CONTRARY TO A LOT OF FOLKS WHO THINK THE 4" PRE WAR HEAVY DUTY IS THE RAREST PRE WAR BARREL LENGTH, THERE ARE FEWER 6.5" PRE WAR HEAVY DUTIES KNOWN. THE 6.5" HEAVY DUTY WAS NEVER CATALOGED BY SMITH AND WESSON BEFORE THE WAR AND THEREFORE WAS A SPECIAL ORDER ITEM. THEY SEEM TO BE SPORADICALLY SPREAD AMONGST THE SERIAL NUMBER RANGE FOR N FRAMES. MOST ARE FOUND IN THE 43-47 THOUSAND AND 55-57 THOUSAND RANGE FROM WHAT WE KNOW AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
I JUST RECEIVED 6.5" HEAVY DUTY, SERIAL NUMBER 55795, ALL NUMBERS MATCH INCLUDING THE GRIPS. THE GUN ALSO CAME IN A LEATHERETTE TYPE CASE THAT FITS THE GUN AND A BOX OF AMMO. I'M SURE THAT THE CASE IS NOT OF S&W ORIGIN. THIS GUN WAS SHIPPED IN DECEMBER OF 1938. I'VE ORDERED A FACTORY LETTER AND WILL POST WHO IT WAS SHIPPED TO. THE GUN CAME OUT OF COLORADO AND MY THANKS TO 624FAN FOR GIVING ME THE INFO ON WHERE THE GUN WAS. THIS IS ONE OF THE BETTER LOOKING 6.5" GUNS I'VE SEEN AND I'VE BEEN WANTING AN EXAMPLE OF ONE WITH MAGNA GRIPS. NOW I JUST NEED TO FIND IT'S TWIN IN NICKEL!
ENJOY!

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38-44heavyduty.com

CONTRARY TO A LOT OF FOLKS WHO THINK THE 4" PRE WAR HEAVY DUTY IS THE RAREST PRE WAR BARREL LENGTH, THERE ARE FEWER 6.5" PRE WAR HEAVY DUTIES KNOWN. THE 6.5" HEAVY DUTY WAS NEVER CATALOGED BY SMITH AND WESSON BEFORE THE WAR AND THEREFORE WAS A SPECIAL ORDER ITEM. THEY SEEM TO BE SPORADICALLY SPREAD AMONGST THE SERIAL NUMBER RANGE FOR N FRAMES. MOST ARE FOUND IN THE 43-47 THOUSAND AND 55-57 THOUSAND RANGE FROM WHAT WE KNOW AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
I JUST RECEIVED 6.5" HEAVY DUTY, SERIAL NUMBER 55795, ALL NUMBERS MATCH INCLUDING THE GRIPS. THE GUN ALSO CAME IN A LEATHERETTE TYPE CASE THAT FITS THE GUN AND A BOX OF AMMO. I'M SURE THAT THE CASE IS NOT OF S&W ORIGIN. THIS GUN WAS SHIPPED IN DECEMBER OF 1938. I'VE ORDERED A FACTORY LETTER AND WILL POST WHO IT WAS SHIPPED TO. THE GUN CAME OUT OF COLORADO AND MY THANKS TO 624FAN FOR GIVING ME THE INFO ON WHERE THE GUN WAS. THIS IS ONE OF THE BETTER LOOKING 6.5" GUNS I'VE SEEN AND I'VE BEEN WANTING AN EXAMPLE OF ONE WITH MAGNA GRIPS. NOW I JUST NEED TO FIND IT'S TWIN IN NICKEL!
ENJOY!

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38-44heavyduty.com

Nice catch, Bill.
You have the coolest stuff!!

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John

Spectacular example and photography, Bill.
Thanks again for a great history lesson.
Don

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OGCA Life
NRA Life

Way to go, Bill! What a beautiful specimen. Thanks for showing us. Regards, Jerry

No way!!!
I don't think you should have that. I'll be looking for one in Tulsa now too.

Bill,

Okay, here I go...

Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh


There, now I feel better.

THANKS for sharing man. Always a pleasure to see your toys.

Tim

Absolutely Astounding!

Bill I am completely astonished at how nice that one looks with the grips and everything. What a great catch!

From what I have seen that has to be the nicest rarest 38/44 I have ever seen. There are a lot of 4" rolling around but not many 6.5" HD's like that.

I am so thankful that you were willing to sell me a 6.5" pre-war to fill in my collection so I could have one of these beauties also.

As a request, can you add a few pictures of the frame without the grips, the underside of the topstrap toward the forcing cone and finally the hammer cocked back?

The case hardening looks great! What a fine piece of classic Heavy Duty Steel!

Take care of it, as that is a "keeper".

As a side note, I will keep an eye out for a nickled for you. Even though my first handgun was a nickled Colt's I could not bring myself to really want an S&W that way.

Take care and what a keeper!

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SWCA 1646

Nice Bill,

I'll show you the nickle one in Tulsa

After I find it

Dan

Thanks everyone, I will be bringing it to Tulsa for Chris to drool over!
Peter-I'll take those pics for you.
Dan-Bring the box with you when you come!
Thanks again and it is always a pleasure to post these for everyone.
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

I told you you should have passed on that....

Tell 'em what I really said.........

Makes me want to get seriously covetous!

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Hi Bill,

I'm glad you like it! I'll probably always regret letting it slip through my fingers, but I'm glad that it ended up in your collection. The pictures really show details that couldn't be seen in the dark gunshop, where it apparently sat for sometime. I'm thrilled to death that you are so happy with it! I can't wait to find out what all the letter reveals.

Did this by chance come out of The Firing Line in Denver? It looks (with the case) just like one I was drooling over in late Dec. when I was visiting there.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

WOW Bill!

What can I say? My cable connection has been down for a couple of days and the first thread I opened when it came up this morning was this one! Don't think I'll even look any further

Congratulations. Can't wait to see it.

Bob

WOW Bill, that is a fine revolver and I offer major kudos to 624 Fan for referring it to you as he did, as that is certainly a very rare and very valuable gun.

Here is my 6½" pre war "Heavy Duty" however it is chambered in .44 Special and it letters as such. All numbers match on all the components too and I feel very lucky to own this one.

I have always been curious about something and defer to your expertise and information from your database.

Since the 38/44 Heavy Duty could have been ordered in .44 Special (I think the last S&W catalog showing the .44 Special offering in the Heavy Duty line was from 1940), which was prior to the release of the .44 Hand Ejector Model of 1926 (sometimes also referred to as a 3rd Model), how many Heavy Duty’s were made (like this one I acquired a few years ago shown below in the pictures), in .44 Special and with a 6½" barrel?

The serial number of mine is just a little earlier than the one of yours and it is in the 54XXX range.

Interesting question, Tom.

I've also got a 6.5" "Heavy Duty" with the big hole in the barrel(aka 3rd Mod.) I don't think I've ever taken a picture of it but it's a 99%'er from Bill Powell's collection. The number is 29xxx and it shipped to W&K on April 20, 1927.

Bob

Oops, did find a couple of pictures after all.
B.

I am making direct reference to the S&W Sales Catalog of the day such as the 85th Anniversary one from 1938 and still in 1940 where is shows the Heavy Duty available in .44 Special.

Keep in mind that the "Wolf & Klar configuration shrouded .44 Special" was a reserved design for Wolf & klar as they made a committment to buy a large quantity of them and therefore S&W did not offer that model in the All Model Circular until 1941 I believe. The non shrouded 2nd Model was the .44 Special offering to the general public until the agreement with W&K expired in the late 1930s, and then it was offered to the general public.

The W&K agreement was supposedly an exclusive agreement that made it to where S&W had to get permission from W&K to sell any of their "reserved design guns" to anyone but them until the agreement expired in late 1936.

The only mention of the gun that we now refer to as a 1926 or a 3rd Model was under the 38/44 Heavy Duty description, until it was shown in the 1941 AMC.

Tom,
Here goes. In the 1939 catalog, under the 38/44 Heavy Duty, it states that "Also chambered for .44 S&W Special Cartridge (.44 Military Model of 1926) 4", 5" and 6 1/2" barrel".
In the 1940 catalog on page 11 which is the .38/44 Heavy Duty page, at the end of the paragraph it states "This arm can be supplied also in .44 S&W Special Caliber--4,5,6 1/2-inch barrel."
And finally in the 1941 catalog "The 1926 Model .44 Military" has it's own page-page 14 and was available in 4, 5 and 6 1/2 inch barrel.

They did not call it a .44 Spl Heavy Duty but just made the point that you could get the same configured gun in .44 Spl which everyone then and now called the Model of 1926 or 3d Model.

Tom is also right in that our fearless leader (who we will not name-RJ) has stated that Wolf and Klar had the rights on the Model of 1926 and that is one reason it was not cataloged and it wasn't until 1941 that it became a product line item.

Tom, The count on non target 6 1/2 inch 3d Models is 17 serial numbers.

Steve,
I would scan the page for you but my scanner is not up at this time.

Lee said from pics that he thought it was a righteous gun and if I didn't jump on it, he wanted the phone number so he could buy it!

H Richard-thats where it came from.

Bob-Glad you like it!

I hope this helps and thanks everyone-I'm very happy with it. I will be posting the pics that Peter asked for.

Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

Steve,
I think if we asked the Historian, he would say that they were Model of 1926. As you can see in the catalog, they did state in the 1940 catalog on the Heavy Duty page that it was available in .44 Spl. I would have to say the .44 Spl model should be the Model of 1926 since that is when it was introduced which was 4 years ahead of the Heavy Duty. Hey, if Tom wants to call it a .44 Spl Heavy Duty, it's ok with me, after all, they all come from the same family. If you remember, I once asked the Historian if the factory made any HDs in .357 and he stated that the .357 was reserved for the RM-but if you had the $, you could get anything made as evidenced by the .45 Colt HDs.
Thanks again,
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

Ok now, to bring this discussion back to full circle, what Bill has found is actually a 6.5" Model of 1926 with a small hole in the barrel. Right Bill?

Bob

Bob,
Are you running for office?
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

Bill,
Great looking gun. I love seeing your "toys".

Bob

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"Onward thru the Fog"

Bill,

Very nice Pre War.

Congrats,

Michael

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N-Frame-itis THERE IS NO CURE!

The Third Model .44 Special (1926 Model as is often called) is identical in every way to the HD .38 Special except for caliber. It seems pretty obvious that when the decision was made to build a heavy duty 38 for police use they simply took the 1926 and bored the chambers and barrel for the .38 caliber.

What we are debating here is the nomenclature. I have never before heard anyone refer to a .44 caliber Heavy Duty. Based on the quoted statements from the early ads posted on this thread I don't think S&W ever used that term (44 HD) either. I think what they were trying to tell buyers was that an identical gun was available in the other caliber. I think S&W always called the .44 gun the Third Model .44 Special and never the .44 Heavy Duty.

In my thoroughly nonexpert opinion it would be a mistake to start using the term .44 HD as no such designation was ever actually used. It is a creation of misinterpreting the early literature.

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No life story has happy end.

Nice gun Bill. Thanks for sharing your research data and pics with us.

Hey guys, my pictures and post about having a .44 cal. "Heavy Duty" were stricly "tongue in cheek".

I was just pulling Bill and Tom's strings...and I'm reasonably certain that they understood.

Bob

Bob,
As punishment, send .44 Spl HD immediately!
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

Wow, guys, slow down when reading a thread, and get the reading comprehension up before the questions and answers get so complex.

It stems from a simple marketing ploy. Per the agreement, W&K had an "exclusive" on the Model 1926, so S&W could not catalog it. S&W COULD, however, catalog the 38/44 Heavy Duty as being available in 44. Simply a semantics game.

I think Tom is stating that his gun letters as a 38/44 Heavy Duty in 44 Special when he says:Last year, a very righteous looking Model 1926 was lettered, and it came back as a 38/44 Heavy Duty! I have examined that gun, and it is as right as rain. When S&W logged it out, they simply missed the caliber, in my opinion.

Steve said: As I said, I think Tom means his letter calls this PARTICULAR gun that, and a few others will probably letter that way, not that we should rename the model.

Tom, what, did your letter state? I think that would clear up a lot of this.


NEVER happened- First Model, Second Model, Third Model, and Fourth Model(Mod of 1950) are all COLLECTOR terms. You only see them in the books, NOT the catalogs.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

I just love it when Lee wakes up!

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38-44heavyduty.com

Steve,
I don't know, but I would suppose most people who ordered one said "a 1926 44 Spec with Target sights". Of course, they could have written "a 44 Speshil Targit with that hevvy thingey unner the barrl"(sic). I would imagine it was processed through the factory as "1926 Target", since that was concise, easy to write, and, I would think, completely understood by everyone there. I would imagine it was invoiced the same way.


Maybe not. Well, gee, I wonder what he was thinking? Tom?........Tom?......TOM!?!?!!!


I don't know. Maybe they just screwed up. Maybe they were much more focused on the overwhelming orders for the 357's instead of the two or three orders per year they got for the 1926 Target's. The 80th Ann and the 85th Ann catalogs came out within a year of each other(see SCSW-3). Maybe they were just too tight to print more catalogs till they used up the old ones...


Yep.

I doubt that would ever happen, because I doubt the factory ever referred to, or invoiced one that way.
Here is a letter for one of mine. Notice that Roy actually uses the term "Third Model" first, and then (1926 Model), so we don't really know what the invoice shows, BUT we are safe in assuming that it does NOT say "Third Model".


No one has suggested that, except Bob, in an admitted joke, and then you, when you said " I'm not trying to start an argument. I'm just wondering if there is a new designation here - perhaps it could be called the .44/.38/44 Heavy Duty?"

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Lee,
I posed that question to the Historian and his answer is there was not a .44 Heavy Duty-it was referred to as the Model of 1926.
No new designation!
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

Hello Steve,
Please call me Lee. If we are going to talk this much, I feel we can be familiar.
"Once more into the breach...."-

Asked and answered, Counselor, asked and answered, when I said:
"Steve,
I don't know, but I would suppose most people who ordered one said "a 1926 44 Spec with Target sights". Of course, they could have written "a 44 Speshil Targit with that hevvy thingey unner the barrl"(sic). I would imagine it was processed through the factory as "1926 Target", since that was concise, easy to write, and, I would think, completely understood by everyone there. I would imagine it was invoiced the same way."

That would have helped!
Nah, I think it is more of a perception thing.....


We are whistling in the wind here till Tom states whether his gun is lettered as a 38/44 in 44 Special, which is what I perceived from the circumstantial evidence. I know Tom, and that is what I thought he was saying. I believe you did not perceive it letters that way, so we may be at an impasse until clarification is forthcoming.


What dumbass said that?

C'mon, now, Steve. I've watched you lighten up a bit over the last few weeks- don't get wound too tight again. We're not trying to bring Apollo 13 home safely here. Maybe I just annoy you. I seem to have that effect on some, though I can't imagine why!
I feel like I'm being deposed in these threads. I prefer to share lightheartedly.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Lee,
You are better than an ice cold beer to make someone feel better!
Bill
I'll still have the beer though!

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38-44heavyduty.com

Here's one that is lettered as a 38/44 Heavy Duty.


"Hope this helps"
Steve

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Steve

This gun letters as a .44 Hand Ejector Third Model (Model of 1926), caliber .44 S&W Special.

I wonder what the actual invoice said though, since we know the 3rd Model, 4th Model, etc. designation was something that the collectors came up with and it's used in books now, not something that was a factory designation back when these guns were made.

Since the catalog of the era showed Heavy Dutys that could be ordered in .44 Special, it is a matter of semantics what this gun actually is.

As Roy Jinks likes to say when he provides all of the S&W members answers to their questions on his reply e-mails via the S&WCA site, "Hope this helps".

Actually, he said that the factory never called them .44 Heavy Duties but refered to them as Model of 1926.
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

Alright, so *** did they call them? Let me guess:

1st Model: 44 Hand Ejector Military Model?

2nd Model: Same as above? New design, same old name.

3rd Model: Made concurrently with previous model so a different name needed. Call it the 1926 Model?

4th Model: Again using the date, Model of 1950?

I'm so glad we can work these things out, you know?

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No life story has happy end.

1Aspenhill and 230grfmj, thank you for your many incredibly detailed photos of your respective beautiful revolvers. And I do appreciate the extensive discussion, for I have learned and enjoyed much.

S&W38,
Thanks and you're welcome!
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com

Hi Bill!
Better late than never,you sure still have the eagle eye for the beauty of the HD's.Your a great dude and I don't care what anybody says about you.LOL!Bill call me. Lots of water under the bridge since we talked last.
Pete 909-957-1438.
P.S.home Boy....You still the Man.......

Bill
That's AWESOME!!! Fixed sights are MUCH COOLER. I'm looking forward to finding one of those some day.
Pete

Very nice Bill. That is an excellent example.

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SWCA 1646

I have to agree. Its such a nice revolver, its nice even 6 years later!

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}-----Jim----->
~SWCA #2732~

I have done quite a bit of research since this was first written. I have found where 83ea were shipped. We have 40 serial numbers. 35ea were shipped to Mexico. No mention of any in nickel! It is beginning to look like the Transition 6.5 inch Heavy Duties might just be the rarest group of 6.5" HDs!
Thanks,
Bill

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38-44heavyduty.com