During development of the 44 Magnum cartridge, S&W realized the 1950 style target revolver was too light and recoil was severe when firing this model with the new magnum cartridge. In January 1955, the company built several prototypes. These guns featured a heavy barrel and were built in S&W's tool room. The guns were to be cased and featured S&W's small logo on the left side of the frame (this was later changed to the large logo on the side plate). Several of these guns were used for testing and the one shown below with serial number S121836 was used as a shown sample revolver. It was kept in the tool room collection for many years before being sold by S&W.

Those of you who have factory letters on a 44 Magnum know that Roy indicates in his background material that S121836 is "the first 44 Magnum".

Bill