Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Does anyone here like, or collect H&R revolvers? I have a cool one

As I sit here typing (Currently in North Idaho on a little getaway with the bride) I have beside me an absolutely AS NEW, looks to be unfired, Harrington and Richardson "Defender" Top Break revolver in 38 S&W with PERFECT dark, bright, blueing and uncracked stocks etc. I am not even detecting a drag line around the cylinder nor any residue in the barrel from having been fired. I have not ever seen a revolver of this era from this co in such fine shape. Looks like it was purchased, maybe loaded, then left in a drawer or somesuch until just now when I acquired it in a trade. Adjustaable rear sight, in case that matters.

Anyone here know anything about these? Maybe interested in owning this piece? Kinda cool, but my financial realities do not allow me to hang onto stuff for just a cool factor these days. Only a few working guns stay.

PS handgun is double action. I have never heard of anyone collecting H&R revolvers, but who knows? Maybe someone does. This one is sure a primo example of one.

Didn't give much for it, but curious about it before I put it out for sale.

Always liked their looks and the unique break-open action. Remember looking longingly at them when a kid; always intended to own one but never have.

Are you sure you want to sell it?

well da**, Mark wish you would have sid something last night. I just picked up a 923 made in 67 that looks like new. and my bank was only a block away! made it home without any mishaps. figure out what you want for that and let me know. I have a liking for weird stuff like that. Hope you are enjoying yourselves and ech other. happy anniversary!

by the way half a box of hornady xtp's are down range. 35 yrds spin the spinner every round. keeper. thanks

that h&r is worth about 350 in the condition you state. momma says time out on new toys. sheesh!

YEP,

DS up there ^^^^^ says worth is about $350, and that sounds about right to me. Trades considered as always. I need a 22 WMR revolver and a 44 revolver, dependinig upon the offering, cash can come from me for one or the other.

I have a B.I.L. that collects H&R Revolvers ...
He's been buying them for years from farmers and anyone else who might have one.

I like them too and have been looking for one that's exceptionally nice for a long time.

The defender was made by H&R during part of the WWII years, used by security at defence contractors etc. Homeland defence you might say.
They are not a particularly strong action such as an english top break, but i have shot the(one) with reasonable 38s&W loads.
Colt had the commando, and of course smith the victory.
if it has the original grips i would be careful with it, aint likly to find another set.
somebody that collects militeria would be the target market.
I don't know what the current market is on them but probably not far off what's mentioned. Mine was acquired for considerably less. Just off the top of my head without looking up my notes, they didn't make really all that many of them or for that long either. I think they are shown in the blue book of gun values.

here is a completed sale where somebody i think went a little nuts:
http://www.gunauction.com/buy/10037...8-smith-and-wesson-cal-adj-sight-c-and-r

I copy/pasted this off another forum:
Your DEFENDER 38 is one of a series of .38 S&W (will also accept the British .380-200 cartridge) 5 shot, typically 4" flat sided, round bottom barrel (a very few are known with 6"), blue finish, DA/SA, auto ejecting, hinged frame revolvers with the "RICE" (bird's head shaped grip) frames. This series was derived from the large frame, .22 cal. SPORTSMAN series.
The earliest examples seem to derive from the 1938-'39 period, and are either "un-named" or will have DEFENDER stamped into the left side of the barrel. These will have the SPORTSMAN frame but non-adjustable front and rear sights (different from the SPORTSMAN). By 1940, the design of the DEFENDED 38 seems to have "jelled" into the form that the rest of the series (which ran at least into the 1946 period) will have and was catalogued as the MODEL 25.
This war-time series will have front adjustable for height sight blade, usually seen with a "gold" bead inset into the blade; rear windage adjustable sight and the ones after 1940 will have a trigger guard without the second finger rest extension. All these will have a pivoting firing pin slotted and pinned to the hammer nose. The 1940 (letter code 'A' and, possibly, the 1941 (letter code 'B') models will be equipped with checkered walnut monogrips. During the war years the monogrip was changed to brown or black Nylon platic material.
The DEFENDERS can be broken down into several variations depending upon outward configuration. The variations can be pretty complicated and I would need to see a pic of your gun to tell for sure, but most likely, from the serial number (these were all numbered in their own range), will be a 3rd Variation and made in early 1943. I have examples of the entire known series, including one that is NIB and came with a factory inspection slip dated May 8, 1944 - this one is serial number 13533. The total production number is not known, but it doesn't appear to have exceeded 20,000 units, at least from the serial number range known at this time.
H&R period advertising suggests that these guns were suitable for Civil Defense, Bank Guard, Security Guard, Plant Guard and auxilliary police use. My experience with the dozen or so that I own or have owned is that they are sturdy and well built, with "good" fit and 'war-time' finish.
After 1946, H&R made some adjustments to the design and eventually came up with a model that was called the 925 but had the 1880's style manual ejecting system, and a 4" or 6" barrel. This series was further changed and became the DEFENDER MODEL 925 2nd Model as a standard around 1964 and was offered with a 4" or a 2.5" barrel with modified, shorter grip frame. Some have been noted chambered in .22lr. The Model 926 came out in 1968 and this model was always equipped with a 4" barrel and chambered in .22lr or .38 S&W. At some point after that, the M925 was made exclusively in .38 S&W with the 2.5" barrel and rounded butt - while the M926 was made exlusively with a 4" barrel and both chamberings. Both these models, remember, are MANUAL ejecting - but retained the frame and barrel assembly of the SPORTSMAN with adjustable front and rear sights. After 1973 both models were offered with the then new H&R version of a "transfer bar/safety ignition system."

You all are a HUGE help. A couple of you mentioned liking/wanting one so if you are serious, PM me with a cash or trade offer. Likely the first one I get that sounds OK will be the deal that gets done.

I was hoping, via this thread and using this forum, to find a home for this exceptional piece here among the CONTRIBUTING regular members here. I am weary of cool guns or good deals coming along and them getting snatched up by brand new 0-1 post hawks or under ten posts folks who only monitor the classifieds and do not add any value to the forums here in general. Same reason my last two nice Model 70's went to guys in our new Winchester Collectors forum. (and they were DOOZIES!) Very ahppy folks all around.

Shoot me an offer of ???? via a PM if you want to own this.

Also, I can send a cell phone pic via e-mail or to another cell phone number if one of you wishes to PM me with either contact point for pic forwarding. the only indications that this 70 year old revolver is not brand spankin new are a couple of very minor handling marks on the grips. Not a mark or indication of wear or of having ever been fired. Blueing dark and shiny and unblemished, barrel still clean enough to eat off of, cylinders sparkling clean etc. Lets find a new home for this here among the campfire regulars who make this forum the great place it is. I will off it or trade for less to one of you guys or gals than I would John Q Public who are not members here etc.

MARK

Wish you luck finding a new home for a truly "fun" revolver. It is extremely rare to find those old break-tops in really fine condition (which it sounds like yours is) as they were originally cheap and often very hard used. This combined with the fact that they were never really a "robust" design means most are pretty beat up and loose.

This brings back many fond memories. I obtained my first breaktop in the late 1960's because it was "cheap" ($12 if I recall) and I was young and broke (at 10 years old $12 was a LOT of money). Mine was chambered in .32 S&W and took an untold number of stray cats and rats at the local dump (shooting rats and cats was not frowned on in those days and rural dumps were common). This was in the days when a 10-year-old kid could take his bottle deposit money, walk into the local hardware store and buy his own ammo (my father had given permission to the store owner to sell me ammo). Then with pistol on my hip (home-made holster) and .22 rifle in a scabbard (also home-made) ride his bicycle out to the dump for a day of shooting.

The gun wasn't very accurate and the "targets" were fast, but I managed to take my fair share. I was the envy of my cousins because , if they had a pistol at all, it was a .22.....while mine was a true "big bore".

Oddly enough, many years later, the H&R breaktop played another significant role in my life. When I married my current wife decided to learn how to shoot and I opened the gun room and let her take her pick of more than 75 handguns I owned at the time. Much to my dismay, she chose the two "cheapest" and most worn guns in my collection......a pair of H&R's in .32 S&W and .38S&W. While your gun sounds very nice....these were definitely NOT.

Worn, loose, pitted, with flaking chrome and broken grips held on by electric tape, I don't even know why I had them except they had come in trade cheap and no one wanted them. I tried hard to talk her into something better but she insisted and "learned" to shoot with those old breaktops. She said she liked them because they were small, but not "just a .22" and they were "cute" when you broke them open to load.

Thanks to those old "worthless" pistols I now have a shooting partner who has her own "collection" of guns and loves to spend an afternoon going through several hundred round on our backyard range.

Someone is going to have a LOT of fun with that "classic" old pistol......and who knows, maybe in another 100 years and a couple of generations the old H&R's will still be introducing shooters to the sport.

Texas Rick,

GREAT story and memoir there! If this one was "just a 22" I would be keeping it, for sure. I have heard tell that these top break guns, when fresh and tight, are pretty accurate - especially in 22LR.

I, too have a soft spot for them, but my realities are brutal to guns who are only 'cute' or 'fun'.

Thanks for sharing a great tale, and I am glad that you, too have a wife who shoots with you and hopefully does other fun stuff together with you.

MARK

Have a N.E.F. Ultra 9 shot in 22, very well made revolver and has adjustable sights and is double action. Same thing as a H&R, nice little guns.