Henry Rifle Forums

Well, This weekend my father (90 years old) passed on to me my Grandfathers 32 Hand Ejector. This Pistol left the S&W factory on March 29, 1920 according to the S&W Historical Department. If was purchased for my Grandfather later that year. It was given to my father in 1963 by Grampa.

I have been waiting for this day for years. The pistol is currently really gummed up and will not function. I took about 30 minutes with Break Free and restored partial operations. I intend to soak in Hoopes #9 and then clean again. A trip to a gunsmith will be in the near future to determine it the timing is still good. Last time I remember it being fired I think it was spitting lead but I am not sure.

Just happy to have it in the safe!

Typo left factory in 1910

Sorry

sure hope your gunsmith can quickly put it back into working order .... it sure looks familiar .... below is a picture of my grandfather's Smith 38 .... the inside of its barrel is pitted from ammo with corrosive primers .... at 25 yards it still shoots well and at 50 ain't to bad

Looks like an interesting project pistol. Please keep us posted on the progress. Makes a lot of people cringe, I'd imagine, to see that "before" picture, but always fun to see it progress to the "after" state.

Quite the heirloom, thanks for sharing!

Beautiful, love to see it all cleaned up and functional.

The Hand Ejector series was the forerunner of all the famous S&Ws, so the historical aspect of that gun, alone, makes it worth salvaging. The fact that it's been in your family for so long is much more important, of course. Yes, as mentioned, do let us know how the project is going.

I intend to soak in Hoopes #9 and then clean again.

Simply 'soaking' it in Hoppe's # 9 without disassembly will be marginally effective and will need a complete disassembly To be properly cleaned to restore it to proper operation.
It's not hard to do if you are careful and have experience in disassembling guns.
If not then find a 'smith who works on S & W guns and tell him you want it completely disassembled and cleaned.
It's possible this gun has never been completely disassembled and the internals are probably pretty well gummed up with possible rust.

I will be doing the disassembly as carefully as possible.......talked to Dad last night and he confirmed that he personally has never broken it down to clean. I doubt that my Grampa did. I will post post updates as I make progress.

I hope it all goes well for you. That is a great keepsake. My grandfather had a Smith and Wesson .38. It was purposefully diverted from me because of a bad history of the gun. I still wish I had it for the keepsake. I'm glad for you and will look forward to your postings.

Seems like a project. Good for you!

I will be doing the disassembly as carefully as possible

Be VERY careful removing the side plate - these sometimes fit very snugly and can be a challenge to remove

Also get online and research the direction of the threads for the ejector rod - some are LH and some are RH.

That is a fine gun to inherit with the family history. Looking forward to seeing the finished version.

Cool family heirloom.
Hope you can get it back to a working condition.
I have an old top break .32 that I picked up from an estate auction back in the 90's.

Should have a picture somewhere.

RP

Here ya go pictured with my 1892 Marlin in .32 colt.


RP

Wow that is a great one to pass on to family members! Hope all goes well getting it cleaned and functional again!

Great looking pair Vaquero!

I pulled the side plate and removed the crane and cylinder. Lots and lots of gunk.....spent about 90 minutes just on general cleaning.
I have the cylinder spinning free on the crane but still have a lot of dried grease and gunk inside. thankfully I have not found any rust due to the heavy layer of grease.

Someone had the side plate off recently because the screws were not hard to remove and the plate was not overly stuck. I found several videos online with disassemble instruction so I think a full break down is in order.


Thanks for all the comments and advise......

so I think a full break down is in order.

Yep - you need everything apart so you can clean pin holes and all bearing surfaces.
Don't forget the ejector rod and all related parts as well.

What a nice tribute to your grandfather and a really nice project. Hard for the family CFO (wife) to cancel a project when its "grandpa's gun". Big sad eyes help sometimes, especially so when its genuine. The breadth of knowledge available from forum members always amazes me. Going to go through my SW reference material tonight and learn about the 32, thanks.

I sat down today and disassembled this weapon and found that most of the internals were stuck or gummed up with lots of dried grease.
It took a bit of both soaking and scrubbing to get it all clean. After putting things back together the action was really very smooth. The only things left to check are the lock up with a good smith and a set of original grips. Apparently at some point the right side grip brake and was replaced with what I think is a hand carved and painted grip.

Made great progress I think.

https://gungrip.com/search.aspx?find=Sm ... 2+revolver
I have used N C Ordinance for grips on my old Beretta 's. They always have something that fits and lots of grips that look super, good service as well.
Good luck