Look What Followed Me Home Today

D

Driftwood Johnson

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Howdy

Just took a couple of quick shots of this one on my work bench. 38-44 Heavy Duty. Got a factory letter with it. Shipped to a hardware store in St Louis in 1931. Pretty good shape, but not so pristine that I will be reluctant to shoot it.

38-44%20HD%2039066%2002_zpsi2wve4o2.jpg


38-44%20HD%2039066%2001_zpsjdlbmgc6.jpg
 
interesting caliber
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Not really. The 38-44 was just a big, heavy framed 38 Special revolver. It was developed in 1930 to fire special hot loaded 38 Special Ammunition that would have probably blown up a standard K frame 38. The name 38-44 means it is 38 caliber, but is built on the large N frame originally developed for 44 Special revolvers. The 38-44 came in two versions, the one I have had fixed sights and was known as the 38-44 Heavy Duty. The adjustable sight version was known as the 38-44 Outdoorsman.

The 38-44 eventually led to the development of the 357 Magnum cartridge and the Registered Magnum revolvers in 1935.
 
If you don't shoot that beauty,,,,,, you voted for H,,,,,,
No sorry that's tooo bad..
Care to share the $$$$$ you paid for it?
I have one in 44 special and if I ever find one in 38 for sale,,,, its going home.

This is another one of those gun finds, you wish it had a USB connector so you could download his history.
 
That is a great find, I haven't seen an interesting revolver in my LGS for a few years now. Congrats on the new addition, now how well does it shoot?
 
Cool. The one I have is from 1937 and I had it lettered. It was also shipped to a sporting goods store in St. Louis...Leacock Sporting Goods. By chance, is that where yours was shipped?
 
Like I told Cajun, I had one that was rechambered to .357 Magnum. Never had a problem. Way way overbuilt!

Good gun there.

Deaf
 
Are these safe to fire .38 special +P in?
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Howdy Again

At first I though you were serious. Then I saw the smiley face. For those who don't know, the 38 Special High velocity rounds this revolver was designed for probably approached 357 Magnum in pressure. Take a look at how much steel surrounds the chambers. This thing could eat 38 Special +P like popcorn.


38-44%20HD%2039066%20chambers_zps8d4rplxu.jpg





Dimensionally, it is just about identical to a Model 27 or 28. Here it is with a Model 28-2. The cylinders are the same diameter and there is the same amount of steel surrounding each chamber. Of course modern steel is going to be a bit stronger, but by the 1930s S&W had pretty well perfected hardening cylinders, so this was a very strong gun.

38-44%20HD%2039066%20and%20Model%2028-2_zpsb266ghft.jpg



Care to share the $$$$$ you paid for it?
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Nope, that is confidential information. It was not cheap though.


Cool. The one I have is from 1937 and I had it lettered. It was also shipped to a sporting goods store in St. Louis...Leacock Sporting Goods. By chance, is that where yours was shipped?
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Nope. As I said before this one shipped to a hardware company. Shapleigh Hardware Co. in St Louis. I looked it up on the web and the Shapleigh company looks like it was a pretty big outfit. As was common at the time, many hardware stores carried guns. I have found several references to S&W revolvers being shipped to this company. Their 1935 catalog listed about six pages of revolvers. For what it's worth, this 38-44 was one of 20 (yes 20) sent to Shapleigh Hardware, on September 18, 1931, and they were billed at $21.90 each. That is of course the wholesale price, the retail price would have been a bit higher.

No, I don't know how it shoots yet, I just got it yesterday.

I'll let you know.
 
Well, duh. If I would have read your post closer I would have seen "hardware". I just noticed St. Louis and started assuming.
 
Very nice.
I've been on the look out for one of those for awhile. No luck yet at the price I want to spend...
 
Nope, that is confidential information. It was not cheap though.
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Understand,,, I have a small heard of N's and some I paid to much for them but when you see a nice N from the 60 or 70's one thing for sure, the price wont go down and you wont find many more like yours
 

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Drifty, I don't think Smith advertised their K frames for 38/44s but do remember Colt OPs and D frames advertised for handling that caliber. Do you really think the K frames would "blow up" using 38/44s?[
 
Howdy Again

I have seen those advertisements. Don't forget that Official Police was built on a larger frame than a K frame Smith, so it had a heftier cylinder. I am not sure about Colt frame sizes, so I cannot speculate on the D frame. Is that the same size as a Colt Police Positive Special?

Anyhoo, I have seen those advertisements, and I am not so sure those Colt guns could have stood up to the 38/44 ammo. Perhaps.

It may be an overstatement to say that a K frame Smith would have blown up with the 38/44 loads, but they sure were not designed for such heavy loads. It took a bunch of years and improvements in metallurgy before S&W felt comfortable chambering a K frame revolver for the 357 Magnum load. When they tested the first 357 Combat Magnums they were not at all sure what was going to happen.

Please don't call me Drifty.
 
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