Jul 27, 2018 - Coincidentally they were all made by Iver Johnson Arms & Cycle Works. In case you are not familiar with the name, U.S. Revolver Company was a subsidiary of Iver Johnson Arms & Cycle Works. Mike has written over 2000 articles for a number of magazines, websites. The serial number is 9 777 6. Mar 18, 2014 - just found out an old single shot is an iver johnson champion 20ga. In the serial numbers on their single barrel Champion shotguns. Goforth, Author of Iver Johnson, Arms and Cycle Works Firearms-, 1874-1993. Iver johnson arms and cycle works, iver johnson arms and cycle works 410 shotgun, iver johnson date code, iver johnson date codes, iver johnson serial number dating, iver johnson shotgun serial number code, iver johnsons arms cycle works fitchburg mass usa. ASFAIK No Iver Johnson's Arms & Cycle Works Champion shotgun has a metal plate on the forearm unless you are talking about the metal parts on the inside of the forearm that attach the forearm to the bottom of the barrel. I have a champion iver johnson 12 gauge single shot shotgun with a serial number with 25584 stamped on the lug and on the.
This is a discussion on Iver and Johnson Cycle works revolver within the Pistols & Revolvers forums, part of the Pistol & Revolver Forum category; Hey guys, a friend of mine has a Iver and Johnson Cycle Works revolver and would like to find more info on it. Here are ...
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| March 12th, 2013, 07:17 PM | #1 |
Location: Arizona | Iver and Johnson Cycle Works revolver Hey guys, a friend of mine has a Iver and Johnson Cycle Works revolver and would like to find more info on it. Here are some pictures I haven't been able to find a whole lot of info on these pistols. It does have a hammer, a 5 shot cylinder, and the barrel is a bit longer than some of the ones I've seen pictures of. Not sure what caliber, I'm thinking .32... Definitely not a .22. The serial number was located underneath the left grip. (I had to remove it) The serial number is I 18122. If anyone has some info on these things, that'd be great. I would think he would rather sell it (if it's worth anything) then keep. Last edited by Stealth15; March 12th, 2013 at 08:39 PM. |
| March 12th, 2013, 09:40 PM | #2 |
Location: South Central Virginia | Iver Johnson Arms & Cycle Works Third Model “Safety Automatic” break-top .32 S&W double-action revolver Gun Review: Iver Johnson .32 S&W | The Truth About Guns |
| March 12th, 2013, 10:29 PM | #3 |
Location: USA | It looks like a .32 Long, these were basic no frills revolvers, kind of the Charter Arms of their day. I had a 3' .38 S&W Iver Johnson break top and it was actually a solid little gun, I put a few hundred rounds through it and it was quite accurate at self defense ranges, went bang everytime and didnt spit any lead. I sold it but kinda miss it, it was a good example of a 'working man's ' protection piece. The early ones weren't made for smokeless powder but most of the factory stuff is loaded very light. I had a bunch of old break tops and shot them quite a bit with light smokeless. Last edited by ExArmy11b; March 12th, 2013 at 10:31 PM. |
| March 13th, 2013, 06:25 PM | #4 |
Location: Arizona | I imagine these really aren't worth much, right? Does it shoot .32 short/S&W? I don't know if I've ever seen that ammo... I imagine it's not readily available? Since the serial number is I 18122, it should be safe for modern ammo, correct? He said he and his dad found it out in the desert or something like that lol. He's had it for years, never shot it. It seems to be in pretty good condition, the bore is dirty, so I couldn't tell if there is rust, but the rest of the gun seems okay. Nice thing about AZ is guns don't rust very easily. |
| March 13th, 2013, 08:43 PM | #5 |
Location: USA | It will shoot .32 short also, Remington still makes both .32 short and long but its not cheap if you can find it. These aren't worth a lot, that's probably a $100 gun if its in good working order. I don't know about the serial number, there may be a forum dedicated to old Iver Johnson's out there but I have never found one. Iver Johnson was 'resurrected' and exists as a company but I'm not sure if they have info on dates of manufacture for the old guns. |
| March 14th, 2013, 12:18 PM | #6 |
Location: Sarasota, fl | Back in '73 or '74 I bought one at the local pawn shop in 22 cal. Fun revolver. I think mine was a 6 cylinder. |
| March 14th, 2013, 12:24 PM | #7 |
Location: California | I have my grandfather's 9 shot Iver Johnson 22 revolver. I took it to the range last year and shot it for the first time. The pawl shows a lot of wear but it fired every time and didn't spit lead. As others have said, they are not worth a lot, but kind of neat to own. |
| March 14th, 2013, 12:39 PM | #8 |
Location: Mineola, Texas | Thanks for posting. Interesting old gun. |
| March 14th, 2013, 12:45 PM | #9 |
Location: Atlanta | I don't know alot about these old guns, except that I have one also. The one I have was my grand-dads, then my dads and now mine. I beleive the one I have was carried alot more than it was ever shot. But it still shoots just fine with no problems. As for value, I have heard and read that they don't bring any type of money, like an older S&W or Colt, but they are fun to shoot, and I value this gun just like I do the other guns that belonged to dad and G--Dad. Ray |
| March 14th, 2013, 01:26 PM | #10 |
Location: wayne nj | i have had iver johnson and hand r top break revolvers they are decent and a bit of history to boot. |
| March 14th, 2013, 01:40 PM | #11 |
Location: Missouri | I own a IVER JOHNSON 38 S/W I would not shot this gun unless it was checked out by a qualified gunsmith. They are notorious for the timing being off. It would probably cost more to get it checked out than it is worth. $75 to $125. They make good wall hangers. The were the Saturday night specials of there day. Mine was manf. in 1903 and I got mine in the 1960's when my father passed away. If it was a S/W breaktop you would have something. Last edited by elrondo; March 14th, 2013 at 01:48 PM. |
| March 14th, 2013, 04:57 PM | #12 |
Location: Arizona | Thanks for the info guys, I appreciate it. I'll pass it on to my friend and see what he wants to do with it. Pretty cool little gun though. Seems like it would be safe to fire, but it's not with the risk. Thanks again |
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USA –-(Ammoland.com)- One of our hobbies is buying broken old guns and fixing them up. Depending on the model or type of firearm, this can vary between simple fixes to get it running again to an almost full restoration.
We recently picked up a handful of broken guns that we got up and running within a week.
- US Revolver Hammerless 38 S&W
- Iver Johnson Safety Hammer Automatic, Third Model 38 S&W
- Iver Johnson Champion .410
The total cost for all three of these firearms was a whopping $45. Coincidentally they were all made by Iver Johnson Arms & Cycle Works.
US Revolver Company
In case you are not familiar with the name, U.S. Revolver Company was a subsidiary of Iver Johnson Arms & Cycle Works.
These revolvers used were built with over run parts made for the Iver Johnson Safety Hammer Automatic, Second Model, which was replaced by the Safety Hammer Automatic, Third Model around 1909. The main difference between an Iver Johnson model and a U.S. Revolver model was that they lacked the “Hammer the Hammer” action of the regular line and the hammerless version did not have the safety on the trigger. The grips were marked “US” instead of bearing the distinctive “Owl's head” logo.
Quality is the same as Iver Johnson revolvers of the same period. These little revolvers were built primarily for the export model and mail order sales as opposed to being found for sale in the typical gun shop, hardware store or department store that carried Iver Johnson's “name brand” revolvers and they never appeared in company catalogs.
The revolver we purchased was made in the hammer less configuration in 38 S&W with a 3 1/4″ barrel. Ours is an early model as it uses a flat mainspring as opposed to a coil spring.
As is common with a lot of top break revolvers, the right grip had been replaced. The plastic grips were notorious for cracking due to over tightening of the screw or simply banging into things while being carried. The replacement grip on this example had been carved out of a piece of wood and was honestly a reasonably good fit.
We wanted to restore it and by now you are probably thinking, “Big deal, you replaced a grip panel”. That's what we thought going into this, but the Bubba who repaired this one made the task not so simple.
The grip was glued or epoxied to the frame. After removing the grip screw, we noticed that the panel would not come off. A little prying with a screwdriver and tapping with a plastic hammer seemed to remedy this. Then we noticed that the grip screw through the grip was stacked with a bunch of steel and copper washers.
After thoroughly cleaning the glue from the frame we saw that the grip retaining pin on the right-hand side was flared and would not let the grip fit properly. We remedied this with a metal file to bring the pin back into shape.
The replacement grips came from NC Ordnance and cost $35 shipped. They supply several screw lengths, but we still had to cut one of the screws by 2mm to fit.
The $18 revolver was fixed with a little elbow grease and a $35 set of grips meaning we have $53 invested in this revolver and could easily sell it for 2 to 3 times that amount.
Iver Johnson Champion Shotgun History
Iver Johnson Safety Hammer Automatic
What caught our eye on this one was the set of New Model Target Grips installed. We had only seen pictures of these in books and never on an actual Iver Johnson and knew they were on the rare side.
The revolver in question had little original finish remaining, and the trigger would not reset. Other than that, everything about the revolver was in good working order. The price tag was $9. We figured if we could not fix it, we at least had a nice set of grips for one of our other Ivers!
Numrich Arms sold us a trigger spring for $5.75 and after disassembling the revolver and removing the old one, we popped it in and the trigger was working again. We relocated the grips to a large frame safety hammerless model and put the shorter grips on this one. We paid $9 for the revolver and fixed it for less than $6.
Iver Johnson Champion .410
Of the three firearms we picked up that weekend, this was the real dog of the bunch. A single shot .410 with a homemade forend that was literally held on with bailing wire and electrician tape. The poorly fitting forend interfered with cocking the gun and lockup. The stock was rough, the blue was gone, but surprisingly the original plastic butt plate was in fine condition.
As for the bore, it had no pitting, but was full of cobwebs!
The cost of this beauty was $15, and we had a replacement forend we had bought years ago from eBay for $25. We were looking for a similar forend to restore an Iver Johnson Champion in 16 Gauge and received this one instead, so we held onto it for a future project.
We decided to clean up the metal and while we were pondering a Krylon finish, we instead looked at a tube of Birchwood Casey bluing paste we had not used in a few years. We could have gone Cerakote, but really did not want to sink a ton of time, money and prep work into a $15 shotgun.
In our opinion .410 is pretty much only useful for killing birds, snakes, rats and other small game or for teaching children how to shoot. Ours will be used giving the grandchildren some shotgun lessons over the summer.
These old guns may not have the prestige of a classic Colt or Smith, but they represented average “working man” guns and it's interesting to see how many still work after all these years. Perhaps, if you find one that's a bit of a beater you can get it running for a little time and money.
About Mike Searson
Mike Searson's career as a shooter began as a Marine Rifleman at age 17. He has worked in the firearms industry his entire adult life as a Gunsmith, Ballistician, Consultant, Salesman, Author and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1989.
Mike has written over 2000 articles for a number of magazines, websites and newsletters including Blade, RECOIL, OFF-GRID, Tactical Officer, SWAT, Tactical World, Gun Digest, Examiner.com and the US Concealed Carry Association as well as AmmoLand Shooting Sports News.
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