Harrington & Richardson revolver
denny
someone can provide me with some information on this pistol, or
possibly some guidance on how to get some information on it.
The barrel is stamped "Harrington & Richardson Worcester, Mass." Under
this line is stamped "Pat May 23, 1876". The barrel is octagon shaped
and is about 2.5 inches. The appears to be stainless and has black
plastic grips. It holds seven bullets. I don't know what caliber.
I would appreciate any guidance you can give. Thanks for the help.
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shey...@myrealbox.com
On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 12:00:25 +0000 (UTC) dequ...@cs.com (denny) wrote:
>I have a small revolver that I know nothing about. I am hoping that
>someone can provide me with some information on this pistol, or
>possibly some guidance on how to get some information on it.
>The barrel is stamped "Harrington & Richardson Worcester, Mass." Under
>this line is stamped "Pat May 23, 1876". The barrel is octagon shaped
>and is about 2.5 inches. The appears to be stainless and has black
>plastic grips. It holds seven bullets. I don't know what caliber.
>I would appreciate any guidance you can give. Thanks for the help.
Stainless steel? Probably not. More likely it is nickle plated.
Nickle plating was very common on small revolvers of that vintage.
I think stainless steel is a relatively new thing, especially in
firearms. Does anybody know when they first started producing
stainless steel guns for the commercial market? According to my
recollections stainless steel had been used for a long time in
cookware before they started making firearms in stainless steel.
Why is that?
Sam Heywood
--
NTReader v0.32w(O)/Beta (Registered) in conjunction with Net-Tamer.
Ken Marsh
<shey...@MyRealBox.com> wrote:
# According to my
# recollections stainless steel had been used for a long time in
# cookware before they started making firearms in stainless steel.
# Why is that?
Cookware is stamped from relatively soft stainless steel, which is not
suitable for the high pressure areas of most guns (typically the barrel
and receiver or frame.)
Milling or turning stainless was a pain because of "galling", the
tendency of the shavings to stick to the workpiece or the cutting tool.
Nowadays, you have better machining technology, increased consumer
demand, increased consumer affluence, guns with stamped receivers, and
different ways of making high tensile parts than milling and turning
(EDM, casting, etc.). Nonetheless new stainless guns still run a premium
over blue guns.
Ken.
--
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Strider
wrote:
***snip***
#
# I think stainless steel is a relatively new thing, especially in
# firearms. Does anybody know when they first started producing
# stainless steel guns for the commercial market? According to my
# recollections stainless steel had been used for a long time in
# cookware before they started making firearms in stainless steel.
# Why is that?
#
# Sam Heywood
I don't remember seeing a stainless steel gun before the late 1970's.
I think S&W was the first one that I saw.
Strider
Stan Schaefer
# I have a small revolver that I know nothing about. I am hoping that
# someone can provide me with some information on this pistol, or
# possibly some guidance on how to get some information on it.
# The barrel is stamped "Harrington & Richardson Worcester, Mass." Under
# this line is stamped "Pat May 23, 1876". The barrel is octagon shaped
# and is about 2.5 inches. The appears to be stainless and has black
# plastic grips. It holds seven bullets. I don't know what caliber.
# I would appreciate any guidance you can give. Thanks for the help.
#
#
An H&R 7-shot revolver would be in .22, but it's probably .22 short or
maybe .22 long. In either case, probably not safe to shoot with
modern ammo(from the patent date). The finish will be nickel plate
and the grips are hard rubber(and brittle). There isn't a whole lot
of collector's info out there on H&R, Gun Parts has a dribble in their
catalog, they seem to have ended up with most of the old parts. H&R
made tons of these guns in the late 1800's, they're not rare, there's
little collector's interest unless the gun is in pristine condition.
Most of these were cheap guns that got easily out of time, folks used
to keep them in the bureau drawer or end table where the heirs
eventually found them at estate cleanup time along with a box of
cartridges and a cylinder's worth of empties. In some cases, the
cylinder revolves backwards when the trigger is pulled, I inherited
one like that. If you can find a copy of the book "Suicide Specials",
you might be able to find some more information. A hanger, not a
banger.
Stan
Dave
a while (after a series of buy-outs). Few rarely have much collector
value, but can make nice target guns or conversation pieces. I've got
a couple I enjoy because they're some of the first guns I shot as a
child. It's most likely you have a .22 caliber. They didn't create
many larger and I think the only 7-shots were .22's. You might be
able to write Marlin, but I don't know if they can help.
Dave
PS. Yes, TECHNICALLY H&R does still exist as H&R 1871 which is owned
by Marlin. As I understand it, they just use the brand and all are
Marlin produced. Regardless, they don't produce revolvers at all any
longer.
dequ...@cs.com (denny) wrote in message news:<cbrlkp$3ig$1...@grapevine.wam.umd.edu>...
> ...
Red Scholefield
cylinder in .32 caliber - nickel plated (I don't thin stainless was around
then). It has a spur trigger, checkered rubber bird's head grips. About 3000
were manufactured between 1877 and 1878. Then there was the model 2-1/2 a
bit later that fit the description, also .32 caliber.
Red S.
"denny" <dequ...@cs.com> wrote in message
news:cbrlkp$3ig$1...@grapevine.wam.umd.edu...
# I have a small revolver that I know nothing about. I am hoping that
# someone can provide me with some information on this pistol, or
# possibly some guidance on how to get some information on it.
# The barrel is stamped "Harrington & Richardson Worcester, Mass." Under
# this line is stamped "Pat May 23, 1876". The barrel is octagon shaped
# and is about 2.5 inches. The appears to be stainless and has black
# plastic grips. It holds seven bullets. I don't know what caliber.
# I would appreciate any guidance you can give. Thanks for the help.
Clark Magnuson
since 1965.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=history+of+stainless+steel&btnG=Google+Search
http://www.marfas.com/historyofstainlesssteel.shtml
http://www.firearms.smith-wesson.com/contentbuilder/layout.php3?contentPath=content/00/01/32/32/75/userdirectory50.content
In 1952, Smith & Wesson introduced the Airweight® revolvers featuring
aluminum alloy frames and steel cylinders. Thirteen years later, Smith &
Wesson produced the first stainless steel handgun
--
A society that teaches evolution as fact will breed a generation of atheists that will destroy the society. It is Darwinian.
Clark Magnuson
The value of these guns in break top or cylinder removed to load is low.
They cost ~$75 and gun shows and can be dumped for ~$35 and are listed
for ~$100 on the internet.
The calibers I have are in 22 short rim fire and 38 S&W, but I would
assume they exist in 32S&W as well.
--
A society that teaches evolution as fact will breed a generation of atheists that will destroy the society. It is Darwinian.
Bob
the late 1960's or very early 1970's (if my faulty memory can be trusted)
for mass production. Early problems included the metal finish. The
manufacturers had some trouble learning how to put a desirable finish on the
steel. There was also a problem when any 2 parts rubbed together, only 1 of
which had to be stainless steel, but the problems were even worse when both
parts were made from stainless steel. The parts would gall (attempt to bind
together) from friction. This was a, relatively, minor problem with
revolvers, but caused many problems with pistols as can be imagined. One of
the earliest fixes for pistols was to use different types of stainless for
the frame and the slide which helped somewhat. A side industry blossomed for
a while that provided anti-galling lubricating compounds for handguns. Some
of these lubricants still exist on the market for these older firearms, and
most, if not all, of the newer lubricants are formulated for both carbon and
stainless steels. The manufacturers were finally able to come up with
stainless compounds that greatly reduced, or eliminated, the galling
problems.
And yet one more problem that had confounded many barrel makers who were
attempting to manufacture barrels from stainless steel, related to the
galling problem, was that the rifling process was almost impossible as the
metal would "grab hold" of the rifling cutters, resulting in the lands and
grooves being stretched, gouged, and torn by the rifling process. This
affected button rifling more than the cut rifling process, but it gave them
all fits. Again, different compounds of stainless steel along with increased
knowledge of how to rifle the metal helped solve this problem. As far as I
know, rifling done with the hammer forged method did not have any of these
problems.
As far as cookware being on the market earlier, it was much easier to take a
sheet of stainless steel and press form it into a pot than it was to machine
a close tolerance part, again because of the galling problem.
Shoot straight
Bob
<shey...@MyRealBox.com> wrote in message
news:cbsh5f$fav$1...@grapevine.wam.umd.edu...
> ...
sanjian
# On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 12:00:25 +0000 (UTC) dequ...@cs.com (denny)
# wrote:
#
# >I have a small revolver that I know nothing about. I am hoping that
# >someone can provide me with some information on this pistol, or
# >possibly some guidance on how to get some information on it.
# >The barrel is stamped "Harrington & Richardson Worcester, Mass."
# Under >this line is stamped "Pat May 23, 1876". The barrel is
# octagon shaped >and is about 2.5 inches. The appears to be
# stainless and has black >plastic grips. It holds seven bullets. I
# don't know what caliber. >I would appreciate any guidance you can
# give. Thanks for the help.
#
# Stainless steel? Probably not. More likely it is nickle plated.
# Nickle plating was very common on small revolvers of that vintage.
#
# I think stainless steel is a relatively new thing, especially in
# firearms. Does anybody know when they first started producing
# stainless steel guns for the commercial market? According to my
# recollections stainless steel had been used for a long time in
# cookware before they started making firearms in stainless steel.
# Why is that?
#
# Sam Heywood
"Stainless steel" isn't a thing so much as a category of Iron alloys that
use chromium as an alloying agent. My silverware uses relatively cheap
stainless steel. Surgical impliments use a higher grade of stainless steel.
A reactor or steam plant may use grades of stainless steel that are complete
overkill even for firearms. So, while grades of SST may have been around
for quite a while that were acceptable for cooking, that doesn't mean they
were ready for firearms.
Brian
construction... Nickel plated, either a break top or a cylinder pin, most
likely a .22 spur trigger, plastic grips.
I have an old H&R "Czar" I came across real cheap. I can safely assume it's
more of a conversation piece than a collector's item. I can't even find any
info on the "Czar" as well.
Stan Schaefer
# I have some H&R revolvers that sound like that.
# The value of these guns in break top or cylinder removed to load is low.
# They cost ~$75 and gun shows and can be dumped for ~$35 and are listed
# for ~$100 on the internet.
# The calibers I have are in 22 short rim fire and 38 S&W, but I would
# assume they exist in 32S&W as well.
The old timers were 7 shots in .22, 6 shots in .32 and 5 shots in .38,
all with the same diameter cylinder. The centerfires were all S&W
shorty rounds and were black powder in that time frame. The OP has a
.22. The trigger has a lump on it for a cylinder stop, the hand keeps
the cylinder "locked" when the gun is cocked, indexing is iffy on old,
worn examples. There's nothing to keep the cylinder from revolving
backwards when the hammer is down or partially raised. The lockwork
was derived from a European design, but that included a second bolt
stop and set of cylinder notches ala Webley. It was omitted on these
cheapies.
Stan
denny
Drakejake
There is interest in these because they are fun to shoot and because some
writers on guns have good thing to say about them. You can load all nine
rounds at once with an HKS speedloader and eject all nine empties at once by
breaking open the revolver at the top. I believe the design closely follows
late 19th century Smith and Wesson models and therefore has some appeal as a
retro device. They were blued, which for H&R is more desirable than nickel
because the later finish tends to peal off and leave a very ugly looking
pistol.
Drakejake