I read on one of the big auction houses about a Smith & Wesson .44 Double Action First Model
They list the Revolver with "Scarce 4 Inch Barrel" later to call it "desirable 4" barrel".

Standard Catalog does not mention anything special with the 4". Besides that I have a few in 4".
Is this advertising hype or some truth to it?

Are you able to post a photograph?

I would say "less common"

I agree with iby. While not rare, they are uncommon to find. My ratings: Rare: 100 or less manufactured or known to exist.
Scarce: 5500 or less manufactured or known to exist.
Uncommon: not often found. No quantity given.

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Mike Maher #283

Like any revolver, the shorter the barrel, the higher the price. I think it's a pretty good one but the length may have been popular when it was new. Firearms manufacturers don't publish production totals so it is what it is.

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S&WHF #946
S&WCA #3824

I lucked into this one quite a few years ago.
It is nearly new and unfired

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Happy to post a screenshot once the auction finishes.

Now that is one of the nicest I have seen...

I like your thinking.

With that I have quite a few rare guns and many dozen scarce. I do aim at guns with less than 5000 made. Will not pass one with less than 1000 made.

Your rating scale I think deserves a seperate thread. To be discussed and agreed upon by a collecting organisation...

I have no clue if they're rare/scarce/uncommon, but I had one even more so---a 4", .44 D.A.1st TARGET----with Lyman Ivory Slide sight no less, and Ivory grips---in a period correct case to boot----------and that isn't even close to what I'd gone there to buy!

My good friend, and BIG TIME Ruger collector'd told me about the gun---as best he could---not knowing diddly about early S&W's. He described it as "four inch target----cased----$4,000". I had visions of a Triple Lock---possibly a .44 H.E. 3rd------and off I went----full tilt boogie!!!

I arrive. I'd arrived at the home of a BIG TIME Virginia collector who's selling off his collection----of FIVE THOUSAND GUNS!!! In the event you might be wondering where ANYBODY could store that many guns, his were stored in a made to order gun building----with separate rooms for the different brands----and an attached "garage" chock-a-block lip brimming full of hot rod pick-up trucks----his true love. (As a guest, you pretty much had to indulge his passion for these trucks----like maybe two dozen of them, as he led you around to see (and hear) every damn one of them!!)

Finally we're in the S&W room. I'm saying the only words I know, "Smith & Wesson, four inch target, cased, four thousand dollars." That's met with a blank stare! All of a sudden, he sees the light---or so it seemed. I'm led to a corner where there's a stack of cased guns----floor to ceiling!!!! He starts handing them to me----to stack in another corner. He seems to know what he's doing so he's handing off, and I'm stacking. There's no looking going on at all! Here's the last case in the stack. It's clearly the oldest case in the stack----but pretty much like new!

So far so good!

I open the case, and I am smitten----never mind I think these are quite possibly the ugliest damn guns S&W ever made! This one's no different---but it's GORGEOUS!!!!-----------but I am smitten!!

"And this is four thousand dollars, right?" Right about here is where things get really WEIRD!! His reply: "FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS??!!!! HELL NO!!" "Well how much is it?" "I think fourteen hundred is fair, don't you?"

I'm not quite struck dumb, and I manage to count out the money, get to my car, and go back the way I came---all the time wondering about how many other goodies he's giving away. I later learn he's in the coal business---reputed to own half the coal in Virginia---and ALL of it in West Virginia!!

I don't know the truth of that, but it's a good place to stop running my mouth!

Ralph Tremaine

Mine shipped to Hibbard,Spencer Co. Chicago, 8 August 1881. 4" nickel with hard rubber grips. 20 of same in shipment at $14. each. Letter says 3.5" also but I don't recall ever seeing one.

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PTLAPTA!

Good story Ralph

Not a target, but a 4" 44 Russian lettered as such. I know it has been fired, because I did it

I have the twin to the above revolver right down to the condition. Before I figured out that the 4" barrel was not often seen, I bought it as an organ donor for a very nice 6". Cliff's Notes: I never cannibalized the 4" and found the part for the 6". I kept both.

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Mike Maher #283

My 44 DA in .44S&W was factory refinished way back in the good old days, it may be my favorite revolver. It shoots very nicely, I only use black powder loads.

My favorite #3 also came from RC

Oh mah Lord! That is one very very beautiful pistol!!! Mine was sent back to the factory in Aug. 1921. I don't know if they just tuned up the mechanics, which are perfect, or 100+ yrs. of use and handling have eroded the bluing, but I'd be gobsmacked if mine looked like yours. Up here, the last quote I got for refinishing one of these old S&W's was $600. Canadian pesos and a year plus waiting time.

Without struggling to find the letter on this old girl I believe it was also refinished back in the 1920's. It works like a new revolver, I do not make a habit of shooting it due to its beauty and the fact that things happen when you take a fine old specimen out for a day on the range. Well meaning friends could not be held responsible for scratches, etc. from poor handling. This is probably the only firearm that I own that I do not take out and shoot on some regular basis.

I wonder if my old beater is a 4”. I’ll measure it next time I get it out of the safe.

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It’s Fudd-Daddy to you.

Sure looks like 4

This guy about fell in my lap a few weeks ago. Had a 1911A1 in a shop on consignment for fun with the owner. His helper comes in and drools over it and knows I like Smiths. Sends me a pic of this 44 DA and asks if i'd be interested at $1K trade towards my 1911. Hmmmmmm heck yes i'm in with that deal. Never even held one of these before. Thought they were fragile like Colt Thunderers but I was wrong. Kind of looks like my 629 MG but from 100+ years ago! Yup I like it.

Nice original nickel 4" that is as smooth and tight as the day it left S&W factory.

Happy Hunting...

Fred

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I guess they're not real scarce around here

Another 4" shipped to M.W. Robinson June 5, 1884, as part of a shipment of 10 priced at $14.00 each. The walnut grips number to the gun.

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Peter #2091

Nice wood!

Ya, but then if your looking for an example of any rare S&W the most likely place to find one would be right here.

I know where at least one of them is.

I found this one at the Colorado show: New Model No. 3 with a 4-inch barrel. I had a really nice one in blue, but in 44-40 caliber which is not allowed in Canada so I traded it for this one in 44 Russian. Factory re-work 4.47. Looks and feels brand-new. I don't think it's been shot since the re-work, and probably very little before then.

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Now that is a rare one!
It's New Model 3 not a Model 3 DA

Great story And I definitely wish I was there.

This .44 DA first model 2 1/2" barrel probably falls into the extremely rare category. The barrel is so short that the S&W address/patent days extends to the top strap. Just wish this 44 DA belly gun was in a little better condition.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/members...-top-strap.jpg
http://smith-wessonforum.com/members...ory-letter.png

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Petter
S&WCA 1759

Yes, it's a single action. I have had a few 4-inch DA's in the past, but all pretty "well worn". I have a 5-inch DA in pristine, near-new condition, with pearl grips, but this single action really turns my crank.

Ohh My, a bike gun on steroids.

Took my New Model No3 to the range a few days ago. What a fine shooter! The trigger pull is smooth as butter. I'm not a frequent shooter but still managed a group within 6 inches at 25 yards. I'm impressed with 19th century S&W technology.

Dannng. That's a cool one.

Mine was cut later (actually by S&W) to get that short:







They also did a thing with the firing pin when they did the spur cutting;

I collected only target guns, but if I'd come across THAT---I'd have found a reason to make an exception---pretty much RIGHT NOW!!!!

Ralph Tremaine

Hi There,


What impresses me is the price charged for the work preformed.


Cheers,
Webb

Looks like S&W reblued it at the same time. Outstanding.

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S&WHF #946
S&WCA #3824

This goes WAY BACK---1960, but I had a K-22---bought new in 1956--first ever. The bad news was it was finished in "Satin Blue"----the funky finish. I put up with that for as long as I could, and then sent it back to be re-done in Bright Blue. The out and back time was maybe three weeks, and I don't know why or how I remember this, but it seems like the cost was on the order of $2.75------------and the work was FLAWLESS!!

Them there was "the good old days"'!

Ralph Tremaine

And let me take a stab at defining "FLAWLESS": That gun remained in my collection, which was liquidated during the three years ending about a year ago. It brought $950.

Auction House Hype to drive up prices.

They would look really good together! When you are ready

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Petter
S&WCA 1759