Back during the holidays, I was able to travel home for some much needed time to relax, a little shooting and some catching up on my continuing education in the field of S&W. We had good warm day to get out as a family and below is an abbreviated photo of the Smiths we had on hand that day-- some K-22s, a K-32, K-38s, the .44 HE 3rd Model Wolf & Klar Target you all so generously helped me identify (Triple Lock Turns Out To Be 1926 Target?) and so on. One set of old gentlemen left out of the family affair that day were some classic 38/44 Outdoorsmen for want of appropriate shoes.

For those of you with a hankering for a story--these pistols don't disappoint. The Outdoorsmen were purchased by two friends, contemporaries, and in turn also friends, of my grandfather (1904-1998). The top pistol is 46xxx and the bottom is 44xxx, putting them from about the early 30's I guess. Owing to his steady diet of bacon and eggs for breakfast and a single scotch and club soda before dinner, my grandfather outlived nearly all of his friends and many times their guns would end up with him. So is the case with these two pieces.

Now for the interesting part. My dad, an inveterate collector and the most immensely knowledgeable firearms person I know, was told by my grandfather that these two pistols came to him with a log of every round each had ever fired--and that that total round count came to something like 300,000 between them! Naturally, the log has been lost and neither my dad nor I can confirm that count, but the idea still makes me smile. I have the patience of a yield sign, so imagining the day and age when you could actually shoot that much and count every round through a target pistol is quite a thing. I still hope that log might turn up one day. Speculations on a realistically achievable round count for an Outdoorsman are of course welcome.

Finally, a practical question or two. Somewhere along the way these pistols, very well cared for otherwise (if you overlook the electro-penciled initials my grandfather who knew better added), lost their original shoes. Can you anyone suggest what would might be age appropriate for these fellows? Also, I'm curious about the oversized target hammer on 46xxx--any insights?

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Great old warhorses.

The proper stocks for those guns would be service stocks with silver medallions, like the ones on this contemporary Heavy Duty.



The special hammer is called a "cockeye hammer." These were custom conversions by King Gunsight Co. in San Francisco, and were probably provided by other custom houses as well. They were not standard hammers from S&W.

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David Wilson

If you are willing I would very much appreciate the serial numbers of your Outdoorsman for my files (offline).

Best Regards,

Jerry

[email protected]


Michael's Photo

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.38/44 Outdoorsman Accumulator

Wow what a beautiful pair of old timers. They definitely deserve shoes.

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Eccentric old coot

Nice Stuff!

"Shoes" will look like these....





One those old boys get properly shod, you'll need a correct bed for them to sleep in...









Drew

I know you are looking for factory grips, but if you want Ahrends makes nice grips similar to the factory style targets. These are in maple and fit really well in the hand and do a nice job with the recoil.

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Vaya con Dios

Nice brace of Outdoorsmen! I have 444xx which dates from January of 1935. These are superb examples of old time revolver design and manufacture. I hope you enjoy shooting them.

Drew, What's with the hole in the base of the right-side stock on your gun? ... could be a potential leak problem that you should get rid of.....

Thanks, Jerry

Jerry,

Story goes that this gun was on the wall in a bar and the holes thorugh both stocks were there to wire it down so that any overly primed customers wouldn't take it down and use it on their fellow patrons.

I kinda doubt the story as the gun is in near flawless condition and there is no damage to the stocks otherwise...

One of these days I'll just have my Brother DWFan plug up the leaks...

Drew

Thanks all for the excellent info. I always appreciate the thoughtful replies and the photo backup! I'll start the search for some suitable service stocks.

A clarification on the round count. These two friends shot together at least twice a week for years and the round count per pistol (rather than both combined) was purportedly 300K! Still not sure that's feasible--50,000 cylinders loads--but that's the story.

David, thanks for the additional info on the cockeyed hammer. The King Co. in SF would make perfect sense, as they characters in question all lived in the Bay Area.

Jerry, I'll be happy to send you those numbers via email.