Iver Johnson American Buldog grips

The Iver Johnson American Bulldog revolver was introduced around 1882–1883 by Iver Johnson & Company (renamed from Johnson Bye & Co. in 1883) in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, as an affordable, solid-frame double-action pocket revolver in the booming late-19th-century firearms market

Inspired by popular British "Bulldog" designs (compact, powerful pocket pistols like the Webley British Bulldog), Iver Johnson created the American Bulldog series to offer budget-friendly alternatives in calibers such as .32 S&W, .38 S&W, and larger .44 Bulldog/Webley (sometimes accepting .44 Russian). It featured a 5-shot cylinder, nickel or blued finish, hard rubber grips (often with U.S. eagle motif clutching olive branch/arrows), top-strap or barrel markings ("AMERICAN BULL DOG"), and variants with round or ribbed barrels

Production spanned roughly 1882–1899 (some sources extend to 1900), with First Model (1882–1886, rare, name on top strap, eagle grips) and Second Model (barrel markings, later grips including bulldog head on larger frames). These top-break or solid-frame designs emphasized concealability and self-defense for urban users

A "budget" line in the "Ring of Fire" era precursors, the American Bulldog sold widely via mail-order catalogs, gaining popularity for reliability and low cost despite basic construction. It helped establish Iver Johnson's reputation for high-volume, innovative pocket revolvers before the company's shift to hammer-the-hammer safeties in the 1890s–1900s. Today, surviving examples are prized antiques (pre-1898 in most calibers) among collectors