My "1950 Target" story is a sad one. This gun, which shipped in Feb. of '54, started life as a 6.5" like most of the others pictured here.
It belonged to a Border Patrolman in South Eastern Arizona who retired to Tucson. When he passed his wife contacted one of his former BP friends about helping with disposing of his guns and reloading stuff. That man is now a gun smith and S&W fan and remembered the deceased man had a 44 Special. He paid the wife for it, sight un-seen, only to find that the previous owner had for reasons un-known chopped off the barrel to about 3-1/4"...himself. It was just sawed off, possibly with a hacksaw, and a steel washer cut in half was braised onto the rib as a front sight. No ramp at all and no crown.
To say my friend was disappointed would be a gross under statement. In helping the widow sell off and dispose of the remainder of her husbands shooting gear (a roll that fell to me as I was still living in Tucson) I talked to my friend in Reno a number of times and learned of the 44 Special. When he said he had a 24-3 barrel that had been properly cut down to 4" which he was going to install on the gun, then sell it, I offered to buy it from him. I wanted a shooter and this one turned out to be just that.
The 1980s vintage barrel didn't come close to the 1950s polish on the cylinder and frame of the 44. To keep the price in line with the shooter roll it would fill he fine bead blasted the finished gun, replaced the target trigger with one better suited to DA work and installed a colored front sight insert for my aging eyes.
The result, wearing Grashorn elk antler stocks, isn't a collector's piece by any means but it is one of my favorite N-frames and gets shot on a regular basis.
Dave