S&W Revolver Mod. 1874

[bergler]

Hello,
this is a revolver of a friend of mine.....not cleaned and the pics are not great either, sorry. The information I have is as follows:
Smith and Wesson Modell 1874 3rd version, made by Loewe for the Russians (hence the cyrillic engraving on top of the barrel) in caliber .44 russian. Ludwig Loewe made some 70.000 pieces in this contract, quite a large number in my eyes. Today it should be rare. The revolver was needed for the russian- turkish war. That is all I know. I had a look at some older catalogues and found some more pictures of this revolver, but they all seem to have a longer barrel and a bit of a difference at the trigger- guard (some sort of extension). Ludwig Loewe should have made only the model 3 in this contract, but then.....why the differences (or are my eyes wrong)? Is there anything altered on this item? Any further information is highly appreciated. I hope there are some S&W Specialists here. My friend wants to part from this revolver, so an indication of the value would be appreciated as well.

Many thanks,
Bergler

[SIGNALMAN]

Looks like there is a nice bulge in the barrel. Difficult to tell if the barrel has been cut without seeing close ups of the end of the barrel, and around the front sight.

[bergler]

Hi, there is no bulge, this is only a shiny spot.......the revolver definately needs proper cleaning. I will try to make some close-ups on the weekend, but I had a look last time........it does not seem that there was any work done on the barrel. Looks standard, as well as the trigger- guard. But I will make better pictures as soon as I get to see the item again.

[Johnny Peppers]

Look closely at the triggerguard to see if the spur hasn't been cut off. I never figured out how the spur could aid shooting. Also barrel appears shortened.
Wasn't the pistol a copy of the S&W rather than being a S&W? I have no idea if it was authorized or not, but I would doubt it.

[robcox1]

According to Edward Ezell's Handguns of the World, Ludwig Loewe delivered 70,000 3rd models on contract to the Russians in 1877 and 1878. He then lists a 2nd contract for another 30,000 in 1884. Subsequent production of the Russian model was done at Tula. Previous to the Loewe contract Smith and Wesson delivered 100,000 of them from 1871 to 1877.

Comparing to the photos in the book, it certainly looks shortened. Ezell lists 3 different barrel lengths depending upon the model delivered. The first model had a barrel length of 191 mm. The 2nd was 178 mm, and the 3rd model had a barrel that was 165 mm. Loewe only delivered the 3rd model.

Hope this helps.