GUN FALL 2017
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, October 31, 2017.
RARE SMITH & WESSON MODEL 320 REVOLVING RIFLE COMPLETE WITH CARRYING CASE, SIGHTS, AMMUNITION AND FACTORY LETTER.SMITH & WESSON320 REVOLVING RIFLE376320 SMITH & WESSON RIFLEW/CASE & SHELLCal. 320 Smith & Wesson Rifle. Blue finish with scarce 20" ribbed keyhole shaped bbl and attachable globe front sight with crosshairs and a 2-positon flip rear sight. Mounted with mottled red & black hard rubber forearm and rnd butt diamond checkered 2-pc grips. Grips are matching numbered to the revolver in the right side. Accompanied by an orig attachable walnut shoulder stock with blued yoke and Smith & Wesson logo embossed, checkered hard rubber buttplate. Bottom of walnut stock is inlaid with a small gold shield which is inscribed "B.V. Howe / Cambridge / DEC 1880". Also accompanied by an orig rare blued tang sight, the plug screw for the threaded hole in the buttstock yoke for when the tang sight is not installed and a blued disassembly pin. Additionally accompanied by a full box of Remington/UMC cartridges for this rifle along with 6 additional loose rounds. It is all contained in an orig brown baize lined oil cloth covered cardboard case with orig carrying handle. Case also contains a wooden cleaning rod and small pin punch. The two security straps are damaged with one missing its buckle. According to Smith & Wesson 1857-1945, Neal & Jinks, there were 977 of these rare rifles produced of which 840 were sold in the United States. They were all manufactured in 1880 but remained in inventory until 1887. Of the total production, only 224 were produced with 20" bbl which was the lowest production of all three bbl lengths. The chart on pg 97 of the referenced publication lists this revolving rifle by SN as having been produced with a 20" bbl. Very few of these rare firearms survive today, especially with orig sights, buttstock and case. PROVENANCE: Factory letter indicating that this gun was shipped to E.B. Platt on December 11, 1880. The collection of Robert Roughton. CONDITION: Very fine, all matching including bbl, cylinder and grips, buttstock is properly un-numbered. Bbl retains about 95-96% glossy orig blue with a few spots of scattered rust on the left side. Frame retains 95-96% strong orig blue with a couple of scratches and the loss areas flaked to a light patina. Hammer & trigger guard show faded case colors. Cylinder retains about 88-90% orig blue with loss areas flaked to a light patina and showing sharp edge wear with a cylinder line. Front sight has a small ding on the front knurled ring. Forearm & grips are fine showing light diamond point wear and turned a little dark on the grips. Buttstock is sound with a couple of small nicks and dings and retains most of a fine professionally restored finish. The blued steel yoke retains about 50-60% orig blue with loss areas flaked to a light patina. Buttplate is sound showing light to moderate wear. Tang sight and plug screw retain most of their orig blue. Cartridge box is sealed in plastic but appears to be dark but well preserved. Case has broken edges with all of its brass reinforcing corners intact. Exterior is faded and stained showing heavy wear. Interior is also faded and stained with damage to the areas around the front and rear sights. A couple of the interior partitions have broken corners 52328-29 JRL (12,000-15,000)