This is for sale locally for $500. I've dealt with the seller before and he's a great guy and did not carve this gun up. Someone "Fitzed" this unlikely candidate for such an operation and now a formerly great looking Outdoorsman is forever maimed. I love the Fitz modifications on certain pocket sixguns but would never remove the trigger guard. This one was ground off and bare metal and scratches are now exposed on an otherwise pretty good finish. He also put a trigger stop screw through what's left of the trigger guard, too. Even if someone did finish Fitzin' it, who would want to cut off that fine barrel. The late style hammer spur might be sacrificed, though. It just makes me sad to look at. Drunk people should not "work" on guns.

Wyatt,
To quote a song from about the time that fine pistol was butchered, "Aint that a shame".
I do believe all hacksaws should be registered and grinders should have the breathalizer switch.
Larry

A good gun artisian could possibly weld one back and finish it.

Sad..........BUBBA with a hacksaw.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

That is just so wrong.

I hope John Fitzgerald is still burning in Hell for encouraging so many foolish people to ruin fine guns.

But have you ever tried to shoot a revolver with mittens on????....While drunk......

WILDPIG

__________________
I ain't from around here.

I for one hope someone rescues it and decides to weld or silver solder in a fix. Or, leading to deeper ruination, saws the barrel, files the sight and bores it all to, say 45 Colt, as a terminal abandonment of its S&W heritage.

Tend to agree with SP that at least as many fine arms have been impaired as improved by the removal of "Fitz's Fraction".

Regards,

Dyson

While I wouldn't do it, primarily because an unlucky drop could render the gun nonfunctional, some of the folks who did that had reasons. It is still safer than a Glock, because you can control the hammer while holstering. Different strokes for different folks.

I think I threw up in my mouth a little after seeing that.

__________________
Jim
Many K and N Frames

You might be able to fix the gun, but you sure can't fix stupid.

Get a rope!

__________________
S&WCA # 2045

O.M.G. Big Larry

I guess I'm crazy. I would still buy it. I like a good rescue. They warm my heart and make me feel like I'm giving an abused gun a good new home. She still looks good to my eyes.

I'd say it was ugly except it still is a Smith. I have a 6906 that was a law enforcement gun, the frame (alloy) was badly scratched in a scuffle with a bad guy. I spent nearly a month "flitzing" the finish off the frame. It shoots great, is very bright - almost looks like nickel - the only down side is I have to touch it up occasionally. Thats a sad picture to all on this forum.

I feel sick.

ECS

__________________
CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

I keep looking at it, sometime I'll cover one eye or tilt my head a little. I wouldn't buy it because I'm not too good at persuing gun projects I think up. but I like your attitude about this gun. I, too, see a gunuine classic S&W that through no fault of it's own had this happen to it. Maybe a good thing would be to buy it and try to swap the barrel for a cut down Outdoorsman barrel. Then someone can make their gun look original and the short barrel can be put on it and then the hammer spur removed. I think Fitzing the whole thing is better than leaving it like this. But I'm not the guy to do it.

I once had an 1886 Winchester with the upper tang busted clean off. A pal of mine who was a retired machinist and precision welder fabricated a new tang, attached it and repaired the gun. Once fitted into it's stock, the repair was invisible.

I paid $145 for my first .38-44 in the 70's. No one wanted them except as a foundation for a conversion. I bought a near new example in the box within the past 5 years for under a $1000. But those days are gone...

As Outdoorsman are becoming more collectable and valueable, the cost and trouble of this repair will be overcome and therefore feasable.

Did anyone notice that this is a Brite Finished gun? That would certainly add to the anguish over it's current condition, and possibly hasten it's repair.

I'd snap it up and stash it away well preserved against the day when the value of the gun outstrips the cost of the repair.

Drew

Let's find him! Get your torches and pitchforks.

What a mindless thing to do.

So... is it 'fixable"?

GF

I would put her on the firing line and start saving up for a new trigger loop. She was made to be a shooter and she is still a shooter. She isn't some high end collector grade gun. So I would snatch that bad girl up and start stuffing her with .38 specials. I haven't yet met the six inch N frame that I could match its shooting potential. I bet she is no different. And someday when you do find the money and someone to fix the trigger loop then she can be made glorious and whole again. But until then... I bet she can still shoot the wings off a fly's back... Give her a good home, she deserves better than she has seen. If I had the cash I would make an offer.

That's the glory and mystery of steel. It's always "fixable"...

1870s or 1970s?

__________________
Dick Burg

I'll have to go back and check my records....

Merry New Year Dick...

Buy it!
Perhaps the seller would sell it for less than $500.00. If not buy it and use it.
Re-holstering it or a Glock is not a problem if you know what you are doing.

I'm not going to go back and search but about a year ago there was a new Member on this Forum that had three of these vintage N frame revolvers listed for sale in the classifieds ......all with same modifications - it looks like same OD

Could be a mind numbing plague hit the Outdoorsman community.

Sad, but still a beautiful gun.

__________________
I Love This Site

Wow! Thats SAD.

In the late 1970's I knew a cop whose sole "tuning" tool was a Dremel tool. Watched him ruin an easy dozen revolverrs in a two year period.

He would buy a 2.5" M66 or a snub J frame... bob the hammer, Fitz the trigger gurard, etc. He also did a few SQ to round butt conversions as well!
Then trade it off at a loss...few weeks later trade or buy another one and do the same thing.

FN in MT

Yes sir someone did. I wanted one for a project belly gun, but someone was faster than I was with a better offer.

I would not mind having this one, it has the potential to become a great N frame cut down.

That is exactly what I did...

Then when I read your post I sprayed it all over my keyboard....

That looks like it came out this collection that was for sale locally a while back...





WTS/WTT WA: S&W model 1950 45 acp /45 autorim New price

.....deplorable

Maybe the guy had freakin HUGE fingers, and couldn't get them in the trigger guard....

You buy 'em books and send 'em to school and this is what they do.......................................

__________________
Go big or stay home

Warm the feathers and pluck the tar!
----
I see NDs...but things were different in Fitz' day.

It looks ugly but if quick access to the trigger saved the original owners life the loss would be considered worthwhile no matter what we think now.

__________________
Front sight and squeeze

Even Bill Jordan with his sausage fingers only thinned the trigger guard on his Smith & Wesson Model 19s!

ECS

__________________
CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Ah well... that makes mine one of one fewer of 2768...

That is a 1950 Target, right? [/n00b]

Buy it for $300 , Find the best ,small ,local tool and die shop and have them rough out the missing segment and have their resident MIG artist [ they all have one] weld it to the frame. Estimated cost $200 'Take it home and with a few hours of careful file work followed by polishing with 400,600, crocus cloth and a little cold blue and you will have the best $500 shooting gun you could ask for . Regards, Bart

__________________
H.E;Bart

At what point in time does someone think that removing the front part of the trigger guard is a good idea? Obviously if the factory didn't think you needed it, they probably would not have added one in the first place. I bet the previous owner of this gun has a car with big rims and bounces up and down and the stereo is worth more than the rest of the car.

__________________
Vaya con Dios

While I pretty much agree with you, there is a valid history to the things: FitzGerald Special - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

'The FitzGerald Special, "Fitz Special", or "Fitz Colt" is a snubnosed revolver modified for concealed carry. The concept was pioneered by John Henry Fitzgerald (also known as J.H. Fitzgerald, J. Henry Fitzgerald, and "Fitz") an employee of Colt Firearms from 1918 to 1944. Fitzgerald was a well known and respected competition pistol shooter of the 1920's and 30's and a theorist and innovator of combat pistol shooting tactics. He wrote a book entitled,Shooting in 1930, on the topics of pistol shooting techniques and tactics. There are "authentic" Fitz Specials modified by Fitzgerald himself, though the term can more generally refer to any revolver with similar modifications." '

'Fitz Special revolvers are made by bobbing the hammer spur, shortening the barrel to two inches, rounding the butt, and removing the front half of the trigger guard. Reshaping the hammer and the butt allows the gun to be drawn quickly with little risk of the weapon snagging on clothing. The halved trigger guard facilitates quick trigger acquisition, even for shooters with large fingers or gloves.

'Fitzgerald first came up with his concept sometime before 1926 when he modified a Colt Police Positive, whose shortest available barrel length was four inches. He later modified two Colt New Services in the same manner.'

Well, that explains it

I'm a thinking of doing that to my super redhawk, and cutting back the barrel to flush with the frame extension. Put some lightening cuts in the frame and perhaps scoop out and widen the cylinder flutes and I'm left with a nice pocket carry .44

__________________
Forum consigliere

Post video; that may be as close as I want to get!

Actually, I've seen photos of SAAs with barrels cut back to the frame, from back in the day.

If the part cut off was still around, Bubba could JB Weld it back on!!! Bob

I believe Ruger actually offers that, sans the modified (shudder) trigger guard. It actually looks OK.
The full barrelled SRH always struck me as looking like it was put together by Soviet peasants after a bad wodka bender.

Found it! This one's .44 Magnum but it's available in .454 Casull for manly men!

Threadjack over. Carry on!

Look What Someone Did To This .38 Outdoorsman!!
>
I'd stop and look that one over. I love project guns,,maybe a little too much.
But for the right price that'd come home and get fixed.
A good base gun for another engraved one. Can't hurt it anymore.
Some ivory,,maybe nickle or silver plate, 5in bbl,,,,,,

Hello Wyatt Burp
I think the previous owner had this in his factory box Placed by mistake at the factory Instead of a Sight Adjustment Tool as one of the required tools to work on your gun with after a half jar of this beverage....I can now go and throw up....

For a snubby pocket gun, there is a shadow of a shade of justification for such a dangerous modification, but if a situation is so dangerous that opening a triggerguard looks safer, I'm going somewhere else, thankyouverymuch....
For a long barreled gun, it's just plain dumb: I'd think even Bubba would be smarter than that!

It's certainly fixable. A piece of TG from another gun could be MIG welded in and refinished. S&W has been known to replace frames. I have fixed worse - see Colt 1905 below:

Has any one on here actually re-built one of these Fitz specials successfully?

RHMC24's work shown above is incredible work in all regards!

Randy

While it may have been marginally justifiable in Fitzgerald's time to have done this modification (in the interests of experimentation), anyone who does it today is just being a jackass. Owning an original Fitz would be owning a bit of history - "Fitzing" a revolver today is just butchery.

An expert machinist/welder could repair it. But at what cost? In the end one would have a rebuilt and refinished gun. If the gun were obtained at zero cost the repairs might make economic sense. I would buy it at $300... and part it out.