Info about family heirloom revolver?

[Sero Sed Serio]

Unfortunately, you can’t clean up actual pitting because pits are where corrosion (rust) has eaten away metal. You can clean, protect, and preserve it, though:
Clean - lightly apply and buff (by hand, with a cotton cloth) Flitz metal polish. Will remove rust. Powered buffing will ruin all patina, finish, and value, so just don’t.
Protect and preserve: oil where it needs lube. You can apply a wax to the finish, or oil it, but realize that oil will evaporate over time, so it will need more frequent attention than with wax. Don’t wax the internals.

Appreciate it. Just trying to remove the rust and stop it from spreading without removing the original finish. I will make sure it is well oiled, and probably use a Rig Rag or something similar before putting it in the safe. Fortunately I’ll be moving it from a very humid climate to a very dry one, then giving it TLC and putting it in a climate controlled safe, and not storing it in a porous leather holster…

[Sero Sed Serio]

From the oral history of my great-grandfather, as transcribed by my cousin from another family member in the late 90s. This is when he was in the Panama Canal Zone during construction, so I’m assuming my revolver is not the revolver described.




Unrelated, but we were going through my aunt’s stuff, and I was breezing through the August 8, 1969 copy of Life Magazine. Of course it was focused on Neil Armstrong’s exploits of a few weeks earlier, but I did come across this article about a hip new swingin’ apartment in D.C.

[Outpost75]

Your revolver is a 1903 .32 Hand Ejector, probably produced between 1900 and 1920. Stick to light loads, 2 grains of Bullseye or Titegroup with. A 95-100 grain soft lead bullet of .314-.315 diameter will approximate factory loads and should shoot close to the fixed sights.

[revchuck38]

Your revolver is a 1903 .32 Hand Ejector, probably produced between 1900 and 1920. Stick to light loads, 2 grains of Bullseye or Titegroup with. A 95-100 grain soft lead bullet of .314-.315 diameter will approximate factory loads and should shoot close to the fixed sights.

Here's some factory ammo that should work. It ain't cheap, though.

Here's some more, a little bit more expensive but probably more accurate since it's match ammo.

And yet some more!

[Stephanie B]

Your revolver is a 1903 .32 Hand Ejector, probably produced between 1900 and 1920. Stick to light loads, 2 grains of Bullseye or Titegroup with. A 95-100 grain soft lead bullet of .314-.315 diameter will approximate factory loads and should shoot close to the fixed sights.

I don’t believe that the cylinder heat-treating issue was there for the .32s.

[Sero Sed Serio]

Your revolver is a 1903 .32 Hand Ejector, probably produced between 1900 and 1920. Stick to light loads, 2 grains of Bullseye or Titegroup with. A 95-100 grain soft lead bullet of .314-.315 diameter will approximate factory loads and should shoot close to the fixed sights.

With those production dates it MIGHT have been the gun used in the Panama shooting—he was down there while the canal was being built, I believe