Roscoe, the Triple-lock, has arrived

[Hawg Rider]

Ahead of their time?

I'm in the camp with those that are strongly suggesting that you just leave that fine old revolver as it is. Clean it, wax it, and you'll have a great conversation piece. I'll bet, with some caution, it's a fine shooter. Yes, it's a Triplelock, but obviously back in the day someone felt the need to have it modified to suit their needs...perhaps a cop or a gangster? In many ways, Fitz and Frisbie and some of their modifications were 80 years ahead of their time. Just compare with recent big bore snubbies- 629s, 329s, etc. Would I prefer to have a Triplelock in original condition? Sure. Would I have bought this one if the price was right? Absolutely.

 

[Modified]

Sure. Would I have bought this one if the price was right? Absolutely.

Hah, the price was sure right. A very kind forum member here pointed it out to me and then I was on pins and needles to see if anyone else would outbid my $650 opening bid. Thankfully for me no one else did. Bad pictures are always a gamble, especially with such a gun, but it paid off this time in my opinion.

Most of my 'novelty' guns were bought on such gambles, and I have to say I wouldn't like them nearly so much had I paid a higher price for them.

 

[Modified]

Buddy of mine is visiting, he's enjoying pawing through my guns and shooting pics, thought this one may prove enjoyable here:

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

Not a Triple Lock but I did Fitz it. Don't like the rounding of the grip on the op's TL. I like the look and feel of a square butt.

 

[Modified]

So, I've been poking around on Frank Frisbie and found something in a book of mine:

The late Frank Frisbie altered a fine Triple Lock Target .44 Special for a pocket gun. He cut out the front of the trigger guard, an alteration I do not approve of at all. He removed the hammer spur so it could not catch on the clothing or pocket in fast work and he changed the back strap to about the same shape and angle as the S. A. Colt so the gun would roll upward in the hand and cushion recoil of my heavy loads. He liked the over all job with barrel cut off at the end of the ejector housing leav¬ ing it with a length of 3!4 inches. It was a splendid arm for its purpose but I would have much preferred the regular S. & W. grip with its hump. I find I need that hump. For me at least, it is a necessity for fast double action fire. Without it the gun will crawl downward in my hand until the hammer spur hits the web between thumb and finger and ties up the gun. The Frisbie Triple Lock S. & W. did, however, point wonderfully well. My personal preference leans toward the Smith & Wesson .44 Special or .357 Magnum with a 4 inch barrel carried in a holster, and with no alterations on the guard or straps. In my book they are about perfect as they come from the factory.

One additional thing, opinions would be welcome:

See here this weird little shadow in the picture of Frank's gun from the American Rifleman article?

And here are some zoomed in shots of my gun:

What this is (on my gun upon inspection) is that this pin was inserted into the gun rotated after the top had been rounded off in the original construction of the gun.

You can see the whole section there is rolled over.


It's clearly the exact same thing in Frank's gun, same angle and everything. I hope to get some time to try to reproduce the exact angle of the shot in the American Rifleman article for better comparison.


So my question is: did this pin get turned in this way a lot on these old Triple Locks? Anyone else seen this?

Or is my gun Frank's gun...just with more stuff done to it after it was pictured for the article?

The thing is that there's nothing on the American Rifleman gun picture that precludes it from being my gun. My gun is simply taken further along.

 

[Hondo44]

I think there is one thing that precludes it from being your gun, the bottom of the frame where the trigger guard was cut away:

Your gun has a little more metal left at that point facing the trigger. It's not likely and serves no purpose for metal to have been added at that spot on your gun. But I highly suspect that both guns were modified by the same person. And if there's two of them, there was possibly a few more made.

 

[Hondo44]

The pin you're comparing was originally fully domed at the factory but as I recall at some point they began polishing them flush. So if both guns you're comparing were early enough to have the pins left domed at the factory, and if they are two different guns, whomever modified the two guns likely modified both pins the same way.