Great Grandma’s Pistol

Many rural families have stories about “Grandpa’s shotgun” or “Grandpa’s Rifle.” I think probably many fewer families have a story about one of Grandma’s weapons.  I have such a story and I would like to share it with you.
My great-grandma (hereafter just called grandma) lived in a small town in central Illinois.  She and great-grandpa lived near the railroad tracks, and during the hardships of the 1930’s, hoboes riding the rails would get off in their town and go looking for a handout.  The story is that grandma would give them something to eat when they called at her house.  I never heard this from her own lips because grandma died several years before I was born, but I have no reason to doubt it. She was known to be a kindly person.

Grandma’s kindness notwithstanding, she also had some apprehension about these visits.  After all, the visiting gentlemen were no doubt a scruffy lot.   Grandma wanted a pistol, and she got one, a nickel-plated, Harrington and Richardson, automatic-ejecting revolver in .32 caliber.  The choice probably had something to do with cost;  H&R’s have always filled the bill as low-priced, utilitarian arms.  The story goes that grandma carried her pistol in the pocket of her apron when providing nourishment for a needy visitor.

Time passed and my dad fell heir to grandma’s pistol.  When I was a boy, it resided in the top drawer of a dresser in mom and dad’s room, and I stole in to examine it on many occasions.  Wow!  It was a .32!  Really something!  I never fired this gun in my youth, but I do remember one occasion when it was put into service.  We sometimes butchered a hog on our farm; dad could do the work himself and take the sides to the locker for processing.  The porker was usually dispatched with a hi-speed .22 long rifle.  Put one at the intersection of an imaginary X between opposite ears and eyes and the pig goes down right now.  On one occasion, who knows why, dad decided to use grandma’s pistol to off the hog.  At the shot, it got really mad, bolted, and began to lope around the barnyard.  More shots were fired with little effect.  A merry chase ensued while I ran to the house for the 22.  We finally immobilized the poor beast with a gate against the barn and finished him off as humanely as possible.  We felt bad about it.  I don’t know if the pre-mortality exercise affected the taste of the chops.

What happened that day was a surprise to dad and I because neither one of us had realized what a puny round we were using, puny because the loading companies knew it would be fired in questionable old guns. (More about that later)  So, grandma’s gat went back in the dresser drawer where it rested peacefully for many years.  I grew up, got my education, got married, raised a family, and never forgot about grandma’s pistol.  Perhaps some of you have also found that the guns you knew as a youngster retain a fascination throughout your life.

Eventually, grandma’s pistol came to me and it is sitting on the table next to me as I write this.  It is a Harrington & Richardson Automatic Ejecting Revolver, Third Model, caliber .32 Smith & Wesson, with nickel finish and hard-rubber grips that carry the H & R target logo.  The trigger and hammer show case hardening. The

Grandma's H & R .32

barrel carries the marking “.32 S&W ctge,” which identifies it as having been made for smokeless powder.  The Third Model is listed as having been made from 1904 to 1940.  I am not an expert judge of condition, but the nickel looks to be at least 95%.  The Blue Book (1) says the gun is worth $180. 

Grandma’s pistol actually seems to be rather well-made. As noted, the finish, after 80 years or so, is in very good condition.  The action, in both single action and self-cocking mode, is smooth and positive.  There is no play at all in the hammer, trigger, or hinge.  The cylinder is quite brawny for a pocket pistol.  It measures  1.342” in diameter, 1.233” in length, and the chamber walls are .096”.  The cylinder carries six chambers, as opposed to the five found in many other .32 top-breaks, including Smith & Wesson’s.  The chambers are not simply bored through; they are machined with shoulders .  Each chamber will admit a .32 S & W cartridge or the extended .32 S & W Long cartridge.

Cylinder with .32 S&W Long and .32 S&W

The .32 S&W (short) cartridge was designed by D. B. Wesson and accompanied the introduction in 1878 of a new, top-break, single action revolver known as the Model 1-1/2 .  The .32 S & W Long appeared near the end of the 19th century when Smith & Wesson introduced their Hand Ejector models.  These were the first of the solid-frame Smiths with swing-out cylinders, and they could support the somewhat more powerful Long cartridge.  Grandma’s H&R model, appearing in the early 1900’s, would have been a competitor with these stronger S&W Hand Ejectors.  All the evidence would indicate that it was intended to fire both the S&W- and the S&W-Long cartridge. 

Commercial loadings of both .32 cartridges are still available, although both have been near death’s door for decades. The stubby .32 S&W is nothing if not cute, and in factory form it pushes an 85-gr bullet at speeds in the 600’s, a light load in deference to the many old revolvers of black powder vintage that are still around.  The .32 S&W Long is a very balanced round with a slightly heavier bullet and a reputation for fine accuracy.  Certain target pistols have used this chambering over the years, including the Smith & Wesson K32 and a number of European semi-autos.  A wadcutter load for targets continues to be offered.  Factory ammo for the Long has also always been loaded below its potential. 

Flutes on H & R cylinder

The H&R Automatic Ejector model does have a shortcoming, and it is a serious one.  The cylinder stops are simple flutes.  They are not flutes with machined notches.  The H&R indexes when the hand pushes the cylinder so that the end of the flute bears against the bolt, which comes up from the bottom of the frame, as with most revolvers.  If there is wear in the hammer-trigger-hand-bolt system, the cylinder will not index perfectly with the barrel.  Even if it does index, a force to the cylinder could move the chamber out of alignment.  Grandma’s pistol indexes quite well when it is functioned in double-action mode.   It comes up short in single-action mode, but it moves into alignment when the trigger of the cocked pistol is pulled.

It seemed to me that Grandma’s Pistol could be safely fired.  The unfortunate swine caper of years ago seemed to support the notion.  I decided to use 32 S&W’s and I planned that my shooting technique would be single action, at paper rather than pork.  After cocking the pistol, I would manually move the cylinder against its stop to insure perfect alignment, and then touch ‘er off.  In practice this worked just fine.  The Winchester factory load gave more than a pop, rather, a nice crack with a bit of recoil.  I put a target up at 15 feet and fired the group shown in the picture.  I changed my sight picture after the first two shots and fired the six-shot group that is circled.  I have not tried any Longs yet, but when I do, you can bet that I will report.  I also have good reloading dies, so stay tuned for more shooting.

This group of about an inch or so proves that Grandma could have bagged a nasty hobo at kitchen table range.  She never needed to, and I am very glad she did not.  I like to think, though, that the pistol in her apron pocket gave her a greater sense of safety as she went about her charitable work.  The capability to do good in spite of possible danger is an American trait, and it derives from the noble heritage of self defense.

Rest in peace, Grandma.  Your legacy is safe with me.

(1)   S. P. Fjestad, Blue Book of Gun Values, 29th Edn., Blue Book Publications, Inc., Minneapolis, MN 55425, 2008.

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