Smith hand ejector .455 Webley

[Liberty Sanders]

I have recently inherited a S&W 2nd Model hand ejector in .455 Webley, undoubtedly one of the WWI contract guns made for Canada or England.

I have been unable to find any online sources that can identify the proof marks on the piece.

If I describe the marks here can someone enlighten me?

Many Thanks

[Mike Irwin]

The proof marks are going to be standard British empire proof marks.

You should be able to use this reference to identify all of the proof marks (the British ones, at least) on your gun.

https://store.bluebookinc.com/Info/PDF/Firearm/Proofmarks.pdf


Does it have an exposed ejector rod, or is the ejector rod shrouded?

[Liberty Sanders]

Thanks Mike, for the reply.

That site is one of the first ones I checked. None of them appear on the revolver.

The ejector rod is not shrouded, which I believe makes it 2nd model.

[Mike Irwin]

Yep, second model.

Still valuable, but it doesn't command nearly the prices that an unaltered First Model does.

[Liberty Sanders]

I inherited a 1st Model along with the 2nd Model. :)

[Jim Watson]

Describe, photograph, or draw out the stamps and we will see what we know. Gun Digest ran two different series of articles on proof test and proof marks in the 1950s and 1970s with more information than Blue Book and I am sure I have one if not both for Britain.

[Mike Irwin]

Jim,

That's what I linked above, Blue Book's proof references.

[Liberty Sanders]

Jim, there are a total of eight marks, all on the left side of the frame.

Five of them are stacked one atop the other on the left side of the frame directly behind the cylinder release latch and directly above the S&W medallion on the grips.

The top one is rather nondescript and resembles a combination of a palm tree, a mushroom and an umbrella;

the 2nd is a crown;

the third is "1F";

the fourth is a "C" in a rather squared off font;

the bottom one is a "II".

Another mark appears on the frame directly ahead of the forcing cone. It appears as if it may have been struck upside down. It seems to be an "X", or possibly two crossed hand tools with one of the tools being a chisel, with a letter "M" on each of the two lower extremities of the "X".

The remaining two marks are identical, with one appearing directly under the mark just described, and the other appearing directly below the cylinder release latch. They consist of a ">" and a "<" touching at their points with a third horizontal line bisecting them, making a total of three lines on each side slanting toward and joining at the middle.

Many thanks if you can decipher them.