MOONDAWG, as you mentioned, some of the best explanations I have heard revolve around single action shooting which was the preferred style of many into the middle part of the last century. Another part of the equation is probably the blackpowder holdovers. Some might have actually used blackpowder loads (of which there is some evidence...there are some old .44 Special cartridges factory loaded with blackpowder floating around out there as previously demonstrated on this Forum) others might have just been holding on to the idea of longer barreled guns being more efficient because the efficiency of smokeless powder was not yet fully realized by the masses. Either way, long barreled, fixed sight guns were indeed very popular through the 1920s and beyond.

Another interesting question is the original meaning of the term "Special" when used to describe cartidges. The three "specials" that immediately come to mind are the .32 Special, .38 Special, and .44 Special. All three cartridges were introduced at roughly the same time...around the beginning of the 20th century. I have seen Winchester advertising touting the versatility of the .32 Special as a cartridge factory loaded with smokeless powder but readily reloaded using blackpowder. I suppose that is what differentiated it from the .30-30 Winchester early on and what ultimately caused it to decline in popularity. I have also seen photographs of .44 Special cartridges factory loaded with blackpowder on this very Forum.

My theory is that the "Special" designation was originally used to indicate that a cartridge could be loaded with either smokeless powder or more common blackpowder. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has something to add to this theory or a better idea about the original meaning of the "Special" designation.