At the Reno Gun show I spotted two 44 Specials. The first is gun that would date to 1946 or 1947, with 4 inch barrel, fixed sights, correct postwar magna grips, blued finish and about 98% finish. Asking price is $1200.
The second is Model 1950 blued gun with target sights, six inch barrel and about 95% finish. The grips are later target grips. Asking price is $650.

I'm without my Blue Book. Are these reasonable prices for these two guns?

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Joseph L. Lyon

At the Reno Gun show I spotted two 44 Specials. The first is gun that would date to 1946 or 1947, with 4 inch barrel, fixed sights, correct postwar magna grips, blued finish and about 98% finish. Asking price is $1200.
The second is Model 1950 blued gun with target sights, six inch barrel and about 95% finish. The grips are later target grips. Asking price is $650.

I'm without my Blue Book. Are these reasonable prices for these two guns?

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Joseph L. Lyon

Those are real good prices on both guns. I have seen few 1950s that were under $1000. And I think that is about half the going price on the 1946-47 revolver.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Are you sure about your identification of those two guns? The asking prices are so far below their value that I wonder why. Reno is not known for stupid sellers. Are they refinishes? SCSW says $2300 for "excellent" for the .44 HE 3rd Model postwar and $800 for excellent for the 1950 Target, and those are 4 year old values. (Don't ever go by the Blue Book on S&Ws, it's alway wrong)

I believe this should be a 6-1/2" gun unless it has been messed with. As said, these are very low prices for these two guns so I'd wonder why???

epidoc,

Sounds like both are good deals to me. probably more of a sign of the times. There are always going to be good deals to be found at Gunshows like Reno especially during set-up which you must have been at. I'm with Muley on these 2. We need pictures


Dan

The concensus seems to be that any shooter grade .44 HE is worth $700.00 or $800.00, so $1,850.00 for the pair as described is a steal.

Of course, I recommend ensuring that they are not refinished or otherwise modified. Despite the rush to declare all .44 HEs collectible, less desirable examples can take a long, long time to move.

A refinish or "cut barrel" could turn either variation into a $500.00 shooter.

Then again, maybe "the sky falling" is prompting people to sell "old guns" so they can buy "assault weapons."

I have a 1950 like that, and I value mine at twice the price!

The last .44 1950 target 6 1/2 I saw was priced at $1850 with the wrong stocks. It looked pretty good, with some use marks, but I did not take it out of the case. That was about a year go.

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Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102