45 Smith and Wesson

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paradigm76

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Hi all,

I inherited some of my grand fathers guns since his passing of late and one of them is a hand gun. I am looking for some details on this piece and an approximate value. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Is there a way to post photos of it on this site?
 
I dont know anything about it to be honest, it is a revolver the rest i have no idea, i put pics of it on photobucket, paradigm76 is the account name if that makes sense
 
I do not remember the model offhand but I think it is called a model 1918 and it shoots 45 ACP on moon clips if I am not mistaken. I could be wrong here.

Graydog
 
graydog said:
I do not remember the model offhand but I think it is called a model 1918 and it shoots 45 ACP on moon clips if I am not mistaken. I could be wrong here.

Graydog
Click to expand...

Not quite, but you were close. The American GI Model 1917's were chambered for .45ACP and moon clips. This one is one of the contract guns for the British or Canadian army that is chambered in the .455 rimmed round sometimes called .455 Webley. The .455 British round is a trifle fatter than the .45ACP so if you try to shoot them thru this gun the bullets rattle down the bore since it's too large and the cases balloon out or even split due to the extra chamber diameter.

Pardigm, the gun is in VERY nice shape so it'll likely be worth a reasonable value to collectors. It won't pay off your house mortgage or anything like that but I suspect that if you start out with a price of $700 and accept REASONABLE offers you'll end up somewhere north of $500 after the bidding stops in a week or two.

By way of comparison I paid $350 shipped for a rather ratty looking Brazilian contract 1917 chambered in the more popular .45ACP. Your gun is in MUCH nicer condition but it's also chambered in the much less popular .455 British. But it IS one of the British or Canadian army contract guns. And that counts for something.

Before you leap into selling it I'd ask about a reasonable value for it in the Milsurp forum. I may be way off in my thinking. They can also look at the serial number and confirm the birthdate of the gun.

If you have an RPAL and are not in any way considering selling then look around for the supplies needed to reload .455. The round is very gentle on the gun so it won't hurt it any as long as the action is in good condition and thus is properly timed and locks up nicely. It deserves to "speak" and since the .455 round is so soft in recoil there's no reason not to let it out to play now and then.

Do NOT be tempted to shoot .45ACP through it though. The poor fit of the round in the chambers and sharper recoil will not be good for the gun overall. It may not hurt it but why take the chance.
 
BCRider said:
Do NOT be tempted to shoot .45ACP through it though. The poor fit of the round in the chambers and sharper recoil will not be good for the gun overall. It may not hurt it but why take the chance.
Click to expand...

These guns are the first N frame revolvers originally chambered in 44 special .
They can more than handle 45 acp . In fact one of the conversions back in the day was by machining the cyl to accept 45acp moon clips .
Another conversion was to ream the cyl to accept 45 long colt .
Fiocchi still makes 455 Webly ammo so there is not much sense in modifying them anymore . It's not like it's a competition gun or one that will see heavy use at the range .
 
I think if you are selling it BCRider's suggested asking price is reasonable. I myself would pay $700 if I had funds available and if it were offered for much less I'd be suspicious that there was something wrong with it or think the seller didn't know what he had.

Since it was your grandfather's I suggest you keep it for a while at least, and shoot it. You can make your own ammunition - Shooter's Den in Sudbury sold cast bullets and new brass converted from .45Colt for .455Webley and Lee makes a die set.
 
Thank you all for the very interesting information on this gun. Amazing history to find out and it makes sense since my grandfather got this from his father who was from England and moved to Cape Breton and fought in the Boer War (got a Mauser rifle however he acquired that in my basement as well) and World War 1 it seems or at least he retained this hand gun from his service days. I have no desire to shoot or keep this gun. I am keeping the rifles and shot guns for hunting. I live in Halifax and have no clue how to market this gun to sell so any ideas are appreciated.
 
The Equipment Exchange on this forum is probably the biggest used firearms market in Canada so selling it here (either Misurp or Handgun classified) will probably the widest exposure to buyers who can really appreciate its value.

But that value won't go down. I really do think you should keep it for a while at least and experience shooting it because of the connection to your grandfather, but ultimately it's yours so sell it if you really want to.
 
My grandfather was in the Boer war, too. All I have is his campaign hat. I sold my father's military revolver when i was young and stupid.

There is only one handgun in the world that belonged to your grandfather. It is not yours. It is just in your custody. It belongs to your family and your future generations. Please do not sell it. You or someone else will later regret it.
 
I own one of the RAREST Military rifles ever built: an Armaguerra Model 39, built at Cremona in 1940. It is an Italian WW2 semi-auto combat rifle. They are rare enough that most textbooks don't even mention that the things existed. I have been able to locate THREE in Italian museums. That's all.

There were less than 100 made before the factory changed-over to producing Carcano spares and rifles.

As far as I know, there are TWO in Canada. I would swap it, even trade, for my Grandpa's .22, rifle OR shotgun..... but they disappeared onto the second-hand market 90 years ago and today cannot be traced. Who was my Grandpa? Just a young English fur-grader/trader at the HBC post in a little town called Edmonton, 'way back when. Nobody important..... but he was MY Grandpa..... and that makes all the difference in the world to me.

You will be doing yourself..... and your sons..... and your grandsons, a terrible disservice if you sell that revolver.

Maybe YOU don't care..... but THEY MIGHT.

FINE old revolver, fun to shoot, easy to load ammo for and friend JETHUNTER makes the correct 265-grain special Bullet for this gun.

Is "EAA" a family marking..... or is it a MILITARY marking? CERTAINLY worth checking out.
 
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