Any discussion of the pre-war 38/44 Outdoorsman would not be complete without inclusion of the 5” McGivern Model.
Here is a link to one that letters as a McGivern Model from its debut post in 2013:
38/44 McGivern Model a.k.a. 5” Outdoorsman
It was one of eight shipped 6/18/34 to Seattle Hardware and believed to have been used by the Seattle Police Revolver Club’s eight-member pistol team and now resides in an appropriate Montana collection.
More recently I came across another interesting 5” target 38/44 that has a more checkered past. Based on Roy Jink’s factory letter, it originally shipped 1/20/32 to Wolf & Klar in Ft. Worth as a fix-sighted Super Police (as 38/44 Heavy Dutys were known in the 1931 factory catalog). The 1931 published retail price was $36.75 . . . not a small sum during the depression era.
Based on S&W Historical Foundation research by Bill Cross, it was returned to the factory on 2/21/33 with the Montana owner requesting it be converted to a target model. The owner paid $11.80 for the target conversion . . . $10 for grooved tangs (grip frame), grooved trigger adjusted for target shooting, square notch adjustable rear sight, and a Patridge front sight . . . $0.80 additional for a Call gold bead . . . and $1 for Express shipping.
The original service stocks were long gone when I bought the gun so I purchased these circa-1938 pre-war magnas from forum member “weatherby” to replace the plastic Franzite grips that came on the gun.
Although it didn’t ship that way, it ended up a Super Police Target . . . the forerunner of the McGivern Model.
Hope you enjoy