A Time-Honored Tradition

Among sixgunners, the .44 Special has always held a place of high esteem. And with good reason. It was Elmer’s solution to his never-ending experimentation for a more powerful sixgun. He’d learned one fateful July 4th the SAA .45 Colt could only be loaded so hot before blowing the cylinder. Elmer went with the Colt SAA .44 Special, due to its thicker chamber walls, so higher-pressure loads could be used.

I’ve always wondered what would have happened had Bill Ruger been around in those early days with his .45 Colt Blackhawk. Would history be the same?

Alas, Colt stopped making their second-generation SAA in 1974. S&W dropped the cartridge in 1966. These incidents drove prices to unreachable status for most working men. Throw in the release of the .44 Magnum into the mix in 1956, and the attitude of why buy a .44 Special when you can shoot both magnum and specials in the same gun was bad news for the Special .44 cartridge.

Practical

But those loving .44 Specials know how practical the cartridge is and that guns chambered specifically for it are generally lighter than their .44 Magnum brethren, especially mid-frame single-action revolvers. Gun writer Skeeter Skelton was a .44 Special man who fell for the seduction of the .44 Magnum. But after shooting it, he declared it too much gun for general law enforcement work, stating recoil and muzzle rise weren’t conducive to the fast follow-up shots. Skeeter went back to the .44 Special for duty use and saved the .44 Magnum for the hunting field.

Conversions

From 1908, when the .44 Special was introduced by S&W, until 1966, when it was dropped, fewer than 50,000 .44 Specials were made by S&W. Colt made even fewer between the SAA and the New Service. Between scarcity and price, the next best thing one could do, and one made popular by Skeeter Skelton, was converting .357 Magnum Rugers, or S&W Model 27/28s to .44 Special. Any competent gunsmith could re-barrel and re-bore the cylinder to .44 Special dimensions.

Skeeter Skelton was one of the first to write about such endeavors. His favorite donor gun for such work was the original Ruger flat top three screw gun. These guns basically had the same lock work as a Colt single-action, except for having coiled main springs instead of flat springs.

One of Skeeter’s first conversions was done by Bob Sconce of Miniature Machining Co. in Deming, NM. He also did a S&W Model 28 for Skeeter.

Alan Harton

Imitation is the highest form of flattery. For years, I’d wanted to convert a Ruger 3-screw .357 Magnum to .44 Special just as Skeeter did. About 10 years ago, mi amigo Doc Barranti and I did just that. Doc had a nice original Ruger flat top .357, and I had a slightly newer, 6 ½” barreled 5-digit 3-screw with “protective ears” for the conversion project. We shipped the guns to Houston, TX, so Alan could perform his magic, working on both guns, side by side, so they would be delivered at the same time.

Day Spa

My conversion was basic. I wanted a gun that looked like something Ruger would have made, but with one exception. I wanted the cylinder frame color case hardened, just because. Alan did not disappoint, giving the gun the mottled blues and greys of a Colt SAA. He also properly re-marked the frame with the Ruger insignia and Ruger .44 cal. Blackhawk, just as it would from the factory, if Ruger ever made a .44 Special back in the day.

Alan also re-anodized the grip frame, returning it to its coal black finish. I kept the original walnut stocks with the Ruger black Phoenix with silver background medallions for nostalgic reasons, although the left side needs to be repainted.

I wanted the barrel shortened from its original 6 ½” to a handier packing 4 5/8ths shorty. The barrel/cylinder gap is tight, but not too tight, for reliable functioning when traipsing through the woods or a heavy cast bullet session. Nothing’s worse than having your cylinder bind from lead/powder residue or other debris getting between the barrel/cylinder gap.

Alan tuned the gun, making it a smooth symphony of finely moving parts with a tight lock-up. Trigger pull is 2.5 creep-free pounds.

Shooting

There’s only one load for any die-hard .44 Special nut, and it honors two of the greatest men of sixgundom, if there ever was such a word. I know there isn’t, but there should be, so I’m using it. Called the “Skeeter” load, because he touted its performance, it was copied and mimicked by thousands, because Skeeter used it. But a little-known fact is that Skeeter got the load from none other than Elmer Keith. From most guns, it runs 900 – 1,000 FPS, depending on barrel length. The load consists of Elmer’s Lyman 429421 loaded over 7.5 grains of Unique powder, sparked with a standard large pistol primer.

I can’t tell you how many of these loads I’ve shot, but it’s a lot. I shoot it probably 80% of the time I shoot .44 Specials, or Magnums. I’m too much of a handloader to limit myself to just one load. But it is a sentimental favorite and one I shoot whenever I feel the need to get reconnected to sixgun lore.
My Harton conversion gun is my first, and hopefully not last, conversion I have built. With Ruger and Lipsey’s in cahoots, there’s plenty of mid-frame .44 Special to choose from in either plow handle or Bisley style guns of all different barrel lengths and finishes of blued or stainless steel.

Needless to say, my Harton gun shoots like a dream. Skeeter loads usually run in the 1.5″ area, with the shorter sight radius making it more challenging. But I’ll take that any day. Life is about compromises, and I’ll take an easier packing gun over a little bit of accuracy any day. The older I get, the shorter I like my barrels, in both handguns and rifles.

Having a gun converted the way Skeeter and John Taffin have may not be as practical now as it was before the Ruger/Lipsey’s guns, but it sure is fun doing the same thing our idols and mentors did. Sometimes being practical makes no sense. Sometimes sentimentality is the name of the game.

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