[vato]

found a guy that wants to sell me a 38/44 for $450.oo and im not sure if i should. its in ok shape few scratches and some blue missing he claims it an older one from the fifties. so ,canor should i let this one get away?
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z320/jrbalde/ebay_photos_April_2008_025.jpg

[spwenger]

...for $400. I don't know if you consider yourself a S&W collector. Assuming it's in good shape mechanically (and I'd guess it was probably some cop's duty gun and was carried more than it was shot), it should be able to shoot hot .38 Special loads all day long without showing any wear for it.

[Bullet Bob]

I would need to see better pictures to be sure, but I think there's a good chance it's been re-blued.

[Hansli]

That plum colored cylinder tells me the same. Unless it's the light. I will say that I would buy it as is for 4. I have a 5" like that and you can shoot +p+ or just plinkers. Smooth heavyweights of excellent manufacture.

[SaxonPig]

That gun was made before World War II. I can tell by the hammer and the dimple under the cylinder release which was deleted in 1944. It's a 5" model and that was most common pre-war length. Most common post-war model is the 4" barrel.

May be refinished. I would snap it up at $350. At $400 I would seriously consider it. At $450 I would pass but I already have two of these. If I didn't have any I might go the $450 and I suspect if advertised at that price it would sell. Clean ones fetch $500-$600 all the time.

Here's a post-war 38/44. Note the difference in the hammer shape from the gun you are considering..


http://www.fototime.com/0039AE7A86CBEA3/standard.jpg

[Oro]

A nice gun, a bit heavy for a .38, but it does have a mediocre re-blue job on it.

[rcmodel]

+1 on the three-tone re-blue job.

And those post-war grips probably don't belong on it either.

rcmodel