Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns S&W model 1903 hand ejector

I recently acquired this little guy, asked about loads for it in the "reloading" forum and received some good advice. Figured I would post some photos here to try and learn more about it. I would love to know the date of manufacturer, serial number is "16782*". I would also like advice on anything I can do to clean up the plating on the right side plate.
Thanks!

That is a really nice little I frame with what appears to be the original nickel finish. I wouldn’t do much to the side worrying about the freckles, they likely come from under the plating and would make it worse if you get to scrubbing it. The mother of pearl stocks are period but not factory, S&W offered them and they were fairly common but their adds of the day state that ALL factory pearls came with medallions.

I have one just like it with a sewer pipe bore, a missing hand spring, and maybe %25 finish remaining. I only keep it around because a great friend who’s since passed on gave it to me.

If the finish is original, do not do anything to it but clean it up using RemOil as both cleaner and lubricant. TheKid is right.

What Kid said. Clean and oil the inside, put it back together and enjoy.
Here’s a picture of S&W factory pearl grips in the box for my 106 year old 1905, 4th change M&P. You can see the medallions.

SS336, that is an awesome photo of original S&W grips. Even 100 years ago companies were dealing with counterfeiters. The wording is great! Thanks for sharing.

From my Standard Catalog of S&W it appears to be a 1903 Hand Ejector 2nd model. S/N 1-19425 puts in date of manufacture with all in this range of 1903-1904. If you pm I can send you snapshot of paragraph.