Iver Johnsons revolver. Worth fixing?

[WNCTarheel]

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Found an Iver Johnsons .22 Magnum 8 shot revolver while cleaning out my Moms basement. It was my dads, but he passed away 25 years ago, so it's fairly old. Not in great shape and rusted, and the cheap plastic grips are cracked. No other damage to the gun though. Would it be worth fixing up? Can it use regular 22LR as well?

Thanks

 

[Task Force 16]

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Probably best to let a gun smith take a look at it. The barrel and cyclinders will need to inspected for rust.

If it's chambered for .22 mag don't use LR in it. The LR casings are not quite as big around as the magnums and will split when fired. You might also have a "squib" like I did when I borrowed a Colt SA that we thought had a .22 LR cylinder in it (it was a magnun cylinder instead), to take my handgun safety course.

A "squib" is when the bullet doesn't make it out the barrel and gets stuck.

 

[erichonda30]

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what would happen if you fired another round not knowing you had a squib?

 

[Hunterdave]

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Clean it up , brush out the barrel, oil, work action, make sure cylinder locks up
tight when at full cock. If the gun is not overly loose, it's most likely shoot-able.
To be safe, tie it in the middle of an old tire, tie string to trigger, get back,
preferably behind something and "proof fire" 2 or 3 times.If it doesn't fail, your
good to go.
To fix up cheaply, clean rust off ,clean with alcohol , then cold blue or
dura coat.
If the action doesn't work properly, parts are readily available , used and cheap
from many places, such as American Gun Parts.The actions on these guns are
very easy to work on.

But, after all that, to answer your question, yes, its worth "fixing up" if
the rifling and lands are in decent shape.

What model is it 55 ,57 ,other?

 

[Task Force 16]

imported post

erichonda30 wrote:

what would happen if you fired another round not knowing you had a squib?

You could get a buldged barrel. With larger cals you might even split the barrel. I didn't fire another round after the squib as I knew something wasn't right (no recoil and no loud bang). I unloaded the revolver and removed the cylinderand found something to stick down the barrel to determine where the bullet stopped. When we got home I used a rod and hammer to knock the bullet back out of the barrel (it had only traveled about an inch down the barrel).

I had never heard of a squib until I took the handgun safety course needed to get our HCP. They had a revolver that had been fired a second time after a squib. The barrel was buldged pretty good about mid length of the barrel. Looked to be a .38 cal DA

While I was cleaning the cylinder I realized that it was chambered for .22 magnum instead of LR.

 

[WNCTarheel]

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Hunterdave wrote:

What model is it 55 ,57 ,other?

Not sure. Serial # starts with an E, and then has 5 digits after that. Can't find any other marks except for "Iver Johnsons Fitchburg Mass USA", and the "22 Mag" mark on the cylinder.

It seems that it has a part missing or broken. The part that comes up from the action to rotate the cylinder when the trigger is pulled. I'll look and see what I can find for parts online.

We know my dad also had a .25 auto, but after he died we could never find it. The house is going to be sold and I'd hate for that gun to still be in the house when we sell it.

Thanks!

 

[architect]

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WNCTarheel wrote:

We know my dad also had a .25 auto, but after he died we could never find it. The house is going to be sold and I'd hate for that gun to still be in the house when we sell it.

My next door neighbor is a home inspector, says he finds handguns all the time when he goes through homes. He says most of the time the seller was not aware that it was there. After the house is cleaned out, maybe you should do your own systematic room-by-room, closet-by-closet inspection.