1903 4th Change .32 S&W-L 102 Years Old!

[EMC45]

Just picked up a 1903 4th change Smith in .32 S&W-L. It has some frosting in the bore and the forcing cone. Shoots pretty darn good still. It was made in 1910 according to the serial #. I took the side plate off and really think this thing has never been taken apart. Ever. I cleaned about 100 years of crud out of this thing. I have shot 100 rounds through it already. 50 Lyman 311 252 over 2.5gr. Bullseye, and 50 Lee RN 90gr. over 2.5gr Bullseye. http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm243/Evansguns/100_3736.jpg

[Jack Stanley]

Those old guns are just sooo cool !! Does it shoot nice ?

Jack

[plmitch]

Thats a nice little find there.

[EMC45]

It shoots well. Would not feel underarmed having it in the glove box or dresser drawer.

[Multigunner]

Looks Identical to my .32 long I frame Hand Ejector.
I looked up my serial number and according to the only source I could find at the time mine was made sometime in the mid 20's.

I suspect that one of my grip panels may be a replacement, it doesn't quite reach the edges of the grip frame all around, but it may have just shrunk a bit over the decades. Both grip panels show very little wear and only one very tiny chip that probably happened when someone pried that panel off when cleaning it up.
Finish was not great but before thinking it through I hand polished away all surface rust and put a high shine to the exposed steel.
It cleaned up easily, with no dulling of the markings, so what pitting there was seems to have been less than one thousandth deep.
Bore is good, at least for its age, no deep pitting and rifling sharp. The chambers are like new, and the lock up is as tight as I would want for a pocket self defense revolver.

You did the right thing by cleaning out the insides. If fouling or rust jam the side sprung hammer block these could go off if dropped. Two AD cases involving service models of the M10 and the British .455 Handejector resulted in redesign of the hammer block for post WW2 S&W revolvers.
Always make sure the hammer block moves freely and has good spring tension.

PS
To carry extra rounds I made a cartridge strip using an old mauser stripper clip. I ground the tab edges of the spring down a bit then squeezed the body of the clip in a vice till the rims of the S&W cartridges were a sliding fit, then replaced the altered spring.
With a little practice you can insert and strip off two cartridges at a time for quick reloading.
The clip makes carrying extra rounds in a pocket easy and they remain quick to hand.

The less altered stripper clip will hold five .38 Special cartridges. Just right for my old Model 37 or the Chief's Special.

[jameslovesjammie]

Very nice! I've got a 1903 Hand Ejector 5th change .32 S&W Long made in 1914. Mine had the "target grips" but I changed them out for a little more modern design. These I frame guns are fun to shoot. There's no recoil at all! I've been shooting the Berrys MFG 83 grain HBWC. I'll use them up and then switch to the HBWC group buy mould I got on here.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c129/jameslovesjammie/gun%20stuff/32%20Hand%20Ejector/pix122772311.jpg

[EMC45]

I have some "Tuff Products" speed strips for the .32 they slip nicely into a pocket. They make for a quick reload.

[captaint]

This past Thursday I was shooting my little Smith like yours. Mine has a 3.25 inch barrel and the same grips as the ones in post #6. I cast up some RCBS 98 gr SWC's..Beautiful little boolit, with 3.0 of SR7625 the little bugger shot great. I kept them pretty close at 9 yards. enjoy Mike

[Dark Helmet]

+1 on the Tuff products speed strips.

[NoZombies]

Good looking early .32's you guys have there! I've been on the lookout for a 4.25" barreled nickel hand ejector, but haven't found the right one yet...

[FergusonTO35]

Sweet!! An old .32 Hand Ejector was the first handgun I ever fired.

[Mk42gunner]

Mine is blued, I am waiting impatiently for my #665 mold from the Ballisticast group buy. It likes the Lyman 313445 in front of 2.5 grains of Red Dot right now.

I do need to find some smaller grips for it the ones that I have seem to be about the same size as the whole revolver; but they do feel and point good.

Use a stripoper clip meant for 5.56 and you don't need to modify it at all to work for .32 S&W Long or .32 H&R Magnum cases.

Robert

[EMC45]

The exterior of this gun doesn't look so hot, but the gun shoots and works just fine. Locks up pretty tight still too. I think this gun was loaded and left that way for decades and never touched (maybe neglected as well). Shop I got it from said it, a top break Smith and a couple old Colts came from and old widow woman who's husband died a few years back and she didn't want them in the house anymore.

[Green Frog]

There have been several threads recently about the old I-frame Smiths over on one of the S&W Forums... in fact I've been an active participant in them myself. I have several of these 32s, ranging from a snubbie that is my CCW to a 6" target model and a 6" nickel that looks like that of the OP except for the Regulation Police (square butt wooden) grips. While I haven't tried it yet, I'm told Mother's Mag Polish™ will really improve the looks of that nickel.

Through dint of trading and the good will of friends on this and other boards I have gotten a pair of Lyman double cavity moulds I plan to use for most of my loading for these guns, a 313445 (SWC) and a 313492 (WC) that both run about 95 grains. I got a NOE 314008 4C with the idea that it would be a good heavier bullet for them, but it ran real heavy @ about 125 grains, so I'm saving it for my Magnums. I've got a bunch of the 313445s cast up from my last visit with Dale53 and I plan to load about 100 today over cat sneeze loads of Bullseye, or perhaps Unique... both are a little hard to meter consistently in the tiny charges I need, as 0.1 grain variances are up to 5% of the total charge!

Froggie

[NoZombies]

The 313445 always shot to the sights of my early hand ejectors, the 313492 did as well.

I've got a fair number of .32 molds at this point, and the 313445 and 313492 don't get as much love as they should, but I'm hanging on to 'em, as I know when I do find my next early HE in 32 long, I'll call them back to service.

I've been loading a heavier bullet for my 31-1, as it seems to like bullets in the 100-115 grain range. I recently received my ballisticast 936 mold, (should be the same as a H&G 336) and I'm looking forward to seeing how that works in my various guns.

[EMC45]

My 30 and 31 like the RCBS 32-098, but my H&R .32 likes the 311-252. Shoots to the sights with the lighter bullet. This new gun does pretty good with the Lee 90gr. RN and the 311-252 so far......