I had never seen this thread prior to this morning...I appreciate its being left open for viewing and comment...In looking through the pictures of Special Agent Campbell's sidearms, I noted a few things which stood out to me...
First the gold plated .44 Special still had the bullhead/rubyeyes grips which it undoubtedly wore when delivered from Wolf & Klar...The later non-registered Magnum which probably became the mandated barbecue gun in later years on more formal occasions, also had the bullhead on the right grip panel, sans the ruby eyes...SA Campbell obviously liked the idea of continuing the bullhead theme to his newer barbecue gun...
The most interesting thing which caught my eye was the fact that the Registered Magnum apparently had two pair of Magnas, one in original configuration, and another with the bottom part below the diamond surrounding the escutcheon shaved down in triangular shape, making it less revealing in plain clothes...The gun with both pair of stocks was photographed against the same marble background so it is certainly not an optical illusion, nor a later added photo...
This is notable to me as it is reminiscent of the grips on my "mystery gun," a 3 1/2" Model of 1950 .44 Spl. Target shown below with SWHF letter and original invoice...Mine still wears the original numbered Magnas which were on it as shipped, but they have been shaved down on the bottoms in the later fashion of factory Plain Clothes (PC) Magnas...At first I thought this might have been done at the factory, but later realized it would have been more professionally finished if so...And now with this thread, I see the similar (although much more nicely carved) effect done on an earlier gun...It's possible that this was the inspiration of the PC Magnas...
My mystery gun will likely remain a mystery to me as all my attempts to place it in the hands of its original carrier have failed...It is likely to have been the only Model of 1950 to have three different barrel lengths, all factory, and apparently ordered to satisfy the particular tastes of one shooter who knew what he wanted...At least now I have one other clue with the grips seen in this thread which may connect it to a law enforcement history...
...Ben
