made even neater by the circumstances (hidden in a secret compartment in an old piece of furniture). If you can, take some photos of the dresser and the hiding place; I'd be interested in seeing it, and who knows, someone else might have a similar antique dresser with a hidden compartment (maybe it was a normal feature of that particular item?).


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## rfawcs (Feb 11, 2006)

I believe DJ Niner is correct. The text and photos in the links he provided describe a pistol that looks identical to yours.

Probably not worth much to anyone but you. But what a story! I also would document it as much as possible; a real piece of history for your descendants.


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## Capt. Mike (Dec 31, 2007)

I'm not sure of any of this, but think it's an Ivor Johson. Pobably made in the early 1800's and it is most likely chamber in 32 S&W. I have one in a top break design made in 1901 or 03.


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## Baldy (Jun 21, 2006)

I have the old Iver Johnson made in the mid-1890's. It's a .32cal.


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## Capt. Mike (Dec 31, 2007)

Baldy said:


> I have the old Iver Johnson made in the mid-1890's. It's a .32cal.


Thats the same gun I have, but with an external hammer.


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## dogngun (May 29, 2006)

Chris: The revolver you have is the one described in the early posts-it is a .32 Rimfire caliber solid frame revolver. If you hjold in the small lever in front of the frame and extract the center pin-the one going from front to back that the cylinder revolves on- the cylinder can be removed for cleaning. Also, you could use the center pin to push out the fired cases from the cylinder , then re-load and replace it. This type of revolver, with the pull-pin solid frame-was introduced in the 1870's and some more modern revolvers of this type were made into the 1990's by Harrington & Richardson in .22 caliber.
The .32 Rimfire cartridge is pretty much obsolete, although it can be ordered from some dealers online, such as Old West Scrounger or Dixie Gun Works.
It could probably use s few drops of good quality machine oil-pull tha hammer back and drip a drop or 2 in there, then work the action a few times to circulate it. Give the outside a light wipedown with a little oil on a clean cloth, such as an old T shirt.
Your revolver seems to be in pretty good condition.Enjoy it.

FWIW, I was a professional musician for about 25 years, and have been an gun person since about the same age I started playing music. This is one reason I have no money now.

Mark


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