OP
1950 Target .44 Special with 3 1/2" barrel - It Lettered!
- Thread starter Shotguncoach
- Start date
Some days are just made for this! Congrats on a big win!
SAFireman
Member
And it shipped with the minimum safe trigger pull....wow 
OP
OP
So this changes things somewhat....
Suburbanite pointed me towards this thread which discusses some of the other 3 1/2" guns.
My first question would be to Bill: Is this gun part of the "list of six"? The posts in the other thread lead me to believe the answer is yes, but confirmation would be nice.
The follow-up question would be "How do I document the number that were shipped?" for estate planning purposes. I have no intention of selling the gun but I also know that I won't live forever.
Based on the info in the letter, I'm going to put this gun into the "retired from active carry duty" group along with the Elmer Keith gun. They'll both still go to the range but won't be carried. I'd hate to think of either one ending up in a police evidence locker in the event that I actually had to use it. I figure that's why 624's were created.
Suburbanite pointed me towards this thread which discusses some of the other 3 1/2" guns.
My first question would be to Bill: Is this gun part of the "list of six"? The posts in the other thread lead me to believe the answer is yes, but confirmation would be nice.
The follow-up question would be "How do I document the number that were shipped?" for estate planning purposes. I have no intention of selling the gun but I also know that I won't live forever.
Based on the info in the letter, I'm going to put this gun into the "retired from active carry duty" group along with the Elmer Keith gun. They'll both still go to the range but won't be carried. I'd hate to think of either one ending up in a police evidence locker in the event that I actually had to use it. I figure that's why 624's were created.
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OP
And it shipped with the minimum safe trigger pull....wow
Yeah....then there's that little tidbit.
When I have time (it may be after the first of the year), I intend to do a side by side tear down and comparison of every piece in this gun against an unmodified example to learn more about how Smith & Wesson achieved the "minimum safe trigger pull". I'll take a bazillion pictures and post it in the Smithing forum.
I can tell you it is a joy to shoot.
When I researched the invoices for 1950 44 Target revolvers with uncatalogued barrel lengths, the invoices I found often did not have serial numbers listed for the revolvers and I did not record the serial number even if one was listed. Since I didn't know the serial numbers of the revolvers with a 3 1/2-inch barrel that is why I wrote you may have found one of them. However, I am confident yours is one of the six I found originally.
Bill
Bill
OP
Thank you Sir!!
The S<> stamping was on a Satin Blue K-22 I'd returned to be refinished in Bright Blue---that and the date code (4 60) when it came back. Given that I knew what my instructions were, I decided the S was instruction to the Finishing folks to return the pieces to the Service Department (for reassembly), and the diamond indicated it was to be refinished in Bright Blue. The possibility they meant anything else would be puzzling at best---and informative---but mostly just puzzling.
The rest of the story is at least somewhat amusing: I'd also asked that they give it to their very best craftsman, and ask him to make it as perfect as can be. It was returned with no comment as to what might have been done---and no extra charge beyond the refinish----leaving me to suppose nothing had been done.
Time passed, and I became aware of the fact there was no turn line---and there damn well should have been because this was my shoot anytime all the time gun. Actually, there was a turn line---very faint and about 3/32" long at the lead into each cylinder stop notch.
I told Roy about all this along the way, and the poor guy like to have had a hissy-fit: "They NEVER should have done THAT! It'll skip chambers in rapid double action fire!" I didn't have the heart to tell him a good bit of its use had been in rapid double action fire during my (failed) efforts to emulate McGivern's feats---and it never skipped a beat!.
As an aside, that gun fetched $950 during the liquidation of my collection over the last several years---maybe because it was a very pretty gun.
Ralph Tremaine
The rest of the story is at least somewhat amusing: I'd also asked that they give it to their very best craftsman, and ask him to make it as perfect as can be. It was returned with no comment as to what might have been done---and no extra charge beyond the refinish----leaving me to suppose nothing had been done.
Time passed, and I became aware of the fact there was no turn line---and there damn well should have been because this was my shoot anytime all the time gun. Actually, there was a turn line---very faint and about 3/32" long at the lead into each cylinder stop notch.
I told Roy about all this along the way, and the poor guy like to have had a hissy-fit: "They NEVER should have done THAT! It'll skip chambers in rapid double action fire!" I didn't have the heart to tell him a good bit of its use had been in rapid double action fire during my (failed) efforts to emulate McGivern's feats---and it never skipped a beat!.
As an aside, that gun fetched $950 during the liquidation of my collection over the last several years---maybe because it was a very pretty gun.
Ralph Tremaine
...
With a base price of $56.82 for the gun, the additional charges for cutting the barrel, tax, and shipping/insurance amounted to $18.05 - nearly 32% of the price of the gun itself. That's outrageous!
Who knew anyone in Arkansas had that much money?*(Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator for January 1953, that would be the equivalent in October 2024 dollars of $674.29 for the gun and $214.20 for the additional charges, totaling $888.49. Sign me up!)
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With a base price of $56.82 for the gun, the additional charges for cutting the barrel, tax, and shipping/insurance amounted to $18.05 - nearly 32% of the price of the gun itself. That's outrageous!
*(Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator for January 1953, that would be the equivalent in October 2024 dollars of $674.29 for the gun and $214.20 for the additional charges, totaling $888.49. Sign me up!)
You BETCHA! I'll take two or three at that price, thank you VERY much!
Where do I send the check?
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YeshuaIsa53
Member
Who would have known. Nice price, too.
Wow! Congratulations! Very nice gun and it letters. Bet it is worth a bunch of money. Think Don was giving you a hint that your gun needed a letter. Sounds like you picked up on that also.
Think this needs to be nominated as a Notable Thread. I don't know how to do that. I did give it a 5 star rating.
Think this needs to be nominated as a Notable Thread. I don't know how to do that. I did give it a 5 star rating.
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