H&R American Questions.

coffmg

Last month I purchased an H&R large fram six shot Revolver. $50. is a good price for anything in my neighborhood. The thing has some major freckel issues but that is just blemish. The only marking is the 'The American Double action'.
The sn# is 37x on the left side under the grip. The piece has the 'safty hammar' feature. .32 My question is when did H&R start using the safty hammer feature. That will give me some sort of idea the date of manufature. Thanks ever so much. Gordon[8D]

tapwater

http://users3.ev1.net/~goforth/ follow his "ask an IJ question" link.

b.goforth

h&r actually used this safety hammer for a long time 1888-1939. early production before 1905 (black powder cartridges only) will have the patent date 4-15-1877 stamped on the hammer itself. later production after 1905 do not have the patent date on the hammer but instead will have the company name and caliber stamped on the left side of the octagon barrel. this model was available in 6 shot 32, 5 shot 38 and 5 shot 44 webley calibers.

if you follow the link tapwater gave you can also talk to H&R collectors who can give you a fair market value for this revolver.
bill