Spanish 1881 S&W Copy

[Grenadier]

Gentlemen, I am sorry that my first post here is one of asking advice, but I believe I have came to the right spot on the WWW. I have been shooting for many years, mainly flintlocks and WW1/WW2 era rifles. I have never been into handguns much, but I have always wanted a "cowboy" revolver. Well, after mixing my WW1 interest and the late 19th century, I managed to collect two Reichsrevolvers one M79 and one M83. Both of these are in need of some parts scrounging and tinkering. However, this did not satisfy my desire for a period American revolver. Last week, I had the fortune or misfortune to luck into a Spanish made copy of the 1881 S&W revovler. I believe this to be in .455 or 44 Russian. I picked it up knowing it needing some tinkering, the lever that rotates the cylinder seems to have a broken spring and the cylinder pin will not return once I opened the frame to inspect the bore.

I am curious, will S&W parts interchange with this revolver? I am hoping I did not purchase another neverending search for parts revovler.

Thanks!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

This is the board for your Reichsrevolvers;

http://luger.gunboards.com/private.php?folderid=0

"Heinrich" wrote the book on them and can help you with parts and advice.

[St. George]

'In general' - real Smith & Wesson parts won't interchange with copies.

However, you may find something that will have enough wear on it, that the tolerances might work, if you're handy with files.

You'll be paying a S&W price, though.

As to Reichsrevolvers - you're on your own, insofar as spares are concerned.

The site provided above should be of help.

Good Luck!

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Grenadier]

Thanks, gentlemen! I am already a member of the Luger forum, been there for some time. Herr Harder has already provided assistance with restoring my 1883 Reichsrevolver. I suppose I should just sell this S&W wanna be and buy myself a cap and ball revolver and be done with project guns 

[litl rooster]

Generally speaking no the S&W parts will not work. Like St George already stated.

[petrinal]

I think you have an ONA revolver, a generic type of gun, based on the SW double action revolver, first manufactured by Orbea Hermanos, then copied by many other basque makers, until the end of WW1.

ONA in basque means "good".

it might be in 455 british, as the british army bought many of these ones during WW1, and were marked as such by british inspectors.

the ones who were not marked as such, were either rejected and sold later in the civilian market, or just remanents, never sold, as the war ended.

in general, they are of good quality. The cheapest basque production of SW copies were generally pocket revolvers, not the large frame ones.

I have one of these guns, and parts dont interchange with the 1881 SW DA.




note the 1914 grips, which shows that it was mainly intended to be sold to the allies (the Italian army bought also many, not only the british), and that my revolver lacks any marking, so it might be a reject. It is a pleasant gun to own,  well blued,  by rusting method, very nicely made like a WW1 Luger pistol, with case hardened hammer.

mine was involved in a famous murder in town, in the 1920´s, and remained in a court, in deposit, for many years, until a lawyer came into legal possesion of it.

now it is legally owned by me, not the nicest revolver but charged with  some history behind it. They are gaining a certain appreciation, among european collectors, these vintage spanish guns.  Wrongly  labelled as "poor quality", by many  gun writers, these guns stood the test of time, showing that, well cared of, they may last long.

all the best