Actually, until you know a lot more, unless YOU look at the gun in YOUR hands it's the only way YOU can evaluate....
Please help with .44 5 screw
- Thread starter Brillo
- Start date
Actually, until you know a lot more, unless YOU look at the gun in YOUR hands it's the only way YOU can evaluate....
I think the various contributors to the Thread have done a very fine job of identifying and evaluating the details and originality-related questions of this interesting and appealing old Revolver.
Working from images is often much more difficult, and subtle, than when one is able to hold the Gun itself.
Features or details about the finish particularly, and which parts are finished how, which in person can be obvious in an instant, can take some careful and patient looking to discover, when all one has is some ( typically less than ideally lit or composed ) pictures on a computer screen.
When someone writes in with questions about the condition/originaity or model or rarity and so on of an old S & W, it is not as if there is any other option than to regard the images they happen to Post, and, to ask for more or more specific images in order to answer their interest in being informed about the Arm they have written in about.
Much of the value and reputation of this Forum, derives from the generosity of people here who have long, careful and practical scholarship and hard won experience with these Arms, and who are easy-going-gracious enough to share it with us, experience which enables them to discern features and distguishing attributes and details which others would not know of, or even think to look for, or would not know how to look for if they wanted to.
It is not as if there are any Books which can guide one through most of these things, either.
And, occasional errors in observation or in mis-attributing or mis-identifying details by neophytes, such as I sometimes make in Posts, tend to receive friendly and constructive corrections by those who do know their subject, so, it really works out very well, is a good mix, and is a great place to learn.
I know of no finer Forum than this one.
I wouldn't worry too much about this. Service revolvers get worn, scuffed and scratched to a degree that is not seen on guns that do not get daily exposure to the real world. Many retired law enforcement guns are refinished just to give them their youth back. They may not have been shot very much at all, but simply being in the weather and handled at least twice every 24 hours will take a toll on appearance over 30 years or so.
One of my favorite revolvers is an Austin PD .38/44 Heavy Duty. There are two or three hundred of these guns around, and I think they have all been refinished.
Fine gun. Apart from the nickel hammer and trigger (and the cam plate for the third lock, which was also case colored on factory guns), the gun was attentively refinished -- no frame to side plate gully, pin ends not polished flat, and so forth. It may not have been a factory job, but it was a sensitive job.
The third lock is plated on the gun.Its a refinish.
HappyHunter
Member
And I agree!
rburg
Member
I don't agree the grips that it was supplied with had gold medallions. That early could very easily (and probably) had the concave non medallion grips. Those are like hens teeth to find. The ones on it now are probably about 1950 production, maybe earlier but surely not later. You can tell by the high shoulder instead of the later rounded contour.
There are some of these guns around still. Jim Fisher has one he campaigns around (but then he has nearly every gun that is rare.) His estimate a while back was that the short barrel guns were scarce and they only made about 50 of them in nickel. Makes me feel good because there's a well worn on in my piles of junk.
I'm not sure the hammer and trigger are nickel. They look in the photos to just be worn a bit.
On Muley's comments on David Carroll's duty gun, yes its a 5" third model with a Humpback Hammer. He refers to it as the old smoke pole and its a formidable weapon.
We're in the rare atmosphere with these guns. There are so few of them floating around we make some assumptions that may or may not be true.
The OP should take a day if he can and visit the newspaper morgue. Its very possible he could find some of the original articles on the players from the past. Surely any situation where a sheriff or deputy got shot and killed would cover the front pages for days afterwards. And then when they caught the bad guy again. If you've got the time and patience, its possible to put together a scrap book with all the information.
There are some of these guns around still. Jim Fisher has one he campaigns around (but then he has nearly every gun that is rare.) His estimate a while back was that the short barrel guns were scarce and they only made about 50 of them in nickel. Makes me feel good because there's a well worn on in my piles of junk.
I'm not sure the hammer and trigger are nickel. They look in the photos to just be worn a bit.
On Muley's comments on David Carroll's duty gun, yes its a 5" third model with a Humpback Hammer. He refers to it as the old smoke pole and its a formidable weapon.
We're in the rare atmosphere with these guns. There are so few of them floating around we make some assumptions that may or may not be true.
The OP should take a day if he can and visit the newspaper morgue. Its very possible he could find some of the original articles on the players from the past. Surely any situation where a sheriff or deputy got shot and killed would cover the front pages for days afterwards. And then when they caught the bad guy again. If you've got the time and patience, its possible to put together a scrap book with all the information.
I don't see a S&W logo on the sideplate, or if it's there, it is very faint. That's another sign of a refinish. The OP may want to read the thread Triple Digit Triplelock in the Notable Thread index. There are some very good pictures of what an originally configured triplelock looks like.
Talked to mom some more. He actually carried this gun in the 40s and 50s. We are checking to see if my grandmother had it refinished. The stamps on the barrel are faint and the S&W logo on the side plate can't be seen. So it's proly been refinished. But since I'm not looking to sell it, I'm fine with that. It's still a Triple Lock and history from my granddad. We are trying to contact people from the past and find out names of the officers that were killed in action with this gun to put in the shadow box. We know it was in St. Clair county in Alabama. Also going to buy a box of ammo and put it through the gun before I clean it and put it back in the shadow box. Thanks again for all the help. Whenever I can find out the info of the officers, I'll share it with the forum. Thanks again.
Deacon KC
Member
Thanks for sharing with us. And being in the South, it wouldn't have been uncommon to nickel plate for corrosion resistance. There is no way i would change the grips, they have been with the gun while serving.
Thanks I was thinking the same thing. Refinished or not it's still priceless to the family even with it's dark history.
Brillo as you know you have a wonderful family keepsake, take care of it.
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