Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Pair of century old classics

Walked into the LGS this weekend, and walked out with two century old revolvers, one from S&W and one from Colt.
S&W is a late 5th model in .38 S&W in like new condition. The Colt is a 1917 produced in 1920 with US markings, and still has most of the original finish.

Kevin, that’s a beautiful pair of revolvers. I really like the Colt M1917, I really like New Service revolvers.

S&W Safety Hammerless revolvers hold a particular fascination. Col. Rex Applegate carried a short barreled version in a special holster made for the hot climate in Mexico. Seemed he was less than fully satisfied with its performance against an attacker, though.



Please provide more details on yours. How does it handle? Other than the effectiveness of its cartridge (or lack of it), what do you see as its pros and cons? I’ve heard its guts can be a bit delicate.

Considering it came out in 1887, it was well ahead of its time. The .38 S&W is a bit under-powered, but still close to what the .36 C&B revolvers were doing…it was probably the best pocket pistol of its era.

Any peculiarities with its mechanical function? Smoothness of its trigger action?

Don’t yet own one, though I’ve been considering it. Never fired one either. Came pretty close to buying a primo 4th Model 3” last year, but then got cold feet as the auction price went up.

Out off the box the trigger pull was very stiff. I withdrew the strain screw a bit so the wife could shoot it. I will probably just address the issue through the strain screw and leave it original. I have never been inside one of those, but the lock work isn't too tough. Just lots more leaf springs where coil springs are found on modern S&W's. Trigger action is pretty smooth until you get to the very end, then there's a very noticeable step before it goes off. Sights are t on spot on, and she works perfectly. Wife claimed it as hers before the ink on the 4473 dried.

You thinking of acquiring another strain screw to shorten, leaving the original as is for restoration later?

On S&W Hand Ejector revolvers, I always leave the hammer spring unmolested, and instead go after the trigger return spring to reduce pull weight, usually substituting an 11 pound Wolff spring for the overly stiff original. But, I take it that trigger return on a Safety Hammerless is handled by a leaf spring.

How are its ergonomics? How does it sit in the hand? How does the trigger reach feel, compared to a J-Frame?

The whole thing is pretty small in the hand, but I have pretty large hands (wedding ring is size 11 1/2). The grip safety disengages very easily, but it doesn't give you much tactile feedback its depressed. Trigger reach is a bit short, the sights are extremely difficult to see.

Trigger rebound spring is a leaf spring in these, so I'll just leave it alone. Yeah, just a few swipes off a strain screw ought to get it to where the wife can shoot it. It's just an occasional range toy, and another piece of history.

Not surprised about the sights, as I don’t think anyone really cared about them until fairly recently.

Any other observations you make, as time goes by, please don’t be shy about reporting them here.

In the meantime, I hope you AND YOUR WIFE enjoy it.

I wish my local gun store had such interesting acquisitions ...

My great Uncle collected safety hammerless S&W’s. He had at least a dozen or so in the original boxes. He showed me a Bicycle gun with the wire stock many years ago, had no idea how valuable they would become. Neat revolvers.

Nice pickup, GG. Congrats on some fine shooting history.

That 1917 must have cost a pretty penny. Does it have the shelved chambers so you can shoot it sans moon clips? The early ones didn't.