ANTIQUE 7 SHOT .22 R.F. NICKLE PLATED ANTIQUE ENGRAVED REVOLVER 1870s

Many small, unmarked period pocket pistols have been labeled “Saturday night specials”, and were poorly designed and manufactured, and intended to fill a void for a necessary personal protection weapon at an affordable price.
Some, however, were quality, and made by large manufactures such as Hopkins and Allen or Forehand & Wadsworth who sold a majority of their arms to distributors. Many of these arms were marked with many different monikers to the distributor’s requirements. Others were unmarked to be able to sell to the same marketplace at a lower cost to compete with the quickly growing influx of small pocket revolves flooding the market in the 1870s.
This unmarked Antique pocket revolver is only 5 inches long x 2 5/8” tall and weighs 6.2 ounces, and has the same fire power as larger revolvers, but is made for concealment at a time carrying firearms was illegal; yet it was still “every man for himself” regarding personal protection. This is a 7 shot, .22 rim fire, birds head grip, with finely hand engraving that could be factory or done by New York engravers, nickel plated with original premium grip scales. The serial number 4,3xx is stamped on the left side of the frame, the underside of the barrel and the rear of the unfluted cylinder, and the inside of both the original scales are also hand inscribed in ink with the 4 digits of the serial number and fit the gun perfectly. The hammer and trigger are cross hatched engraved. The Iron frame shows loss to the right side of the frame and cylinder. The barrel, left side of the frame, top of the frame and back strap retain most of the original, now frosted nickel plating. The cylinder bores are in good condition.

The hammer has traces of original case hardening. Note this revolver has the very thin style of cylinder slots; an early style used before the universal standard evolved for cylinders to have larger notches with a cut out notch guide found in later revolvers. As such, these early style revolvers rarely have tight cylinders or perfect action. To wit, this revolver clicks twice when cocked and rotates the cylinder. Sometimes it locks up in one of the tiny cylinder slots; other times when you release the hammer, the cylinder turns counter clockwise a little. The action of the gun is just O.K. with a cylinder that has slight movement back and forth when the hammer is at rest.