Please tell me about my latest acquisition

I recently picked this up in a swap and I'm not sure exactly what I have other than it is a N-frame 38 Special. It does not say 38/44 or Sportsman on it anywhere. Anything you can tell me about it will really be appreciated especially the apx year of manufacture.

You have a .38/44 Outdoorsman, shipped in 1950. The Heavy Duty is the fixed sight version. After 1957 it was called the model 23, hence no model stamping on yours. Enjoy!

That looks very nice to me!!!!

Its an Outdoorsman I believe.

Folks will be drooling on it soon, I am already

I think that's a "virtual" .38/44 Outdoorsman. Note that the barrel rib does not align properly with the frame. Do the serial numbers in the shroud under the barrel and on the back of the cylinder agree with the serial number on the frame?

I see you also have the uncommon "drosophila" thumb release. Those are very rare.

AFTERTHOUGHT: The shape of the hammer gives away that this is a postwar transitional gun with the prewar long action. I think it was probably a .38/44 Heavy Duty originally, and then someone reworked the frame top to add the adjustable rear sight. At the same time, the postwar ribbed barrel was screwed into the frame. I would date the original gun to 1949. The sight and barrel could have come along at any time in the next 20 or 30 years (or even more). The S/N in the ejector shroud could give us a hint as to when that happened. And was the company still numbering the undersides of adjustable sights in the late 1940s? If so, there might be another hint there.

DCWilson said:

I see you also have the uncommon "drosophila" thumb release. Those are very rare.

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Had to go look that one up LOL very good!

DCWilson said:

I think that's a "virtual" .38/44 Outdoorsman. Note that the barrel rib does not align properly with the frame. Do the serial numbers in the shroud under the barrel and on the back of the cylinder agree with the serial number on the frame?

I see you also have the uncommon "drosophila" thumb release. Those are very rare.

AFTERTHOUGHT: The shape of the hammer gives away that this is a postwar transitional gun with the prewar long action. I think it was probably a .38/44 Heavy Duty originally, and then someone reworked the frame top to add the adjustable rear sight. At the same time, the postwar ribbed barrel was screwed into the frame. I would date the original gun to 1949. The sight and barrel could have come along at any time in the next 20 or 30 years (or even more). The S/N in the ejector shroud could give us a hint as to when that happened. And was the company still numbering the undersides of adjustable sights in the late 1940s? If so, there might be another hint there.

Click to expand...

I would agree with David's evaluation minus one detail. I would say that is more along the lines of the Cyclorrhapha thumb release, which is a little more common in my part of the country.

On a more serious note, the grips also look to be the later shorter diamond magnas that don't quite fit the transitional frame and would not be original to that gun.

DCWilson said:

I think that's a "virtual" .38/44 Outdoorsman. Note that the barrel rib does not align properly with the frame. That was one of the first things I noticed about it. There is no bluing on the barrel pin indicating a possible barrel change or the pin being driven in and out.

Do the serial numbers in the shroud under the barrel and on the back of the cylinder agree with the serial number on the frame?
Not exactly sure where the number is your speaking of unless it is the number under the crane and no it does not match the numbers on the bottom of the grip frame or back of cylinder. The numbers on the grip frame and back of cylinder are the same. The grips are not original, it came with Jay Scotts the trader wanted to keep so we removed our grips and excahnged revolvers.

Jumping off subject. The grips I pictured it with came from a yard sale find about a year ago, cost me a whopping $1.00. The grips were in a Pachmeyer box marked $5.00. When I removed the grips from the box. I said "these aren't Pachmeyers" and she immediately lowered the price to a dollar. At the same yard sale I found another set of diamond K-frame grips. I put the K-frame grips on Ebay and they sold for over a hundred. Before you think I got lucky at the yard sale. Had I been five minutes earlier I would have beat the guy to the 5 guns he bought for $500. The five included an old Winchester lever action, German Luger, beautiful mint looking Browning shotgun, Colt Woody and a WW2 Jap souvenir rifle.

I see you also have the uncommon "drosophila" thumb release. Those are very rare.

I did notice the thumb release did feel different, actually feels better than my other S&W's
AFTERTHOUGHT: The shape of the hammer gives away that this is a postwar transitional gun with the prewar long action. I think it was probably a .38/44 Heavy Duty originally, and then someone reworked the frame top to add the adjustable rear sight. At the same time, the postwar ribbed barrel was screwed into the frame. I would date the original gun to 1949. The sight and barrel could have come along at any time in the next 20 or 30 years (or even more). The S/N in the ejector shroud could give us a hint as to when that happened. And was the company still numbering the undersides of adjustable sights in the late 1940s? If so, there might be another hint there.

Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch for the info!! Anything anybody might like to add is appreciated even if it is speculation. I just did a double check and made sure it did NOT chamber a 357. The number on the frame under the crane is in three lines, top is 5, second is an F and bottom line is 158XX. The guy I swapped with was a young guy probably in his early 30's so he is obviously not the original owner. For what it is worth I traded a 1917 45ACP, 1937 Brazilian contract for it. $$ wise I probably lost money and traded down but I have another Brazilian model and I got something I really wanted even if it is not a real 38/44.

Unless the barrel is a really late one, I think you should see a serial number in the deep groove where the ejector rod is housed when the cylinder is locked in position. If there is no serial number there, it is possible this is one of the Model 23 barrels that you can still buy unfinished from Numrich. Somebody could have picked it up not too long ago, had it blued, and fitted it to this frame.

The fact that the serial number on the cylinder is the same as the one on the grip frame means that only the barrel was changed; that confirms your gun as originally a Heavy Duty. Ignore the stampings on the frame under the yoke; those are just process control numbers that have no real meaning after the serial numbers go on.

It may be that the whole gun was refinished at the time of the sight addition and barrel change. The hammer stud end, visible under the thumb release, seems to be kind of flattened. That can happen with refinishing.

I just noticed that the tip of the hammer spur looks a little flat. That may have been modified slightly to fit the owner's preference.

I don't think you left any value on the table in a Brazilian trade. This is still a "real" .38/44. It's just that you have an original Transitional Heavy Duty whose configuration was changed with some parts swaps and adds to make it an Outdoorsman. I bet you are going to love shooting it.

About the thumb release -- I was just having some fun about the fly that alighted on the knurled pad just as you snapped the shutter. I'm a jerk. Sorry.

Possibly so, David, but at least you're an educated jerk !

Larry

No need to apologize to a practical joker like me. Should have seen the flak I got on the Cast Boolit board for posting "tons of free wheel weights" on April Fools Day. I was so dense I didn't see the fly until you mentioned it. It looks like my revolver has been re-barreled. Can't see it in the pictures I posted but the bluing doesn't match and there is no serial number on the shroud. I can't find my feeler gauge but the gap appears to be a bit to tight. I would have liked to have got one all original but I would have traded anyway.

Definitely not the rare drosophila model.

While Cyclorrhapha is a S & W collector's nickname, it has no real identification value. I fail to find it in any of my S & W classical references.

More likely the much more common Lucilia sericata variety.

(lol)