Just bought this off GB. Not sure whether I want to use it as a beater or maybe get it somewhat restored. I'm trying to figure out what it is first. Looks like a Third Model chopped to a 3.5" barrel length? Anyone have any idea?

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An at least approximate serial number?

I don't think "restoring" it is going to get you anywhere. It is what it is at this point, with a history of having been decently altered to suit somebody's individual taste and/or need. I doubt it was originally nickeled. I wonder if the grips are modern Thai repros.

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SWCA #590
"Colligo ergo sum"

Here's the original listing.

Just a moment...

Great point. What I meant by restored was really about getting the factory markings re-cut so they are centered.

South, I think it is exactly as you said in your original post. I like it as it is and it could have followed me home, too. I'd leave it exactly as it is. Goony was right IMHO.

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Randy
Provenance nerd

Here's a pic of the serial number.

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Yeah it has some character to it.

I sway between leaving it as is or doing something kinda crazy with it like making into something like this.

Engraved Smith & Wesson 38/44 Heavy Duty Hand Ejector Revolver

Maybe it's the lighting, but the finish looks like chrome...It doesn't have the yellowish tint of nickel...I have a .38-44 HD just like it in my EDC rotation...I'd like to add a .44 Special to round it out a bit......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

Mr. SouthNarc, curious. Who can re-cut factory markings and center?

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

Not odd looking at all to me! Very cool old .44 that could tell some stories.

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Tim
SWCA #2697

Since the barrel and cylinder are not original to the revolver, it may have started out as a heavy duty, etc. Some research on what it was when it started out as should be in order. I wouldn't fool with it, Just shoot and enjoy it. To restore the markings would cost half again what you paid for it. (remove plating, weld up markings, buff and recut markings and replate=$$$$$)
SWCA 892

I must be getting old or my medication is getting to me. I thought there were more pictures in the post that showed the barrel and cylinder with a different serial number than the butt. I guess I'm overdue a trip to the eye doctor.
SWCA 892

Never heard of Ingfield, Mass, and I was born in Boston.

Just down the road from ockbridge.

I hate to see someone do this to a gun. Especially one that was not made in great numbers and has become very collectable. But what is done is done and it is still a .44 Special and it should make a good shooter.

Despite the refinish I would,nt mind having this gun myself. I enjoy reloading the .44 Special. But I end up shooting them from a 6.5” Model 29 and a Ruger Super Blackhawk.

It would be nice to have a short N frame like this for shooting the milder stuff. Lyman’s Cast Bullet Handbook has got some great data for using the 245 gr SWC or some lighter bullets either 205 or 210 gr.

If it were mine I would look for a set of older magnas (they would,nt have to be diamond or high condition ) and a BK grip adapter.

Good Luck

Ford's said they could.

Sometimes you have to build your own to get what you want! cutting the barrel could have been done decades ago... the nickel decades later!

I round butted both a 4" 686 and 617 in the 1980s to get the guns I wanted!
Some guns you collect ..... some you shoot/carry.

That's a great-looking gun and I wouldn't do a thing to it!

You beat me to it!

I was going to tell you Fords, and pretty much any other refinishing folks have contact with engravers who will re-cut lettering. A note of caution: They can usually be found in the Yellow Pages under the heading of: THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS, BRING MONEY!!

Ralph Tremaine

Whoever did the chop and plate did a really nice job...except for the hammer and trigger. Is there a "B" in front of the serial inside the extractor shroud? I think I would replace the hammer and trigger with some original case colored ones...or remove the nickel/chrome and have them re-done. The problem with aftermarket case colors is they rarely get them to look like factory. As far as recutting the stampings, APWCogan can do it. They have a laser cutter but they'll never get the lazy ampersand right. It would be better to just leave it alone. I'm with Randy on this.

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Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

Why do you say the barrel and cylinder are not original? They have the same serial number. That's shown in the GB listing. Do the serial numbers appear to be faked?

They say the items are not original simply because they've been messed with---rather severely at that.

Your audience here is comprised, in part, of lunatic fringe collectors; many of whom fell ill at the mere sight of your new toy, and wonder why in the world would anybody spend good money on a piece of garbage like that. Another segment of your audience is comprised of what I'll call project fans who think it's the neatest thing since sliced bread and would love to have one just like it. The remainder write it all off, with or without rolling their eyes, by noting there are different strokes for different folks.

It is the way of the world!

Ralph Tremaine

$1200 with tax, shipping and transfer for a converted/cut possibly refinished N frame. I don’t negatively comment often but with how soft the revolver market has been lately on gunbroker, I think I would’ve found something else that suits my fancy and is more original.

Like this Ashland Model 60 Target Just a moment...

Or this 16-4 32 H&R with combats Just a moment...

Hope you enjoy your new purchase and are satisfied. I certainly wouldn’t put a penny more into it other a touch of mothers mag polish and an old t shirt.

SVT28

I looked that up in the yellow pages, Ralph, and all that came up was women.

LOL---- next time tell us how you REALLY feel, Ralph!

Hey Ralph, some of us lunatics got sensitive feelin's ya know......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

Looks like a 2nd model with a chopped barrel to me. SN falls around 1930.

Bore looks good so probably a great shooter. Price? Who knows? It's worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

My feeling is an original 2nd model in that condition would be 50% more.

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That's just somebody talkin.

The value to someone who carried for serious purpose likely exceeded the cost of the modifications. I will bet a LOT of money that the person who initially made those changes never cared or though of collector value, original condition, etc. If I had it, I would leave it alone, put some modest 240-ish grain SWC loads in it, and call it good. I'm not saying it is my cup of tea, or that it would be a good fit for me ... just that it is what it is, and has value as such.

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NHI, 10-8.

Not 2nd. Model, it’s a 3rd. Model.

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SWHF #691

Despite a couple of negative endorsements, you purchased something you wanted (I hope).

Inland7-45 posted, “…I hate to see someone do this to a gun. Especially one that was not made in great numbers and has become very collectable. But what is done is done and it is still a .44 Special and it should make a good shooter…”.

If this had been done in the last year or so, I would agree with him. But the fact is, with no documentation, we have no idea when it was done. It may have been done in the early 30s and carried by a LEO, of some sort. Or in the same time frame but carried by one of Dillinger’s contemporaries.

rct238, defines three groups and how they look at it. I fall into the first two. I collect S&W ACP revolvers and have a few. I also have a few “altered” ACP revolvers. Some were done years ago long before anyone considered the Models to be collectible. Some have been converted by me to the chagrin of a few.

If that 3rd Model 44 S&W Special revolver in the OP were mine, I would get some smooth elk Magna stocks, a Tyler grip adapter, and a Sunday Scabbard and use it daily!



Kevin

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Unshared knowledge is wasted.

I like it. Like the half moon front sight, N frame, shortened barrel, the old school grips, nice nickel but the caliber is off— .01 too low. I wouldn’t do anything, just shoot it. Mine is similar but different.

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I like it the way it is. Ditto on some elk grips.

Thanks I appreciate that. It was something I wanted and I can certainly afford it.

On the "negative" endorsement it's been my experience that pretentious, condescending, or passive aggressive comments made on the internet would never be made the same way in person. I've been on internet forums now since 2000 and travel 40+ weeks a year meeting ALOT of folks from them. I've still yet to have met a guy in person that comported himself the same way when I confronted them with their on-line negative behavior. Just doesn't happen.

Chop it, shoot it, love it, restore it......YOUR gun, YOUR dineros.

Here are a few that have drawn the same criticisms over the years, and I love each and every one

Top - Registered Magnum in 44 Special by David Keith
Middle - 41 Magnum - SAFireman special
Bottom - 44 Special by David Keith

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On the Oak Savannah

OP-please show us the other side, I think some of us would like to see how the side plate was done.

SAFireman's 41 Magnum is truly a stunning pistol.

I like it, but then again I rarely see a 44 spec. that I don’t like. A very neat job of removing the forged sight from the discarded part of the barrel and reattaching it. I hope you are a reloader as you may have to use 280-290 grain cast slugs to get it to shoot to correct elevation.

I found it appropriate that it was sold by “oddduckgunshop”

Here you go.

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Except for replacing the stocks, I would leave that 3rd Model just as it is. The stocks are newer, but the rest of the parts appear all original...with the barrel shortened. It's actually a handsome piece, and is probably a great shooter. I bought my .44HE 3rd Model (W&K, ca. 1927, s/n 29803) a few years ago...and it too had been modified "back in the day". A previous owner removed the half moon sight, added a barrel rib and Baughman-style front sight, and re-nickeled the revolver. I got a pretty good deal on it (including a Mr. Jinx letter and mahogany presentation case), so I decided it would become my BBQ gun. I had Pat Grashorn make me some elk antler stocks (which I later patina'd), and Bob Mernickle fabbed the carved cross-draw holster. Carry it, and enjoy it!

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I would have said the same thing (post # 12) in person. I actually made that comment as a joke. I know by the responses that several people took it as just that. I'm just a simple man with a complicated past, and I call'm like I see'm, without being condescending. I also try not to take everything here so seriously. By the by, I really like the old 44 Specials, of all stripes, including yours.

As for internet longevity, I helped Al Gore invent it. A "roll eyes" emoji would be appropriate here.

That's a working gun that has done things. I'd leave it as is...history you can hold in your hand.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

Did they say what they would charge? A lot, I bet.
Lessee, now $345 for deluxe brush blue after $25 nickel strip, less than I thought. $90 each to case color the hammer and trigger. $550

Popping off the front sight, smoothing the top of the barrel, marking for that barrel length, and replacing the front sight will be a good bit more.

I think I'd shoot it as is, some paint on the shiny sights.

Man that’s a good looking gun!

I didn’t take what you said as negative. Actually I thought it was pretty clever.

And I wasn’t really talking about a particular post, just the tendency towards real life behavior being quite different from internet behavior among many.👍🏽

3.5” N frames just fascinate me. My grandfather as a Mississippi Highway Patrolman in 1954 was in a shooting and killed a guy with a 3.5” Model 27 that unfortunately he got rid of when I was a teen. But I distinctly remember being in single digits and seeing that menacing old revolver on his dresser and thinking how….business like the gun looked, and that was even before I knew about that shooting he had.

On that note this photo of a modified Heavy Duty from the Amoskeag auction site has always intrigued me.

I love the idea of leaving this old gun as is and just shooting the **** out of it. The other side of me wonders if I could do that same kind of King’s sight homage with the same drift adjustable rear and a gold bead. Wouldn’t engrave it but I do like the sights on the one in the pic.

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OK. Now would be the time to get that puppy to the range to see POI with those fixed sights. I think that will be the real test for the old war horse.

Best of luck...and sent a range report.

Will do!👍🏽🙂

If SouthNarc hadn't bought it, I might have considered it. The early 2000s .44s are going for that, and more. It would be really fun to take to an ICORE match.

I really like that neat revolver. Leave it as is.

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John

It certainly is not a beater. Modified, yes, useful, yes, handy, yes.. take that baby dancing...she's pretty

Robert

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760