This is an early S&W Double Action Frontier Revolver with blued finish, desirable 6 inch barrel and Mother of Pearl grips.  Caliber is 44-40.  Made in the late 1880's. All matching numbers in the 2100 serial range.  It also has the early style nickel front sight.  The Smith and Wesson Double Action was quite popular throughout the American West giving its owner 6 instant shots by simply pulling the trigger.  The break open design and automatic ejectors also allowed for fast-reloading.  In spite of the numerous mechanical advances, simply owning one of these in a bad situation didn't always predict a safe outcome.  In 1895, the notorious gunslinger, John Wesley Hardin was holding a S&W Double Action Frontier revolver when he was shot at the Acme Saloon in El Paso, TX.

This particular revolver is in NRA Antique Fine conditio with 40% age darkened original blue overall with the balance turned to a smooth brown patina.  Hammer and trigger are fading but still retain much of their original case colors.  Nice barrel address with patent dates from 1865 to 1880.  Mother of Pearl grips are in exceptionally fine condition with no cracks or repairs.  The left grip has one thin sliver of pearl missing which is about the width and size of a piece of cornflake cereal....hardly noticeable and has no structural effect to the integrity of the grip.  Given the brittle and fragile nature of pearl grips...all it takes is one drop to ruin a pair.  This makes it exceptionally hard to find an original set of pearl grips on a 120 year old revolver that are intact.  You occasionally find nice pairs on the smaller pocket revolvers but almost never on a large frame gun such as this.  Even near mint examples are often found with cracked pearls.  Decent working action in both single and double action modes.  Automatic ejectors still working nicely.  Decent barrel to frame lockup with just a hint of play.  Fine, near excellent bore...still bright and shiny with strong rifling and a few light pinprick pits.  A nice early example of a desirable 44-40 S&W DA with the less-encountered blued finish, highly desirable 6" barrel, and scarce pair of nice original pearl grips!

Item# 9117

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