family heirloom

[BaerenGott]

This is my paternal grandma's Iver Johnson 5-shot top-break chambered in .32 S&W(short/black powder).  My dad's parents lived in Illinois, where Grandad was a coal miner for an 'independant' family-owned mine.  In the '30s many of these mines were targeted by up-and-coming unions, and grandad's was no exception.  According to family stories, he got the gun for grandma and told her that if anyone tried to get into the house when he was at work to shoot them.  They lived in a little hollow outside of Taylorville, IL.  And(according to family stories) she did just that one night!  My sister is a professional archivist/researcher, and I remember her confirming to my dad once that there was a published newspaper account of grandma driving off "unioners" who'd come to her house in an apparent attempt to coerce grandpa to support the incoming union.  Sadly later that year my grandpa was killed in a mine accident, but grandma stayed on the property, kept the revolver, and raised her three sons.  She later came to live with dad(the eldest) and gave him the revolver before she passed away in 1993.

[Greasemonkey]

Nice... An Owls head Iver..  I like these old top break revolvers. My oldest is a old S&W model 2 Double action from about 1880/81 in 32 S&W. It's a low 5 digit serial, I also have an original Lemonsqueezer in 38 S&W. I have fired them with modern ammo, though they don't get much real use anymore, they are kinda awkard to shoot compared to modern stuff, the grip isn't much.