Most people do not care to get this technical but there are many small changes in the first and second model and even the third model which show a progession of design changes to manufacture the safest and best top break revolver. It is a double post latch and it has a 3 inch barrel. I’m not sure where to find the serial number, although I found a some text on the the butt stating the dates June 16 96 and Aug 25 96. Third model= four pins on frame between cylinder and trigger This gun I know is an Iver Johnson, but I’m not sure how to identify when it was made. Second model= two pins on frame between cylinder and trigger the majority of the safety automatic revolver do fall into these two types.įor a quick and easy way to tell the first and second and the thrid models apart. stop) and the last fourth type (collar and lug auto cyl. your pictures only show the second (threaded cylinder bushing non auto cyl. no cylinder outside of these types are interchanable. Only the cylinders within these four types are interchangable. These changes were made in all calibers 22, 32 and 38. stop)ġ895-1908= threaded cylinder bushing (non automatic cylinder stop)ġ909-1910= threaded cylinder bushing (automatic cylinder stop)ġ911-1942= collar on cylinder bushing and lug on barrel ( automatic cyl. Just as with the Smith & Wesson Top-Breaks, the Iver Johnsons were chambered in 5-shot versions of. In total there are four type of cylinders used of the safety automatic revolver.ġ894-only= retained by hook on bottom of top strap (non automatic cyl. this is very postive and did away with the threads on the cylinder bushing which tended to wear with age. in 1911 a new type of cylinder retainer was introduced, having a lug on the bottom of the forcing cone that had to be match up to a slot on the cylinder bushing. Most of what I have was purchased as projects. I have fired the Eclipse, but not the Defender. these use the rectanglar postive stop and the cylinder stop is a seperate part. 22 Short (One of the first guns produced by Iver Johnson) and a Defender 1889 chambered in. I have seen both examples on early and late versions of these revolvers, both Safety Hammer and Hammerless. Others have a much shorter ramp with a defined perpendicular notch.
when the thrid model was introduced in 1909 one of the changes was an automatic cylinder stop was added. 32 S&W Iver Johnson top-break cylinders have a 'long' machined cut for lockup without a defined 'stop' at the deeper end. most first models and all second models use the threaded cylinder bushing to retain cylinder (1895-1908). these have the long enlongated cylinder stop, early first models have a hook on the top strap to retain cylinder(1894 only). the cylinder stop is actually made as part on the trigger and not a seperate part. All first and second model safety automatic revolvers have non-automatic cylinder stop.