plm13,

That is a very nice old S&W with Wolf & Klar grips. Having a lawman's gun from any of the towns that you mentioned would accelerate the heart beat of most of us here. It is either a .38/44 Hand Ejector (aka Heavy Duty) or a 3rd Model Hand Ejector (aka W&K Model). The caliber will be marked on the barrel. The number that you gave seems to have too many digits. The serial number is the number on the butt of the gun. If you can, please post some more detailed pictures and information.

Chasing down the owner will take some sleuth work but it will be fun. The first thing to do is to request a letter from Roy Jinks, the Factory Historian. It will cost you $50 but you don't have a lot invested in the gun and it is certainly worth the investment for a letter. If you are lucky, the gun will have been shipped to the lawman who used it. It may also only show the dealer that ordered it but even that might give you a part of the state to focus on. If you can get the name of the mortician, that would give you something to begin to search the funeral homes in the towns that you mentioned. There may very well be a listing of morticians that you can search. Once you know the town where the mortician practiced, you can begin to search who the lawmen were there during the time that the Factory letter says the gun was shipped.

The little H&R was a popular plinker. Lots of us learned to shoot revolvers with that relatively inexpensive little .22. I had one (a 9 shot Model 922) as a boy and countless junk yard rats, bottles, and clods were dispatched with it.

Bob

ps: I just looked under magnification and your S&W is a .44 H.E. Third Model. They were produced from 1926 to 1941.