Tony, there's a book by Robert Neal and Roy Jinks called Smith & Wesson: 1857-1945 that has detailed appendices listing the changing patent date blocks you find on S&W gun barrels. Other than patent dates, which do not appear after WWII, barrels usually feature the S&W name on one side and the chambering on the other, usually ending with the abbreviation CTG for cartridge. Some postwar revolvers have model numbers stamped on one side, like Highway Patrolman or Model of 1955. The details of these are best learned by observation.
There are also varying forms of rollmarks on the frames, and the distinctions that can be drawn often allow one to make a fairly accurate guess at a year (or short range of years) of manufacture. Again, there is a bunch of illustrative material in the forum archives.
For .38/44s, check out the website that 1Aspenhill maintains for the Heavy Duty; the link is in the signature to every one of his posts. There is no similar web site for the .38/44 Outdoorsman, which is the adjustable sight version of the Heavy Duty, but lots of people on this forum love that model and you can get good info just by asking a question.
The Outdoorsman is almost always found with a 6.5" barrel. In the prewar years, a few were made with five-inch barrels and gold bead front sights as special orders for famed sharpshooter Ed McGivern. A very few special orders are reported with longer barrels. I don't know of a single Outdoorsman that was ever delivered from the factory with a barrel shorter than five inches, but some here may know of specimens.
Afterthought: I don't know how familiar you are with the entire S&W line, but don't confuse the .38/44 Outdoorsman (which is built on the company's large N frame) with the K-22 Outdoorsman (which is built on the mid-size K-frame). At the time these models were introduced in the early 1930s, each was intended to be a premium target revolver, and each was built on the next larger frame size compared to the .22s and .38s that had been produced previously.
There are also varying forms of rollmarks on the frames, and the distinctions that can be drawn often allow one to make a fairly accurate guess at a year (or short range of years) of manufacture. Again, there is a bunch of illustrative material in the forum archives.
For .38/44s, check out the website that 1Aspenhill maintains for the Heavy Duty; the link is in the signature to every one of his posts. There is no similar web site for the .38/44 Outdoorsman, which is the adjustable sight version of the Heavy Duty, but lots of people on this forum love that model and you can get good info just by asking a question.
The Outdoorsman is almost always found with a 6.5" barrel. In the prewar years, a few were made with five-inch barrels and gold bead front sights as special orders for famed sharpshooter Ed McGivern. A very few special orders are reported with longer barrels. I don't know of a single Outdoorsman that was ever delivered from the factory with a barrel shorter than five inches, but some here may know of specimens.
Afterthought: I don't know how familiar you are with the entire S&W line, but don't confuse the .38/44 Outdoorsman (which is built on the company's large N frame) with the K-22 Outdoorsman (which is built on the mid-size K-frame). At the time these models were introduced in the early 1930s, each was intended to be a premium target revolver, and each was built on the next larger frame size compared to the .22s and .38s that had been produced previously.
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