32 S&W cartridge is not very powerful, but itвЂ™s a step up in both reliability and power from a. 32 S&W, and the Model 1s both include a вЂSafety Trigger,вЂ™ an innovation later used on Glock pistols many decades later. From top to bottom: Model 1 (1894,) Model 1 First Model 2nd change (1896) and a Model 3 (1909)ДЄll three of these guns hold five rounds of. For an additional cost they could be had with a blue finish and/or barrels ranging from 2-6вЂі in length. 38 in this round-up.ДЄll the guns in this test originally came standard with a 3-1/4вЂі barrel and a nickel finish. Of course these were the exact same parts used to make the old guns that they at least implied were not safe for then-modern ammunition, but hey, marketing. These were advertised as вЂ safe for all modern ammunition,вЂ™ meaning smokeless. They registered the US Revolver Company to sell these old-style guns to mail-order companies like Sears Roebuck to sell through their catalogues. What they did was to simplify the guns slightly, mainly omitting the Transfer Bar Safety, to make them less expensive. The new models were successful, but IJ still had literally tons of barrels, cylinders and frames for the old models. So they marketed the new guns as вЂsafe for smokeless powderвЂ™ and the idea that smokeless wasnвЂ™t safe for old guns became cemented in gun-lore. The difference wasnвЂ™t the type of powder, it was that you use much less smokeless to achieve the same effect. They loaded the new-fangled powder just like the old and blew up their guns. There was just enough validity to this idea of вЂsmokeless gunsвЂ™ to make it plausible, but it didnвЂ™t come from people firing smokeless in вЂblack powderвЂ™ guns it came from people hand-loading cartridges at home, specifically people that werenвЂ™t clear on the difference between the types of powder. Ammunition manufacturers werenвЂ™t idiots when they transitioned to smokeless powder all guns were вЂmade for Black Powder.вЂ™ Not being any more fond of being sued than the next fellow, they formulated smokeless loads that were safe in existing guns, and people did it all the time. OK, never mind that people had been shooting smokeless loads in these guns for years. The new guns were safe for smokeless powder. They needed something to convince people to buy these new guns, something obviousвЂ¦ At some point the lightbulb lit and they had it. In 1909 they introduced upgraded versions of their top-breaks that used a stronger locking mechanism and were generally a little вЂbeefier.вЂ™ This made them more expensive of course, and the upgrades were subtle enough that the gun-buying public might miss them or not understand their importance. But IJвЂ™s revolvers were better quality than most of their direct competitors. Not the best, mind you for American top-break revolvers S&W was the king. In the first three years after opening their doors they made hundreds of thousands of modestly priced, decent quality revolvers. The Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Company was nothing if not prolific. This allowed the guns to be carried fully loaded with no concern that dropping the gun might cause it to fire. Iver Johnson was the company that introduced the Transfer-Bar Safety, meaning that the hammer cannot contact the firing pin unless the trigger is fully to the rear. One of the things I have a very modest collection of are Iver Johnson top-break revolvers, all dating from the late 19th Century to about WW1. That was the final straw and thereвЂ™s no further point in denying it. But last week when Chris at McAllen Defense offered me a sweet deal on a couple I took itвЂ¦ because they were variations of models I already had. See, I have been maintaining that my accumulation of top-break revolvers was a sort of вЂreference libraryвЂ™ of late 19th- early 20 Century concealed carry guns. OK, the time for denial has passed, and itвЂ™s all Iver JohnsonвЂ™s fault.

Iver johnson top break pieces