38/44 letter

hoosier4guns · #1 11-25-2015, 11:14 PM

My letter arrived on 11/20..about three and a half months wait. This is only my second letter. I just needed to know if the barrel was a factory replacement or an aftermarket. I know the grips are later Magnas and it is only a shooter. The finish is so well matched that I just had to confirm that it was done by S&W. I am very satisfied with it's performance...a really nice shooter. Rich

DWalt · #2 11-26-2015, 12:30 AM

I can't tell for sure from the picture, but it does not appear to have a hump back hammer, which would be very unfortunate. Can you post a better picture of the hammer? And indeed the grips are no older than from the late 1960s. Have you checked to see if it has been re-chambered to .357 Magnum?

policerevolvercollector · #3 11-26-2015, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoosier4guns

My letter arrived on 11/20..about three and a half months wait. This is only my second letter. I just needed to know if the barrel was a factory replacement or an aftermarket. I know the grips are later Magnas and it is only a shooter. The finish is so well matched that I just had to confirm that it was done by S&W. I am very satisfied with it's performance...a really nice shooter. Rich

Rich,
That is a very nice find!!!

Best,
Charles

1blindref · #4 11-26-2015, 09:29 AM

Nice gun! Those 4" barreled HD's look just right and so tough.
It's ashame someone harvested the HBH and the pre war magnas.

My first nickel Heavy Duty came to me the same way - wrong stocks and a regular pre war hammer. Fortunately it still had the original barrel. I had it lettered and it and it turned out that it was configured just like yours. After much searching, I was able to find a humpback hammer and a correct set of stocks.

Interestingly my gun shipped over a year later, but has a much lower serial number than yours. It looks like there was a 10% price increase as well.

hoosier4guns · #5 11-28-2015, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWalt

I can't tell for sure from the picture, but it does not appear to have a hump back hammer, which would be very unfortunate. Can you post a better picture of the hammer? And indeed the grips are no older than from the late 1960s. Have you checked to see if it has been re-chambered to .357 Magnum?

I agree with you about the hammer not being a hump back and it has not been re-chambered to .357mag. Since the barrel has been replaced and the grips are not original to the gun I wasn't too concerned about the hammer...the letter confirmed what I hoped to be true..the barrel replacement was done by S&W. It really is a sweet shooter. Rich