H&R Young American

[R L Suehr]

I was at my dad's last night and he asked me to look at a little revolver he picked up recently for cheap. It is nickel plated with a blued trigger guard and hammer. It has @ a 2" octagon barrel. Markings on the left side of barrel are: "H&R Arms Company" "Worcestor Mass. USA" "32 S&W CTGE". On the top strap it is marked: "YOUNG AMERICAN DOUBLE ACTION" and the serial number is on the butt and under the left grip as" 102xxx.

Some Pics:



It is pretty small and has a five shot cylinder that is loaded through an open gate on the right hand side. Here's a shot with my Cobr derringer for size Comp:


I don't know a whole lot about H&R handguns but here's what I can find on it. I believe it is a Young American third variation small frame due to it's size and the blued guard and trigger. I checked it out this morning and it has some issues. The finish is well worn but has very little pitting and is mostly there. Lock up is not great. It has some cylinder play both side to side and front to back on full lock up. I don't know how tight these little guns were but this one is looser than my liking. I don't know if it is safe to fire or not as it might shave some lead when fired. The trigger works in both double and single action, however single action it will fail to lock back from time to time. It is also very easy to push the trigger forward when it is locked back in single action. I'm thinking the sear and spring are worn out.

I saw that Numrich has some parts for these little guns so it might be fixable. What I need help with is I'm pretty much guessing on the Model and age here. I know dating these exactly is very tough, but I would like to know if it can be fired with moderrn smokeless ammo or if I would have to load up some black powder rounds for it. I'm also guessing at parts to help with the cylinder lock up. My dad really would like to be able to fire it if possible so any help on what I can do or need to get it running again would be much appreciated.

[raxar]

Well I'm sure it would be possible to get it running, it will just take a good bit of tinkering. I doubt its worth fixing though, guns like that are basically worthless. My local shop literally has a box of them sitting in the back, their "Not worth fixting" (sic) box. If you got the kinks worked out modern ammo should be OK, they don't load it hot because they expect it to be shot in guns like that.

[knight0334]

About the H&R - It appears to be a Second Model, which is smokeless. The biggest determiner is the caliber stamping. The presence of that stamping would mean that it was made in 1905 or later(up to 1941). Pre-1905 H&R's were pretty much all blackpowder only, and for the most part, never had caliber stampings(a few exceptions).

It should be safe with modern .32S&W ammo - which is more available than .22LR is today. lol

Here is the grading scale for it:

Grading
100% 98% 95% 90% 80% 70% 60%
$250 $235 $200 $180 $150 $125 $110
Add 15% for blue finish or 10% for 4 1/2 or 6 in. barrel.