Rare 1916 Harrington & Richardson .32 semi-automatic pistol

[Lancashire Fusilier]

I am pleased to share one of the latest additions to my Collection, a rare 1916 Harrington and Richardson .32

semi-automatic self-loading pistol.

Produced by the American arms company of Harrington and Richardson, under Licence from Webley and Scott, production of the .32 pistol commenced on 20th April, 1916, with only 34,500 being produced.

This particular pistol has the extremely low serial number of 276, and was one of the initial production of the Type 1 pistol, with only 1760 Type 1's being manufactured.

The Type 1, is identified by the 12 finger grip serrations cut into the rear of the breechslide. Starting from serial number 1761, these serrations were increased to 16, and are known as the Type 2 version.

The Harrington and Richardson .32 pistol is slightly larger than the Webley and Scott version, is considered of superior construction, and has certain features not included on the Webley and Scott pistol. The most noticable being the absence of a hammer, as the Harrington and Richardson pistol is a striker fired pistol, with the firing mechanism contained within the pistol's frame. Another enhancement, is that in addition to the conventional safety lever, there is also a grip safety lever fitted to the rear of the pistol's handle. There is also a cartridge indicator, in the form of a small pin projecting through the top surface of the breechslide when a cartridge is chambered, none of these additional features being included on the Webley and Scott .32.

Although manufactured in America, this particular pistol has no American markings, and only has British Proof and Inspection marks.

The action being marked with a " Crown/over entwined GP " being the Proof Mark of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers of the City of London, and also a " Crown/over V " being the View Mark/Inspector's final inspection mark for the London Proof House.

The breechslide and rear of the frame are also " Crown/over V " View/Inspection marked.

Both the breechslide and the underside of the barrel have matching serial numbers.

This pistol has the original Type 1 nickel-plated 8 round magazine with a flat topped cartridge platform, which does not extend above the magazine casing. On later Type 2 magazines, the cartridge platform extends 1.5 mm above the magazine casing.

The trigger is casehardened metal, and the mint condition black plastic grips show the Harrington and Richardson logo.

The pistol's dimensions are length - 6.5 inches. Height - 4.5 inches. Barrel length - 3.5 inches and weight -

22 ounces.

The pistol has its all original blued finish, with a pristine bore, and is in full working condition.

This pistol was probably a British officer's private purchase side-arm.

The original brown leather holster is British Maker Marked.

[spconnolly007]

Very nice LF regards Sean

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Very nice LF regards Sean

Thanks Sean, pleased you liked it.

LF

[MikB]

Presumably the cartridges are modern? They look sort of short-nosed, like light hollowpoints, but I can't quite be sure.

When I used to load 7,65 for a Colt 1903 and Browning 1910 I used to have, I was using a 71 grain Geko FMJRN with a longer ogive that looked more typical of the rounds in this calibre that I'd seen. It fed reliably and I could get about 910 fps out of it - till I put a hole in the club chrongraph with one and got banned from using it until I fixed it!

I don't know if Czech S&B is stil available, but I think that would quite closely resemble the ammunition that would've been typical for WW1.

Intriguing little pistol, in lovely condition - don't think i've ever seen pics of one as good.

Regards,

MikB

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Presumably the cartridges are modern? They look sort of short-nosed, like light hollowpoints, but I can't quite be sure.

Intriguing little pistol, in lovely condition - don't think i've ever seen pics of one as good.

Regards,

MikB

MikB,

You are correct, they are current .32 hollow points, which I use in my WW2 Walther PP and PPKs. They do fit this pistol, however, I used them for scale and to put in the mag for the pics.

The pistol appears to be in mint, unfired condition, and the low, low serial number is amazing.

Pleased you liked it.

LF

[Dan Brock]

I'll give you all the money in my pocket for it.

Seriously, I have both an H&R .22 revolver and 20 gauge shotgun and I dream of a Handi-Rifle in .45/70 gov. but I no idea they ever made automatics.

Is it .32 ACP? The round that killed Francis Ferdinand, precipitating all that unpleasantness and, I think, the caliber that Hitler checked out with.

Very cool - and I'm only partly kidding about my initial offer.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

but I no idea they ever made automatics.

Is it .32 ACP? The round that killed Francis Ferdinand, precipitating all that unpleasantness and, I think, the caliber that Hitler checked out with.

Dan,

Both Webley and Scott, and Harrington and Richardson ( under licence ) produced .25 and .32 self-loading semi-automatic pistols.

During his military service, Winston Churchill owned a Webley and Scott .32 semi-automatic pistol serial number 130104, and as you said, .32's played a part in starting WW1, and ending WW2.

Harrington and Richardson, referred to their .32 round as being the .32 Browning cartridge.

Regards,

LF

[trajan]

Nice find! Foundby accident/chance/diligent looking or through a contact?! Either way, Well done!

[TonyE]

Did you manage to get that on a 7.3 ticket?

Regards

TonyE

[spconnolly007]

Did you manage to get that on a 7.3 ticket?

Regards

TonyE

Tony, thats obviously some firearms gobbledy-gook, but at the expense of seeming a bit thick, I did'nt want to ask earlier, but what is the position of handgun ownership now in the UK? I was under the impression that all live fire hand guns were banned! Excuse my ignorance even though I do own shotguns regards Sean

[TonyE]

Tony, thats obviously some firearms gobbledy-gook, but at the expense of seeming a bit thick, I did'nt want to ask earlier, but what is the position of handgun ownership now in the UK? I was under the impression that all live fire hand guns were banned! Excuse my ignorance even though I do own shotguns regards Sean

Generally handguns in the UK are covered by Section 5 of the Firearms Act, i.e. prohibited weapons.

However there are a number of exceptions to this. Section 7.1 of the Act allows certain pistols to be retained at home under secure storage, but without ammunition and forbidden to be used.

Section 7.3 allows certain "heritage" pistols (generally those made before 1919) to be used and fired but they must be stored at nominated centres (e.g. with the National Rifle Association, Bisley). They must be transported from storage to the firing point by an official and only handed over to the shooter to fire the six rounds or whatever. This is obviously inefficient, expensive and generally fraught with difficulty but it at least allows some small degree of use.

There is also provision in the Act for certain calibres to be declared obsolete and not generally available and firearms chambered for these are not subject to regulation. For example, .44 S & W Russian is considered obsolete as is .577/.450 Martini Henry. It is an offence to fire any weapon covered by this provision.

I have fired about all the pistol types I want so do not bother with the Section 7.3 provision. Since my ammo collection is most important to me I did not keep any of my pistols under 7.1.( I would not have been allowed to keep my Webleys and also have .455 inch ammo in the collection)

Regards

TonyE

[spconnolly007]

Cheers Tony, so would Leo have to store his lovely 1916 H&R at a nominated centre, as its useable, or does the pre 1919 heritage rule allow him to keep it locked up at home? All seems to be more hassle than its worth. Luckily my de-ac SMLE just stands in the corner to be admired at any time regards Sean

[MikB]

There is also provision in the Act for certain calibres to be declared obsolete and not generally available and firearms chambered for these are not subject to regulation. For example, .44 S & W Russian is considered obsolete as is .577/.450 Martini Henry. It is an offence to fire any weapon covered by this provision.

Regards

TonyE

That's not unconditionally so. I legally fire a rifle in .577 Snider - an officially obsolete calibre and the ancestor of the .450 Martini Henry round, and I've seen M/Hs fired legally since the 1997 act. I don't know the legal wording but I believe it amounts to the position that if you possess ammunition, or materials or components such as a reasonable person would think you could make some ammunition by assembling these, then the gun is treated as if it were the corresponding type of firearm in a current calibre.

So I suspect you'd be committing an offence if you had a .44 S&W Russian revolver along with suitable cast bullets, some cases modified to suit and some propellant, even if you had no assembled ammunition - because apart from the section 7.3 provisions there's no legal way to possess cartridge handgun and suitable ammunition - but in the case of the .577/.450 Martini Henry you could own and fire the gun on an ordinary target-shooter's section 1 Firearm Certificate. But it would be an offence to fire it without, ie. if it was held as a curio and not for 'certified' shooting purposes.

Effectively there are no handguns in .450 M/H (though there may have been small numbers of double-barreled Howdah pistols made for tiger-stopping, as there were in .577 Snider). So firing an uncertified Martini Henry would normally put you in violation of Section 1, whereas I think firing the .44 S&W would put you in violation of Section 5. I would think that latter would be the more serious offence.

Regards,

MikB

[auchonvillerssomme]

I always wonder what eventuallyhappened to the Luger and Walther PPK dad found in grandads wardrobe after he died 40 years ago. He handed them in to the police, would they have destroyed them all those years ago?

[MikB]

I always wonder what eventuallyhappened to the Luger and Walther PPK dad found in grandads wardrobe after he died 40 years ago. He handed them in to the police, would they have destroyed them all those years ago?

I think that very likely they did. There were enough Lugers around in the 1980s to give me a choice of 5 (2 of them minty, 1 of these a coveted 'Contract 42' model and too expensive for me) when I went to a RFD to buy one. Even if your Grandad's had been the fabled Latvian Postal Service model of 1926, it's doubtful anyone would've recognised it, or cared.

Regards,

MikB

[spconnolly007]

Cheers LF, I thought I remembered your Avatar, or whatever its called, mentioning UK/USA location in the past. I did wonder if this was still the case, but as it only shows UK now, it did throw me a bit!! Cheers Tony and MikB for making things a bit clearer on the legal side of things, regards Sean

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Is it .32 ACP? The round that killed Francis Ferdinand, precipitating all that unpleasantness and, I think, the caliber that Hitler checked out with.

Dan,

I hope I shall be forgiven for straying outside of the time zone, however, with regard to your question, here are two other .32 or 7.65 mm semi-automatic pistols for comparison, including a late war Walther PP, and the very rare Walther RZM ( Reichszeugmeisterei ) PPK Ehrenwaffe des Politischen Leiters - Honour Weapon for Political Leaders. The later being as you say, the model and calibre that AH checked out with.

Regards,

LF

[TonyE]

Mik - What I said holds true. It is an offence to fire a weapon that is held without an FAC as an obsolete calibre firearm. Of ourse you can fire one if it is held as a Section 1 weapon.

As to the .577/.450, I simply used that as an example of an obsolete calibre, not as a handgun calibre. Do you think I did not know that?

Regards

TonyE

[MikB]

Mik - What I said holds true. It is an offence to fire a weapon that is held without an FAC as an obsolete calibre firearm. Of ourse you can fire one if it is held as a Section 1 weapon.

As to the .577/.450, I simply used that as an example of an obsolete calibre, not as a handgun calibre. Do you think I did not know that?

Regards

TonyE

Of course I realised you knew that! Unless you were going to come up with a Howdah pistol example - I've seen one of these in .577 Snider so it wouldn't be altogether impossible some were built in .450 MH, as the Snider round was (militarily) obsolescent and declining from the mid-1870s onward, although I haven't seen or heard of any such.

I was simply making the point that firing an officially obsolete calibre is not in itself an offence unless the type of firearm makes it so. This means there is an effective difference between the 2 you mentioned.

There was no slight intended.

Regards,

MikB

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Cheers LF, I thought I remembered your Avatar, or whatever its called, mentioning UK/USA location in the past. I did wonder if this was still the case, but as it only shows UK now, it did throw me a bit!!

Sean,

It is still UK/USA, and I changed it just to UK to keep it simple, however on the issue of firearm ownership, I can see how it may have been confusing.

Regards,

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

With regard to the .32 ammunition, there are various listings, .32 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol ), .32 Smith and Wesson, .32 Browning, and then there are the metric alternatives, typically 7.65 mm, although in one of the text books, the metric alternative to the .32 is shown as 7.62 mm ?

I appreciate that some of the listings are the manufacturer's branding, but are there any significant differences in the actual cartridge ?

I know that TonyE has made an extensive study of ammuntion.

Regards,

LF

[MikB]

I appreciate that some of the listings are the manufacturer's branding, but are there any significant differences in the actual cartridge ?

.32 Smith & Wesson is a rimmed revolver cartridge very like a scaled-down .38 S&W - you couldn't use it in a .32 ACP/7,65mm Browning - though actually .32 ACP cartridges fit a .32 S&W revolver chamber quite nicely and may well fire OK without damaging the gun if it's a good one. But I chickened out of actually trying it in the Iver Johnson I once had. If it'd been something more substantial like a Webley I might've dared - .32 ACP is nearly twice as powerful as .32 S&W.

There is also .32 S&W Long which is still sometimes used in target shooting, and of course the more recent .32 Harrington & Richardson Magnum. This latter dates (I think) from the 1980s and has no relationship to the H&R .32 auto in the original post.

I don't know of any interchangeable round designated 7,62/.32. 7,63 Mauser was sometimes known as .30 Mauser, and 7,65 Parabellum as .30 Luger, but both of these are bottleneck rounds that would never fit a .32 ACP chamber. 7,62 Tokarev - interchangeable with 7,63 Mauser - I've never heard described with Imperial equivalent.

Regards,

MikB

[Lancashire Fusilier]

MikB,

Many thanks for the information, the round I have seen mentioned in connection with my Harrington and Richardson .32, is the .32 Browning.

Should I ever decide to fire this pistol, that is probably the cartridge I would use.

LF

[MikB]

MikB,

Many thanks for the information, the round I have seen mentioned in connection with my Harrington and Richardson .32, is the .32 Browning.

Should I ever decide to fire this pistol, that is probably the cartridge I would use.

LF

I think that is effectively the same as the .32 ACP or 7,65mm Browning. The 1900 Browning (used by Gavrilo Prinzip at Sarajevo in 1914), 1903 Colt, 1910 and 1922 Brownings all used this round. Your current hollowpoints will undoubtedly chamber and are very unlikely to harm the gun if its material is still sound - though it's possible they may be somewhat hotter than the original loading. Looking at them I'd guess they might achieve a slightly higher energy with similar pressures by trading off a little bullet weight against higher MV, like the .22 Stinger rounds do - in their case at some cost in accuracy.

I have some experience of using WW1 Lugers, and formed the opinion, from a number of component breakages experienced by myself and others I knew, that materials can appear to become embrittled over such extended periods. Lugers break their extractor location lugs, striker spring-guide bayonet fittings and breechblock toggle-link pins. Having said this I knew one chap with a WW1 Sauer .32 auto who must have fired a few hundred through it without incident. 9mmP is a considerably more severe cartridge than 7,65, but I would still look for 'standard' loadings rather than anything '+P' if you're going to fire that little gem. If it were less nice I wouldn't hesitate...

Regards,

MikB

[Lancashire Fusilier]

I would still look for 'standard' loadings rather than anything '+P' if you're going to fire that little gem. If it were less nice I wouldn't hesitate...

Regards,

MikB

MikB,

Thanks for the information, for now, I shall leave it safely in its holster.

Regards,

LF