The Era Of The .44 Part 3

You should know it now if you didn’t before; I’m a sucker for a good .44! Over the years, I have had the opportunity to shoot a long list of great .44 sixguns. We have looked at a whole passel of single-action sixguns; now, we turn our attention to double actions.

The Hunt Begins

Although Colt New Services were produced in larger quantities than the SAA, they seem harder to find. Both of my prized long-barreled .44 New Service sixguns were found on the Kull Auction. I bid about half what I thought they were worth and got both of them in succeeding years. First came a 7½” standard model in .44-40. The old cartridge dates back to the 1873 Winchester, then was shortly thereafter chambered in the Colt SAA where it was second only to the .45 Colt in production. Shooting the .44-40 in the large, heavy New Service is pure pleasure.

That first original New Service came so easily; however, I thought I would never be able to get what I really wanted — a New Service Target chambered in .44 Special. One year later, there it was in the Kull catalog. I followed my established guidelines and bid about half what I thought it was worth. I had my 7½” .44 Special Target Model Colt. With the Lyman standard round-nosed .44 Russian/Special cast bullet #429251RN sized to 0.431″ and loaded over what amounts to a standard load for the original .44 Special, namely 6.0 grains of Unique, the .44 Special Target clocks out at 822 fps with a group of 5/8″; not bad for a sixgun even older than I am!

S&W Triple Lock & More

While Colt was producing the New Service, S&W, beginning in the closing days of December 1907, had their own big bore sixgun. First came the magnificent Triple-Lock. At the time, Colt locked their cylinder only at the rear; S&W used three locks, one at the rear, one in the front of the enclosed ejector rod, and a third at the front of the cylinder; take that, Colt! By 1915, the third locking feature was dropped, as well as the enclosed ejector rod housing resulting in the 2nd Model Hand Ejector. Shooters soon began to ask for a return to the Triple-Lock. This never happened. However, in 1926, the 3rd Model Hand Ejector arrived with a return to the enclosed ejector rod.

This 1926 Model was a beautiful, rugged sixgun and, in 1930, was used as the basic platform for the .38/44 Heavy Duty, followed by the .38/44 Outdoorsman, and then in 1935 by the .357 Magnum. This 3rd Model would last until 1950 and the arrival of the 1950 Target.

I had a good friend in Nevada who sold me a 4″ 1926 Model and, would you believe, a Target version of the 2nd Model Hand Ejector? Target models of the pre-war S&W .44 Specials are exceptionally rare. When my late friend Mike Venturino became deeply involved in World War II weapons, he sold off some of his classic sixguns, including a 5″ 1926 Model, which I was more than happy to pick up. The longer barrels are easier to shoot, and the 4″ versions pack easier; however, the 5″ .44 Special makes a great compromise.

1950

In 1950, the 1926 Model was dropped and replaced by the .44 Military with fixed sights and the .44 Special Target Model. The former is exceptionally rare. A friend had a 5″ .44 Military he was willing to let go, and I traded straight across for a .22 K-Hornet. I had great plans for the latter but just never seemed to get the time to carry them out. For me, the 3rd Model Hand Ejector is more practical, so it was a good trade for both of us.

For several decades, I have been looking for an affordable 1950 Target in .45 ACP/Auto Rim; they are simply practically nonexistent. Then, I walked into Boise Gun Company and there in the glass case was a pair of early 1950-ish 6½” Target Models, one in .45 and the other in .44 Special. Of course, I wanted both of them, but they were high-dollar. Most of the sixguns I’ve accumulated over the past 55 years are simply great shooters; however, there are a few collectibles mixed in. I pulled one of those out of the bottom of the safe and wound up trading for these two 1950 Target Models. My quest was over, or so I thought. Soon after, what should I find in Buckhorn but another pair of 1950 Target Models from the same era and in the same two chamberings. I checked the checkbook, dug around in the safe for some cash and suddenly, I found myself with not only two 1950 Target .44 Specials but a pair of .45s as well. There is simply something about these old classic S&Ws that cannot be approached by any other DA revolver.

Conversion? No!

I once saw a question online about converting a .44 Special to .45 Colt. I let him know in no uncertain terms this was not an acceptable choice especially when I found out what it was — a rare .44 Military Model of 1950. However, in excellent original condition, this 4″ .44 Special would be worth $2,000 or more. As it was, I bought it for $500. Someone had decided to make it into a would-be gunfighter’s sixgun. The hammer spur was ground off, and both the original stocks and the square butt grip frame were round-butted. Now, all of these modifications are acceptable when well done, but hopefully not on a rare sixgun. In this case, it looked like somebody used a horseshoe file to perform the work. There were deep gouges in the grips, and the modified grip frame had never been re-blued. I turned to my friend Butch Glenn who found a replacement hammer in his parts box, modified a pair of grips I happened to have, smoothed off the grip frame, and cold-blued it. It now looks presentable and also shoots quite well.

On that same website, on the same day, was another .44; this time, it was a pre-29, five-screw S&W 4″ .44 Magnum. These were only made for a very short time and are rarely ever seen. The original .44 Magnum arrived in early 1956, and by 1957 both the fifth screw had been dropped, and it had become the Model 29. The specimen pictured had a little bit of blue wear but was in excellent mechanical shape. I wound up with it, also.

Rarest Of The Rare

One of the rarest of the .44s is the 5″ S&W Model 29, of which only 500 were made in 1958. It was my good pleasure to place Elmer Keith’s 5″ .44 in a special place in the Elmer Keith Museum and, of course dream of one of my own while holding it. Having my own most likely would never happen. Then I got a call from a reader who had been talking to S&W and found they had a couple of the original 5″ barrels still in the shop. He not only grabbed one for himself he told them to put my name on the other one. A Model 29-2 soon went back to Springfield to be re-barreled, and I had my 5″ Model 29.

What makes this even stranger is the fact the week before, I had found an 8⅜” Model 29-2 on another website at a very attractive price, and it was sent off to Jim Stroh to be turned into a custom 5″ .44 Magnum.

The Final Touch

Finally, we come to a .44 Special that is not new to me. In fact, I purchased it from S&W in the mid-1980s. It is one of their special run of stainless steel Model 624s with a 4″ barrel. Many years ago, I had it fitted with ivory stocks. The Model 624 was sent up to engraver Michael Gouse for an extremely attractive “C” coverage engraving at a most reasonable price. It has become one of my most cherished .44 Specials.

The Era of the .44 continues. I just traded a black powder Colt SAA for an S&W .44 Special Triple-Lock Target Model. A new chapter is about to begin.

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