Does anyone know how many Military and also Target .44 Specials were made?

I wonder if the Military model may be harder to find.

I know someone wanting a five-inch .44 Military. I told him he might have a better chance of locating a Target model. ??

This means any Second or Third Model on through the M-1950 guns and the 1983 production of a limited no. of Target models, some stainless.

I think I recall some issue pertaining to those 1983 guns having oversize cylinder throats or some such matter. Does anyone know about that?

The person wanting this info is a shooter, but willing to pay a good price for a really nice .44, preferably Military. He wants a five-incher, but may accept a four-inch barrel. Does NOT want the 6.5-inch barrel.

I told him that I'd lean toward one of the M-624's but he doesn't mind a blued gun in this application. And a five-inch bbl. is more important to him than a stainless gun.

He wants to pay maybe $1200-1500, certainly not over $2,000.

What are likely prices for each category of .44 and how likely is he to find a five-inch .44 Military, especially with the Third Model or later barrel lug?

Help me out here, folks. This man is mainly into autoloaders and is just beginning to realize the appeal of DA revolvers. A nice .44 Special would be good therapy for him. He does handload and has a .44 Magnum, which intrigues him enough to want also a .44 Special. He has Keith's, Sixguns and is reading Elmer's wisdom about the .44 Special. He is a very knowledgeable handgunner who rolls his own potent .45 Colt ammo for a Ruger Vaquero.

He plans to load .44's to about 900 FPS for most use, but will jack that up to 1100 FPS for certain use.
He may encounter javelina, cougars, and feral hogs and carries on his land.

ALSO: Does anyone here KNOW for sure which S&W .44's Sasha Siemel wore? I saw a pic of him wearing a flap holster that suggests a 6.5 inch barrel, but the gun can't be seen. He never mentioned a specific model, to my knowledge. Nor did he say if he reloaded or if the guns(s) may have been in .44-40 instead of .44 Special. We know that most .44-40 S&W's did go to South America and he may have wanted a gun taking the same ammo as his .44 Winchester M-92. Yes, he was famed for spearing jaguars, but shot more than he speared.

No prod numbers for post war Military 44. Most 6.5". Post war targets 1200. 1983 reintroduction, around 7K made. These are -3 and higher, non pinned nor recessed, think Thunder Ranch fixed sight plus some targets. At any rate 5" guns would be rare in all versions. Pre war, the many of the 3rd models were 5". Total 5k made. 2nd models mostly 6.5" with total of 17k made. Most of this info came out of the s&w 4th std catalog, but its 3:30 am here and I can't sleep so take all with a grain of salt.

Your best bet for a 5" 44 spl is a 3rd model W&K. they are highly sought after, but $1500 should get you a decent shooter. Many were police duty guns.

I had a 2nd model in 44-40, sold a few yrs ago. The book says 563 made, Roy and Jim Fisher put the number at 50-100 and most went to S.A.

Charlie

Charlie-

Thanks. I think he has an interesting search ahead of him. A nicely reblued one is probably acceptable.

As for Siemel. he was in Brazil and a friend of Doug Wesson, so could probably have had any .44 configuration he wanted. I suspect that he owned several .44's. Brazilian gun laws then were much less restrictive than now.

I forgot the Thunder Ranch guns. I think they all have The Lock? That would be unacceptable.

1st Model (TL) - 4/5" rare military or target (less than 10% of production)
2nd model - 4/5" rare milit or target (just as or more rare than 1st M)
3rd model - most likely to find 4 & 5" milit, Targets, all barrel lengths rare
4th model - 4/5" milit barrels are the most common, but production is so low, ~1200, the guns are rare.
4th model - 4/5" Targets are rare, and prod low ~5000.

5th model - No military models or 5" barrels made. 4" targets = 2500 each blue and stainless. These can be found usually in very good condition and run about $1200.

How does he feel about a 3rd model pre war military in nickel?

Best chance if in a hurry? Look for a pre war military model shooter grade 6 1/2" and have barrel cut to 5".

__________________
Jim
S&WCA #819

Wow I'll say it again you guys sure know some stuff ,let me write this down and memorize those numbers Hondo44 so I can dazzle the guys at the local gun shop with " my knowledge" .

Sasha Siemel was shipped a 1950 44 Target revolver on January 24, 1955. It has a 4-inch barrel, bright blue finish, and red ramp front sight. It has serial number S118225. Mr. Siemel also purchased a .357 Magnum with registration number 10 in April 1935. It has an 8 3/4-inch barrel.

Bill

Bill-

Thanks. I thought S&W had presented him with that .357 and a long .44 Magnum. Apparently, he did pay, after all!

The four-inch .44 Special was a surprise to me.

I've seen a photo of him holding the long .357 by a jaguar that he'd killed with it.

Have also seen a pic of his much younger American wife with a bow and arrow and a jacare (caiman) she killed with an arrow.

Jim-

I'll mention that nickel gun to him. I detest nickel, but he sometimes shows inferior taste and might accept one.
I think he's just paid off a couple of other guns and it may be a while before he gets a .44.

Maybe he'll agree to adj. sights and luck into one of the H.H. Harris guns with five-inch barrel.

I recall a TV show about Texas Rangers and they used either five-inch 1950 Militaries or .38-44 Heavy Duty guns. Neither model saw much use in Hollywood.

While the .44 Military I'm aware of may not be of much interest to the person looking for one, here is a special order two-tone .44 Military, made up for Congressman Cecil King. It has birds-eye maple stocks and a red-post target front sight. It has a choke on the muzzle end of the barrel, because it is a smooth-bore.





Regards, Mike Priwer

Mike, I thought a Smooth Bore was illegal under ATF regulations.

Guy

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Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

Mike,

Beautiful stocks. Those are the original "coke bottle" stocks from early 1950's which pre-date the 1955 issue checkered diamond cokes.

Notice also the rather long wood behind the trigger guard.

Do you have a shipping date for that one?

__________________
Jim
S&WCA #819

Guy

This gun has a letter from ATF, classifying it as C&R, because it was built for a US Congressman. Otherwise, it would be illegal.

Jim

Shipping date is Oct 14, 1954.

In the above pictures, the grips are dark because someone put one or more coats of shellac on them. I cleaned that all off, oiled them, and now they look like this.





Regards, Mike

I picked up a shooter grade 2nd model built on a leftover 1917 frame at auction this spring for $375.

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

__________________
Regards,
Bruce

And speak of the devil... My 2nd Model Hand Ejector, 5" barrel, SN 272xx. They're around! Without visiting the nomenclature, easy to visually confuse in profile with a 1917 .45 Smith. Matt finish here presumably original. Magna grips, of course... not. This gun in my own hands for over half a century! Likely a 'keeper'.
Topping my personal Smith hierarchy, the 44 Spl & 38/44 HD Transition models. That said, definitely too many Smiths to love, too little time!
My take

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