I thought people might like to know the history of this gun, as it was told to me (and I remember it). I don't know how accurate the story is, but I was told it by the son of the man who originally bought the gun new from Skinners Gun Shop here in Juneau in the fall of 1956. Skinners was the main gun shop in Juneau for many years. It closed in the late 1980s or around 1990 when Mr. Skinner got too old to run it, so I never saw the shop. I moved to Sitka, Alaska from Idaho in 1990, and never made my first trip to Juneau until 1991, when the shop was already gone.

Back in the 1950s there was a man here in Southeast Alaska who used to spend his summers working at a gold mine at a remote area in the interior of Alaska. During the summer of 1956 they were having regular visits from, and problems with, grizzlies. In the fall they quit working the mine for the season. When the man got back to his home in Southeast Alaska in the fall, he went to Skinners and bought this 1950 Military .44 Special so he would have a gun to carry the next season working at the mine. He shot the gun a few times, cleaned it, then put it back in the box to wait for the next work season. About two months after the man bought the .44 Special, the first .44 Magnum showed up at Skinners. The man put the .44 Special away, bought a new .44 Magnum, and used the .44 Magnum while working at the mine. His son inherited the .44 Special when the man died. He said he carried it in a holster a couple of times but never shot it, then he put it back into the box. A couple of years ago he decided to sell some guns. He walked into Rayco Sales here in Juneau carrying the gun in the box while I happened to be in the store BSing the owner. My eyes got kinda big when he pulled it out of the box. He sold it to the store owner while I stood there drooling, and 30 seconds later I bought it from the store owner. In addition to the original grips, he had a very nice set of aftermarket Magna style Stag grips for the gun. I bought the whole nine yards. I removed the stag grips and put the original wood grips back on the gun. The stag grips didn't fit me (they were fatter than a set of regular wood Magna grips and I have small hands), so I used the grips in a trade for an almost new Smith & Wesson Night Guard .44 Special.

I don't know if a factory letter would show the gun being sold to Skinners, or to a distributor. I don't know how the gun business worked back in the 1950s.

In any event, this is the history of this gun as I know it. It basically sat in the box for 50 years until I bought it, then sold it to The Gila Bender. A person doesn't come across deals like this but maybe once in their life. It appears I've used up my "once in a lifetime" deal.