Quote Originally Posted by cuzinbruce View Post
Steel is SteelS&W guns are better made than most of the rest but the steel is not much better. I have examined closely a break open S&W 32 that stretched. A safety hammerless.
Way too much end play at the cylinder, rotation and lock up were not reliable. Also the latch at the top was messed up. I would think black powder only.
Good Luck!
Not all steel alloys contain the same elements, crystal structure, or were heat treated the same.
Introducing the topic investment of cast parts using modern modern metallurgy vs smith and wesson forgings does not pertain to 19th century guns designed to handle black powder loads.
I will repeat from my earlier post. Many of the top break revolvers did not use metallurgy designed for smokeless power loads. An eye ball examination will not likely be able to tell exactly what grade of steel was used. Factory records may give the switch over date for when the steel was changed for a particular model of gun relative to serial number and other times one does not know. If in doubt use black powder.
This has also apparently been a problem with SAA colt revolvers with the dates varying from 1898 to 1900 or so for the switch over in metallurgy.