This is a new one for me. My wife and i went to visit her Aunt last weekend and while there her Aunt said she wanted me to have a revolver that belonged to her Dad. He was a constable in Palo Pinto County Texas back in the 30's or 40's she did not know for sure. We were down helping her move into assisted living home and will be helping her dispose of alot of her belonging,house ,car and such.
anyway here are some pictures . The finish does not have the dark areas it is just the pictures I took are sorry quality!
What do you think about this?
Fiddlestick

pre war heavy duty, re nickel, 5" barrel with age appropriate stag grips
for sale? (sorry for asking if it was for sale thought this was for sale section)

I'd say your helping your Aunt out was repaid in full.

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Eccentric old coot

Not for sale and what makes you so sure its re nickel.there are some small blemish areas in the finish. A little bit of flakes and imperfections. Especially under the grips!
Fiddlestick

pics looks like trigger and hammer are nickeled, if original they would not be. Is it just the pic?

S&W never nickel plated the hammer and trigger, they were instead case hardened. That's how we know its re-nickeled. Its also extremely bright for being an older gun. Some nickel guns stay bright, and some get polished, but for the most part, the aged nickel look is best, because that usually is a sign of an original nickel.

It is a re-nickel because the hammer and trigger are nickeled. Originally those parts were case hardened. Not a bad gun though, shoot it!

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Copyright MCMLXII ©

I'd say you are a very lucky man! That is a classic nickel revolver and grips that would have been exactly what a southwestern lawman might have worn in that period. You should get his full name and contact the Palo Pinto county government and the newspapers in the county seat ( Google 'Palo Pinto County Texas') and get all the information on the man. Also get your wife's aunt to sign a simple statement stating that that specific gun belonged to him and get any other items such as badges, newspaper clippings, etc. that she might have.

Yes, the gun has been refinished and the grips are "jigged bone" instead of stag (which was a much more common item than stag antler in Texas). But that doesn't diminish the fact that it is a true piece of Texas history and should be cherished as such. Who knows, perhaps the old guy had it refinished when he retired to bring back what he remembered it to look like in his youth.

Bob

Ok I guess it's a re nickel then but very nice pistol anyway and I like it. The pictures were taken outside in bright sunlight.the trigger and hammer are nickel for sure. Thank you for the information does anyone know what year it was made?
Fiddlestick

My thought is that the gun was freshened up with a renickel after it served it's life as a duty piece.The area at the breech end/forcing cone looks remarkably clean,as though it went unfired after being shaped up.

That serial number points to 1931, so it is an early one. The Heavy Duty was introduced in 1930 with serial numbers beginning in the 35xxx range.

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David Wilson

Seems like 9 out of 10 revolvers coming from Texas are nickel plated. They must have loved the shiny guns down on the border.

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No life story has happy end.

I have not much talent taking pictures. but here goes anyway.
I found the family name in palo pinto county Texas as early as 1840's one of the founding county names that died in 1857 palo pinto county.i am not sure I should post his name here on the net.This person could be one of his ancestors.

It looks like whoever polished it actually knew what they were doing. That's rare! Most are severely over-polished. If it were mine, I would swap the hammer and trigger for ones that are case-hardened. It would look so much better. FYI: They are the same as 1917s so they aren't too hard to find. Lots of spares were made for the military. I love the jigged bone grips!

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

It would be nice to make the changes to trigger and hammer. I have a gun smith that could do that for me if I had the parts. If anyone knows of some parts for sale please let me know and I will get them and have them installed.
Fiddlestick

nice Gun and grips,

get the gun lettered before you change anything. I seem to remember somebody had a gun that lettered with nickle hammer and trigger, but that was the only one anyone had heard of.....

Dan

The first 1926 .44 Specials shipped to Wolf & Klar in January 1927 was for 75 5" nickel revolvers.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Couple of points on the popularity of the nickel guns down in west Texas:

1) a fellow sweats a lot down here!

2) when you are staring at a hole in a barrel, a shiny one looks a lot bigger than a dark one!

Bob

You have a real nice HD! I have one like it too which shipped to New York City!


Thanks for sharing!
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

There is no real reason to swap out the hammer and trigger. The gun
belonged some one on your wifes side, and that was the condition
that he left it in. Its not really a direct family heirloom, like someones
father or grandfather. Fruthermore, swapping the hammer and trigger
can ultimately present problems, in that someone down the ownership
line may not be made aware of its refinished condition, and presume
it to be original.

I think its a bad idea to have the swap idea suggested, and I think
its a bad idea to do the swap.

Mike Priwer

Beautiful jigged bone grips. I have several .38/44 Outdoorsman and a couple 3rd Model .44 Specials with almost identical sets ! You have a classic 1930's Texas revolver!

I grew up as a very young boy along the Brazos River in Hood County (early 40's) just a couple miles from Palo Pinto County and Possum Kingdom.

Jerry

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.38/44 Outdoorsman Accumulator

Interesting enough, I have serial number 39259, which shipped August 17, 1932, to Germco, Manufacturing Co., St. Louis, MO. Yours and mine must have been cell-mates in the nickel tank!
Mine left the factory as nickel, and was later renickled, but your looks much better than mine.

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John

I have an original nickel from the 30s and there is a capital N under the left grip down near the corner. Also I have an original nickel gun from the late 40s, also has the N on the frame under left grip. I don't know if that was the practice in the early 30s or not, but it would be interesting to check.

Here is a pic of 38507. Shipped to Germo MFG Co. St. Louis, MO in March 1932 and still wears it's original finish. It migrated north to Ogle County Illinois and was carried by Sheriff Victor White in the 1950's. His daughter sold it to a local bait and tackle/gun shop not to far from me a few years ago.

Chad

Chad:

A real BEAUTY ! For a carried gun it is in remarkable condition !

Jerry

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.38/44 Outdoorsman Accumulator

Chad, the one I pictured above also shipped to Germco Manuf. Co.
I bought this one from a Forum member a few years ago. From what we could determine Germco sold industrial cleaning supplies to jails and such in the midwest. We speculated maybe these nickeled Heavy Duties were "gifts" to sheriffs or jail personnel. I also found somewhere that Germco was involved in some public corruption in later years, possibly over bribing for contracts.
Sorry to hijack the thread, fiddlestick. Now I wonder if yours shipped to Germco as well??

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John

Jerry, The gun was carried and even stored for many years in an attic in a full flapped holster. So I'm sure that helped protect it some from daily wear and tear of duty use. The long term storage in the holster did cause a little cloudiness and some slight flaking in the finish here and there, but a little character on a carry gun never hurt anything.

John, That's great info on Germo manufacturing. As a matter of fact I have seen two other nickel HD's that lettered to Germo. Maybe your gun and mine helped sweeten the pot on cleaning supply deal.

fiddlestick, If you get a chance, take the grips off and see if there is an "N" stamped on the grip frame. That would mean it shipped from the factory as a nickel gun. If that's the case it might be worth a factory letter. Either way you have a real nice pre war HD.

Chad

Fiddlestick,
nice gun, I have not seen an HD in Nickel finish yet, all the ones I have come across have been blue, down here in Mexico is hard to find them, I would love to have a Nickel one!!! Congrats!!!!
Cheers!!

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Heavy Duty Enthusiast!!!!!