The new guns were safe for smokeless powder. They needed something to convince people to buy these new guns, something obviousвЂ¦ At some point the lightbulb lit and they had it. In 1909 they introduced upgraded versions of their top-breaks that used a stronger locking mechanism and were generally a little вЂbeefier.вЂ™ This made them more expensive of course, and the upgrades were subtle enough that the gun-buying public might miss them or not understand their importance. But IJвЂ™s revolvers were better quality than most of their direct competitors. Not the best, mind you for American top-break revolvers S&W was the king. In the first three years after opening their doors they made hundreds of thousands of modestly priced, decent quality revolvers. The Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Company was nothing if not prolific. This allowed the guns to be carried fully loaded with no concern that dropping the gun might cause it to fire. Iver Johnson was the company that introduced the Transfer-Bar Safety, meaning that the hammer cannot contact the firing pin unless the trigger is fully to the rear. One of the things I have a very modest collection of are Iver Johnson top-break revolvers, all dating from the late 19th Century to about WW1. That was the final straw and thereвЂ™s no further point in denying it.

But last week when Chris at McAllen Defense offered me a sweet deal on a couple I took itвЂ¦ because they were variations of models I already had. See, I have been maintaining that my accumulation of top-break revolvers was a sort of вЂreference libraryвЂ™ of late 19th- early 20 Century concealed carry guns. OK, the time for denial has passed, and itвЂ™s all Iver JohnsonвЂ™s fault.

Iver johnson top break 32 parts