ID old revolver

[Beachbum26]

Happy Thanksgiving. Father-in-law just gave this one to me. Said it originally belonged to his father. FIL is 85 years old. 5-shot break-top. Appears to be 38 caliber, but .357 bullet slides down the barrel. No marking anywhere except for 11 5 24 stamped on the butt of the grip.

 

[Fordfella]

Had to go to the safe for this one. I have a nice set of grips with some gun parts attached. Your piece seems to be a scaled up version of this Hopkins and Allen revolver.

Notice how it has the "horn" on the hammer folded up. Early DAO.

 

[mickey]

Looks like an Empire State Arms
Thought it was an old Iver Johnson until I saw the front sight on it. It’s very unique.

 

[Beachbum26]

Thanks, guys. Managed a pic of the strap on top of the barrel. Zooming in, it looks like “Howard Arms, Chief”.

 

[Fordfella]

Wipe some oil across that engraving then see if it says Chicago instead of Chief? It appears we are all right to some degree or another. Howard Arms is a gun sold by Sears but likely made by someone else. Empire is also a Sears brand.

https://www.gunvaluesboard.com/howard-arms-company-1981.html

Meriden Fire Arms Co.

 

[Beachbum26]

Correction. It’s Chicago.

 

[Trailboss]

The caliber may be .38 S&W, which has a bullet diameter of .361. So a .357 mag/.38 special bullet with a diameter of .357 might fall through the barrel.

 

[La26]

The caliber may be .38 S&W, which has a bullet diameter of .361. So a .357 mag/.38 special bullet with a diameter of .357 might fall through the barrel.

That's what I was thinking too. I had one years ago, that had a cheap nickel plating on it. You could shoot .38 special out of it, but half of the cases would split when fired. Needless to say, the accuracy was barn door at 15 yards.

 

[BOSS351]

Looking at the grips it may be a Harrington &Richardson. Also look along the top of the barrel for any more info like the one in the pic.

 

[Mitch Dufour]

If the oil trick does not help reveal more of the roll marks, then wipe it dry and rub chalk on them. That can help them pop out some times.