Preacherman
Member
I was doing some other gun shopping at Clark Guns & Personal Safety in Bossier City, LA this afternoon, and had boxed up my purchases and turned to leave the store. As I did so, a blued revolver stuck away in one of their used gun display cases caught my eye. It looked like an early-model 5" tapered barrel... but on an N-frame? In a smallish bore?
I asked them to dig it out. Turns out it's a pre-WW2 S&W 38/44 Heavy Duty!!! The serial number confirms its age. It has the 5" thin-profile barrel, 5-screw frame, heavy target grips (which may be a later addition), etc. The previous owner, who died recently, had added a Micrometer target rear sight and Patridge-style front sight in the late 1940's - and done it in a very interesting way. The base for the Patridge sight is fairly high, wide and long, and it's secured to the barrel by two cross-pins, which I'm fairly sure go through the original half-moon sight, which is probably still under the base. The rear sight installation is also very well done: whoever did it very carefully milled out the rear third or so of the sight groove on the frame, and made a cut which takes the rear sight as if it was factory-installed. The forward two-thirds of the fixed sight groove have been left standard.
The blueing is rather worn in parts, but for a gun that's probably almost 70 years old, it's in remarkably good condition. There's a thick line around the cylinder, but again, for its age, it's OK. The previous owner had engraved his name on one side of the action, but it's not obtrusively done, and if anything adds character to the gun. The action is pretty tight, and the double-action and single-action trigger pulls are just plain MAGIC! The rifling is still in good condition, and there's no sign of pitting or anything else in the bore or on the exterior. This gun has been much used, but lovingly cared for!
Apparently the owner bought this gun used on his return from WW2, and modified it for use as a Bullseye target pistol. He kept on with this sport for decades, and the gun has probably had thousands and thousands of wadcutters through it. After he died, his family sold the gun, but the new owner decided he wanted something "more modern" (
), and traded it in at Clark's - to my great joy and speedy purchase! 
The best part of all was the price... I'm a regular customer at Clark's, so they give me a break on prices: but this gun wasn't moving for them (too "old-fashioned" for most of their modern customers!), so they basically gave it to me for what they had in it. $300 out the door!
I'd love to keep it, but I have a feeling Tamara will do unmentionable things to various portions of my anatomy if I don't let her have first dibs on it... and to be fair, her N-frame collection is rather larger than mine! So, Tams, stand by... after all, what are fellow moderators for?
I asked them to dig it out. Turns out it's a pre-WW2 S&W 38/44 Heavy Duty!!! The serial number confirms its age. It has the 5" thin-profile barrel, 5-screw frame, heavy target grips (which may be a later addition), etc. The previous owner, who died recently, had added a Micrometer target rear sight and Patridge-style front sight in the late 1940's - and done it in a very interesting way. The base for the Patridge sight is fairly high, wide and long, and it's secured to the barrel by two cross-pins, which I'm fairly sure go through the original half-moon sight, which is probably still under the base. The rear sight installation is also very well done: whoever did it very carefully milled out the rear third or so of the sight groove on the frame, and made a cut which takes the rear sight as if it was factory-installed. The forward two-thirds of the fixed sight groove have been left standard.
The blueing is rather worn in parts, but for a gun that's probably almost 70 years old, it's in remarkably good condition. There's a thick line around the cylinder, but again, for its age, it's OK. The previous owner had engraved his name on one side of the action, but it's not obtrusively done, and if anything adds character to the gun. The action is pretty tight, and the double-action and single-action trigger pulls are just plain MAGIC! The rifling is still in good condition, and there's no sign of pitting or anything else in the bore or on the exterior. This gun has been much used, but lovingly cared for!
Apparently the owner bought this gun used on his return from WW2, and modified it for use as a Bullseye target pistol. He kept on with this sport for decades, and the gun has probably had thousands and thousands of wadcutters through it. After he died, his family sold the gun, but the new owner decided he wanted something "more modern" (
), and traded it in at Clark's - to my great joy and speedy purchase! The best part of all was the price... I'm a regular customer at Clark's, so they give me a break on prices: but this gun wasn't moving for them (too "old-fashioned" for most of their modern customers!), so they basically gave it to me for what they had in it. $300 out the door!
I'd love to keep it, but I have a feeling Tamara will do unmentionable things to various portions of my anatomy if I don't let her have first dibs on it... and to be fair, her N-frame collection is rather larger than mine! So, Tams, stand by... after all, what are fellow moderators for?
