ID this pistol

[vanlagan]

A buddy asked me if I could help him ID his Granddad's Pistol and possibly figure out the year.
Thanks in advance!

[CHEMICAL]

Trocaola, Aranzabal and Company or " TROCAOLA ARANZABAL Y CIA "

http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20espag...20cia%20gb.htm

http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/showthread.php?t=24913

[Mity2]

Its a Spanish Tracaola, Aranzabel, y Cie (T.A.C) revolver. Early 1900's.

My knowledge of TAC is limited to that is a .32 long, 5" barrel, looks like a early model S&W hand eject. I know that the company was in business untill the mid 1930's.
Various Spanish makers made close copies of American swing-out cylinder revolvers. T.A.C., Cordoba, Crucelegui and others also made close copies of the S&W Top break New Model, Colt New Model Army & Navy and Colt Police Positive.

During WW1 both France and the UK ran short of handguns since the home manufacturers could not fill the demands. The British ordered Colt New Service revolvers in the .455 caliber, but Colt could only deliver 107.000 of them by 1917.

France needed a revolver that could chamber the 8 mm Lebel cartridge used in their St-Etienne 1892 Regular Service model.

Since the Spanish copies were of good quality and could easily be produced in the calibres used by both nations, France and England ordered huge quantities of them. The French chose Colt and S&W copies, both chambered for the 8 mm Lebel cartridge, while the British mostly preferred copies of the S&W Top break, which was easy to convert from the original .45 calibre onto the British .455.

Those Spanish guns saw heavy service during WW1 and proved of very good quality. Since they were chambered for the same cartridge as their regular St-Etienne 1892 model, the French gave them later the nickname "Spanish 92's".

Yours is not a war production, since it is chambered for the original .32 Long S&W cartridge.

I assume it was produced short after the war, but I can't tell for sure. It could also have been produced short before.

Most people would say that with the possible exception of some Astra models, none of the Spanish guns of that era have much value.
Because , contrary to FQ's article quality varied widely.
No matter what anyone would say, those Spanish copies proved to be of a quality comparable to the originals. Many WW1 soldiers thank their life to them. However, for some unknown reason, Spanish guns in general are not very popular in Europe, and are quite unknown in the USA.

During the 19th century and to this day, Spanish arms production has been concentrated around the city of Eibar (north of Spain) and in the area of the French-Spanish border (Hendaye). The Spanish were, just as the Liège makers, very skilled in copying existing popular models.

Its tiny thing too. In your pic, it looks pretty much like K frame size, but in reality, they are ittybitty little thing...

[vanlagan]

Great info.!
Thanks

[32 Magnum]

Barrel stamp indicates it is chambered for 32/20 - ... not .32 S&W???

[Ecclectic Collector]

Yup, barrel markings pretty conclusively says .32-20 caliber, not .32 long. If looking in the chambers you can see a slight taper or step down that would cinch it as the round has a shoulder. The .32-20 (was, and still is) a great cartridge. Power is on par with the .32 H&R magnum.