3rd Model .44 Hand Ejector "Wolf & Klar"

[twaits]

Picked this up at Cabelas for $750 this week. It's a bit finish challenged but mechanically like a new gun. Timing is perfect and bore and chambers near mint. It looks like it was terribly neglected but fired little. I never considered buying one of these before because they are usually very expensive. So I'm very happy to add it to the collection. Serial number dates it to 1930.

 

[twaits]

More pictures added.

 

[22hipower]

Looks like a great buy to me. Usually the local Cabelas is overpriced by 50% but I'd think that one might be 50% or more underpriced. I don't see signs of a refinish, I'd have bought it in a heartbeat.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[twaits]

Interesting article on these. According to this under 5000 of these were made and out of that number only 1000 actually shipped to Wolf & Klar even though they originally ordered 3500. Looks like a letter needs to be ordered for this one.

Smith & Wesson's Three Hand-Ejector Revolvers | An Official Journal Of The NRA

 

[Gun Relics]

Looks like a great buy to me. Usually the local Cabelas is overpriced by 50% but I'd think that one might be 50% or more underpriced. I don't see signs of a refinish, I'd have bought it in a heartbeat.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

The "Gun Library" can be way up and way down. They once listed a nice condition pre-27 3.5" for $1100. I called on the day it was listed and it was already sold, of course.

 

[Muley Gil]

Interesting article on these. According to this under 5000 of these were made and out of that number only 1000 actually shipped to Wolf & Klar even though they originally ordered 3500. Looks like a letter needs to be ordered for this one.

Smith & Wesson's Three Hand-Ejector Revolvers | An Official Journal Of The NRA

The information in that article is incorrect. Wolf & Klar received over 1600 Model 1926 .44s in 1927 alone.

Rick Hacker has a lot of good information about Old West firearms. As has been pointed out on this forum over the years, he is NOT very knowledgeable about modern S&W handguns.

 

[twaits]

The information in that article is incorrect. Wolf & Klar received over 1600 Model 1926 .44s in 1927 alone.

Rick Hacker has a lot of good information about Old West firearms. As has been pointed out on this forum over the years, he is NOT very knowledgeable about modern S&W handguns.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Hawg Rider]

Congratulations, you picked up a nice W&K for a very reasonable price. I found mine at local gun show a few years ago, and paid $900...which included much later magna stocks, a much later mahogany presentation case, and letter from Mr. Jinx. So I figure I have about $700 in the revolver. But you'll notice that the half-moon front sight was replaced at some point with a barrel rib and Baughman-style front sight, and the revolver was re-nickeled. Not a great job but OK. I added some Grashorn elk antler stocks, and I would value my revolver today at $900-$1K even with the mods. As you can see from the letter, my early 4" nickel W&K (s/n 29803) shipped in May 1927. Yours is just a little later than mine. Enjoy!

 

[ordnanceguy]

Hello Twaits:

Neat gun and a nice find for you.

I agree that getting a SWHF letter is appropriate for this one. Additionally, I recommend that you should read the excellent recent dissertation in the S&WCA Journal on the Wolf & Klar guns authored by Roy Jinks. Roy gave a presentation on the W&K guns a year or two ago at one of the S&WCA Symposiums. As I recall there was not an empty chair in the hall as Roy explained the entire history of the W&K/S&W association and how these important guns came to be. It was fascinating. This article is drawn directly from that presentation.

The article is 8 pages and is entitled "Smith & Wesson .44 Hand Ejector Third Model -- The Wolf & Klar Special". It was published in the S&WCA Journal at Volume 58, the Summer 2024 issue.

BTW, given your strong interest in Smiths I think you ought to consider becoming a member of the S&WCA. Access to the Journal, a key source of information for collectors, is just one of many benefits of membership. Give it a try.

Hope this helps you.

Regards,
Charlie

 

[murphydog]

Cool gun, thanks for sharing!

I'd try to lightly polish the black spots in the nickel, it may look a little more uniform with this.

I'd say the price in the current market was excellent. I may have paid quite a bit more for one recently with both a W & K and TX LEO connection.

 

[twaits]

Cool gun, thanks for sharing!

I'd try to lightly polish the black spots in the nickel, it may look a little more uniform with this.



I'd say the price in the current market was excellent. I may have paid quite a bit more for one recently with both a W & K and TX LEO connection.

I actually took quite a bit of time getting it to its current state. A lot of time carefully cleaning off rust spots and trying to preserve as much of the original finish as possible.
I'll post a couple of before pics.