Forehand Arms Co

[Battis]

Without getting into details, a family member passed and, per his request, his firearms went to family who wanted them. I got a few. No one knew what this gun was, and it was in tough shape, so I took it, researched it, stripped it all down, cleaned it and put it back together. It's a great little handgun. Good finish, great bore. I don't think it was shot much.
1891 patent date - this was probably made in the mid 1890s.
Forehand Arms Co., Worcester (Worsta) Mass.
.38 S&W double action.
After firing, the hammer rebounds slightly, putting the gun into half cock, in which the cylinder spins freely. When the hammer is fully cocked, the lockup is amazingly tight. No ejector so you push the empties out with a stick.
In the collection, I found a second cylinder that's a little rougher condition.
I load for two other 38 S&W, so I'll shoot this with a light load or maybe BP.

[Thumbcocker]

Can't wait for a range report.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Landy88]

What a cool little memento of both your family member and a time gone by is that little wheelgun? Congrats on getting it shooting again.

[marlin39a]

The original “Saturday night special “. I used to see a lot of them. I was born and raised in Worcester. There’s no H in it.

[Battis]

Worsta - it's about an hour from me. Not sure why I added that H. I do the same with Gloucester (Glosta).
I grew up in Stoneham - Stone'em. Not far from Medford - Mehfor.
These two powder cans came with it. They're just about full.

[marlin39a]

Good score. I’ve never seen that black powder before. Made in Great Britain. Hard to tell that revolver from the millions of H&R guns that were made at the old Park Ave and Chandler St plant. Back in the early 90’s I was given a bag with 12 of those revolvers from a widow. I got $50.00 a piece for them at the gun buy back there. Bought a nice Colt AR-15 with the money.

[Battis]

From what I read, Forehand Arms Co was formed from Forehand & Wadsworth company. The grips on my revolver have the letters FW, which means they were left over from the Forehand & Wadsworth company, which would date the revolver from the early to mid 1890s (they made them up to 1902). So the grips are important because they show that mine is an antique.
One of the other revolvers available from "the estate" was an H&R .32 S&W break top. I passed because someone wanted it more than I did.

[Traffer]

I have the exact same model ...good shape but the trigger spring broke...put a new one in and that broke too. Haven't shot it yet.

[Battis]

What did the trigger spring look like? The one on mine is a combination trigger/bolt/hand/hammer spring. I'd hate to try and replace it.

[Traffer]

It's been a while since I had it apart but the spring is just a loop of steel that sits flat just above the trigger on the bottom of the frame. When it worked it produced a double action pull weight of "both hands and two fingers on the trigger". I tried tweaking the mechanism to get the trigger weight down to where I could actually fire it double action ...but broke the spring(s) in the process. It really is a "Saturday nite special" piece of junk.

[Traffer]

Worsta - it's about an hour from me. Not sure why I added that H. I do the same with Gloucester (Glosta).
I grew up in Stoneham - Stone'em. Not far from Medford - Mehfor.
These two powder cans came with it. They're just about full.

Hey I lived in Stoneham for a while, Also Medford, Malden and Somerville. ("If you Needham Dedham...Stoneham") Is a little play on words I made up...hahahah

[Battis]

I don't think I'd call it a piece of junk. Simple, yeah but well made, for the period it was made at least.

[Traffer]

I don't think I'd call it a piece of junk. Simple, yeah but well made, for the period it was made at least.

Sorry, not a piece of junk...simple but not junk. I think there are about 9 moving parts in the whole gun.

[Battis]

I know what you mean. Not what I'd call a carry gun. Kinda like a Model T.

[Battis]

I loaded up 10 rounds using cast .358 bullets (125 grs). I slugged the bore and that diameter bullet is fine. I used BP (approx 15 grs FFG) which, I think, was a mistake. I think the gun would do much better with maybe 2 grs Bullseye that I use in my Enfield and Colt Police Positive .38 S&W. It functioned fine but accuracy was terrible, even close up.
Still, shooting a 120 yr old gun was cool.

[Traffer]

If you ever take it apart I would appreciate it if you would take a picture or two of the trigger spring and the placement of it. I don't know why I broke mine. When it did work it took two hands to use it double action.

[Battis]

I don't think I'll take that sucker out again - I can see why it broke. It's a regular old time V spring with an extension off the bottom arm of the V that reaches out to the trigger. So, that one spring works the hammer, the hand, the trigger and the bolt. To get it back in, I compressed it and kept it compressed with a zip tie, installed it, then cut the zip tie. Maybe they were worried about patent infringements, but I'm thinking they could have made separate springs instead of one long spring. Then again, it is double action, and they were alot smarter back then than I am now. I don't think it'll be a regular shooter.

I couldn't pull the cylinder pin out - it was frozen in place. So I took out that little tab that holds the pin in place, then cocked the hammer and drove the cylinder pin out from the back with a small punch. Worked perfectly.

[Battis]

I don't think these pics will help but what the heck.
The 1st is from the left side with the hammer down.
The second is from the right side with the hammer cocked.

[Traffer]

I don't think these pics will help but what the heck.
The 1st is from the left side with the hammer down.
The second is from the right side with the hammer cocked.

Actually I was interested in the trigger spring (there is a small folded leaf spring under the trigger) BUT now that I see your hammer spring...That may be the culprit on my gun. I think it has the wrong hammer spring. I will have to check....(too stiff of a hammer spring would explain why double action was nearly impossible. Thanks

[Traffer]

I found a video I made before the second spring broke:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/imhp2d7vi06ald6/VID00030.MP4?dl=0

[Battis]

Here's a pic of the internals.
Let me know if you need more pics of the mainspring.

[Traffer]

My wife's away for a few weeks, and I gotta fight with something, so I took the handgun apart.
Here's a pic of the internals.
Let me know if you need more pics of the mainspring.

Thanks this will help. Going to take the gun apart tomorrow if I have time...will let you know how it goes...good to know they are safe to shoot. Have you ever measured the end shake of the cylinder? (gap between cylinder and barrel) Mine seems pretty wide. Don't know what the safe parameters are.

[Battis]

Mine is pretty tight. I tapped the cylinder pin in a little, and tightened it up more. You can see how far the pin is in by cocking the hammer and looking inside at the hole the pin fits in.
I'm going to try using Bullseye powder.