I found a couple of old print advertisements from gun companies that I thought were cool... The one from the Iver Johnson Arms company is actually kind of funny... a little girl laying in her bed with a teddy bear next to her and handling a handgun with a caption over her saying "Papa says it won't hurt us". Imagine the controversy that an ad like that would cause today!

 

 

 

I found a couple of old print advertisements from gun companies that I thought were cool... The one from the Iver Johnson Arms company is actually kind of funny... a little girl laying in her bed with a teddy bear next to her and handling a handgun with a caption over her saying "Papa says it won't hurt us". Imagine the controversy that an ad like that would cause today!

 

 

 

 

Oh god, those prices. I know that wages back then would make the prices somewhat equal to what they would be today, but seeing $80 right next to a spankin' new revolver kinda hurts after looking at all the prices for similar items today.

that's insane!

 

 

 

 

$6 ????

 

yes, isn't it time you gave yourself 2 Christmas gifts, one for each hand?

relax, she probably read the manual up & down.

see how she's holding the barrel away from her, fingers off the trigger?

Wow . Trippy.

 

So , aside from being "hammerless" , how was the gun "absolutely safe" ? Some kind of trigger lock on it or something? Curious

papa says it won't hurt us

mama says don't shoot the dog

 

oh look closer. it's a SSR LOL

Wow . Trippy.

 

So , aside from being "hammerless" , how was the gun "absolutely safe" ? Some kind of trigger lock on it or something? Curious

 

Iver Johnson was the first to have a transfer bar which prevented the firing pin from hitting the primer unless the trigger was pulled back about 1907 or so. They called it the "hammer the hammer" safety. We kind of take this for granted today. S&W didn't incorporate this until WWII when a sailor dropped his Victory model and was killed when the revolver fell on the hammer. The automatic refers to the cases being ejected automatically when you opened the action. Most inexpensive revolvers of that time required you to pluck out the empties with your fingernails or any available small stick.

FWIW I can remember when you could buy a new S&W Model 19 for $130. This was a a time when I started on the police department, one of the highest paidi n the state, and made $10,553 a year. I cleared about $140 a week.