Thunder Ranch .44 special

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grub348

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I recently purchased a slightly used 21-4 Thunder Ranch with no box or paper work.It is a four inch, N-frame, round butt with a gold Thunder Ranch emblem on the sideplate chambered in .44 special. I don't have a clue about Thunder Ranch. Did a cowboy stir his coffee with the barrel or maybe shoot up a couple of saloons with this revolver. Any info about this revolver would be appeciated. The serial number is TRS 13xx.I think they were made about 05 or 06 but I really cannot remember. Thanks in advance.
 
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I recently purchased a slightly used 21-4 Thunder Ranch with no box or paper work.It is a four inch, N-frame, round butt with a gold Thunder Ranch emblem on the sideplate chambered in .44 special. I don't have a clue about Thunder Ranch. Did a cowboy stir his coffee with the barrel or maybe shoot up a couple of saloons with this revolver. Any info about this revolver would be appeciated. The serial number is TRS 13xx.I think they were made about 05 or 06 but I really cannot remember. Thanks in advance.
 
Congrats on a great .44 Special

American Handgunner sells a cool video on a behind the scenes look at making this gun. They go into the dungeons of the factory and show all kinds of neat stuff that we would never see.

This M21-4 is a re-inroduction of one of the classic fighting sixguns from S&W. My opinion is this is a fine wheelgun and I like mine a lot. I did put my favorite grips on it; that is the only change I've made.
 
Here is mine without the emblem. I like it fine and the lock does not bother me at all.
000_0534-1.jpg
 
Originally posted by grub348:
I recently purchased a slightly used 21-4 Thunder Ranch with no box or paper work.It is a four inch, N-frame, round butt with a gold Thunder Ranch emblem on the sideplate chambered in .44 special. I don't have a clue about Thunder Ranch. Did a cowboy stir his coffee with the barrel or maybe shoot up a couple of saloons with this revolver. Any info about this revolver would be appeciated. The serial number is TRS 13xx.I think they were made about 05 or 06 but I really cannot remember. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, why did you buy it if you knew nothing of Clint Smith and Thunder Ranch?

TR is a famous training school for firearms. The owner, Clint Smith, worked for Jeff Cooper at "Orange" Gunsite (you probably don't know what that is either), later worked for HK in their training division. Mr. Smith started his own fireamrs training school, and Col. Cooper himself recommended Mr. Smith's school. I suggest some internet research.

Smith, normally thought of as a proponent of the 1911 for defense, also like big bore double actions, and got S&W to reintroduce the Model 21, which sort of led to the whole Classic line S&W is now doing.
 
Thanks guys for the info. The reason I bought it is because I liked the looks and "feel" of it, that's all.I really couldn't care less about Thunder Ranch but I really like Smiths so I bought it. P.S. it shoots a little high with factory 246 grainers so I'll have to try the factory 200 grainers as mentioned in the article.Thanks again.
 
Originally posted by Poohgyrr:
My opinion is this is a fine wheelgun and I like mine a lot. I did put my favorite grips on it; that is the only change I've made.
Click to expand...

I love mine also and the stock grips fit my hand very well. Having said that, I'm curious as to what your favorite grips are. How 'bout a pic.
 
Originally posted by devilfrog1911:
I'm curious as to what your favorite grips are. How 'bout a pic.
Click to expand...

The grips are old out of producton Fitz cherrywood Gunfighters, refinished. The N frames can still be found, but we haven't been able to find a K frame version in years.

Don't have a pic of the TR M21-4,but here are the actual grips on other N frames:

Right side:

m357rtside21an.jpg



Left side:

m243lftside0er.jpg
 
Originally posted by Poohgyrr:
Originally posted by devilfrog1911:
I'm curious as to what your favorite grips are. How 'bout a pic.
Click to expand...

The grips are old out of producton Fitz cherrywood Gunfighters, refinished. The N frames can still be found, but we haven't been able to find a K frame version in years.

Don't have a pic of the TR M21-4,but here are the actual grips on other N frames:

Right side:

m357rtside21an.jpg



Left side:

m243lftside0er.jpg
Click to expand...

Very nice.
 
Great gun. Got rid of mine due to not shooting it. With a little action work and grips that work for your hand, it is a great piece. Maybe after retirement I will get another to play with.
CraigJ
 
Grub348, congratulations on a fine six-gun. You are really going to like the .44 Special it's a great cartridge. The Thunder Ranch .44s acording to the article devilfrog1911 posted(thanks devilfrog very interesting) are sighted for the 200gr bullets that are most common now for the .44 Special. There are lots of good 200gr .44 bullets out there that will work just fine in this gun. If you cast your own I recomend the RCBS 44-200-FN, it's for the .44-40, but should work just fine in the .44 Special too. John Taffin in the article says he really likes the Thunder Ranch .44 & I think it should be a very nice six-gun, Congratulations & let us know how it shoots & how you like it. Thanks Frank
 
grub348;
Regarding the "shooting a bit high" you might try reloading a Keith (Lyman 429421 240 grs) with the "Skeeter load" (7.5 grs of Unique). That is well within a safe load for your revolver but is considerably faster than the factory 246. Since it leaves the barrel faster, it will shoot lower than the factory load.

FWIW
Dale53
 
Thanks all for your replies.I'm going to speed up some hardcast 245 grainers as soon as I get some brass.It's scarce as hen's teeth around here and I cannot afford to shoot factory loads to get the brass as it runs about forty bucks a box. I'd better e-mail Midway and get some brass before I forget. I was going to try to cut some mixed 44 mag brass to length but 1/8 of an inch takes a LONG time on the casetrimmer, especially if you are cranking it by hand!
 
Originally posted by Dale53:
grub348;
Regarding the "shooting a bit high" you might try reloading a Keith (Lyman 429421 240 grs) with the "Skeeter load" (7.5 grs of Unique). That is well within a safe load for your revolver but is considerably faster than the factory 246. Since it leaves the barrel faster, it will shoot lower than the factory load.

FWIW
Dale53
Click to expand...

Tried this just last week. Dead on at 15 yards in my M21 TR.
 
+1 on the L429421 Dale53. I cast both the HP and solid version and my 21-4 has a very distinct liking for 6.8 of Unique. That load also shoots good in my Marlin 1894.
 
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