I went down to change the scope on my .223. From a Simmons 3-12x to a Nikon 4.5-14 x AO. Cleaned up the Ruger a bit and went to put away the Simmons, when I noticed a plaid slipper case. I remembered that was where I had put my Grandmother's .41 Double barreled Remington and It had not been oiled in many years so I thought I'd check it out and reoil it.
Lo, also in the case was an Iver Johnson .32 S&W hammerless top break revolver!
Where it came from I couldn't say.
My Dad told me that my Grandmother carried the Remington when she worked nights as a cook in Denver 100+ or so years ago. Denver was not a nice town in those days, I guess.
The IJ .32 was in pretty good shape, except for half the cylinder which was pitted and lacking all it's bluing. The cylinder locks up pretty tight, but the hand does not turn the cylinder??? it doesn't come out until late and may not be hitting the ejector star. It is one of the safety trigger types and has a 1895 Patent date, I think, hard to read the fine print on the barrel. It was showing some surface rust so I worked it over with some 0000 steel wool and Rem oil. Some bluing remains, (50+%) though faded with time and neglect.
It looks like it is a solid frame and held together with drift pins and one screw. I'm not sure I'll take it apart to see if I can fix the timing issue with the hand. Besides I'm not going to try to fire this anyway.
I'm curious how it came to be in my possession?