S&W 44 Spl beater value

[Chevelle SS]

I was at a gun show yesterday and one of the sellers had a S&W 44 special hand ejector with a 6.5" barrel in not too good of shape. It had been nickel plated at some point and some of the nickel finish had worn off, one of the "pearl" grips was cracked, and the barrel was a little worn with some very very light pitting. Plus, it had a bit of a flame cut. Lockup and timing were good, but not like new. Price is $525, he said he wont go lower than $475; what do you guys think the gun is worth? Sorry, no pictures.

 

[Radagast]

More info needed.
There were several .44 Hand Ejector models.
Triple Lock, serial range 1 - 15375.
.44 Hand Ejector 2nd Model, has no ejector shroud. serial range between 15375 & 60000.
.44 Hand Ejector 3rd Model, or Wolf & Klar. has ejector shroud. Serial range between 28353 & 61412.
.44 Hand Ejector Post War. Serial range S62489 to S75000.
.44 Hand Ejector 4th Model Serial rnage S75000 to S263000.

6.5 inch barrels were standard on the Triple Lock & 2nd Model, rare on the later models.

How much of the original nickel was left, percentage wise?
Are the grips plastic Franzite or mother of pearl?
Where the nickel has worn off is it flaking or simply rubbed down?
Is there any surface rust or pitting where the metal is bare?

 

[Drail]

If it had significant (noticeable) flame cutting then I would imagine it was in the hands of a handloader who believed in very hot loads at some point in its life. I have never seen flame cutting in a .44 revolver unless it was fed flamethrower handloads. I would have walked away.

 

[RealGun]

I think you should be talking to a gunsmith about customizing or restoration. Otherwise it becomes an ugly paperweight or expensive truck gun.

 

[Chevelle SS]

More info needed.

There were several .44 Hand Ejector models.

Triple Lock, serial range 1 - 15375.

.44 Hand Ejector 2nd Model, has no ejector shroud. serial range between 15375 & 60000.

.44 Hand Ejector 3rd Model, or Wolf & Klar. has ejector shroud. Serial range between 28353 & 61412.

.44 Hand Ejector Post War. Serial range S62489 to S75000.

.44 Hand Ejector 4th Model Serial rnage S75000 to S263000.



6.5 inch barrels were standard on the Triple Lock & 2nd Model, rare on the later models.



How much of the original nickel was left, percentage wise?

Are the grips plastic Franzite or mother of pearl?

Where the nickel has worn off is it flaking or simply rubbed down?

Is there any surface rust or pitting where the metal is bare?

Has no ejector shroud so must be second model.

Not sure if it is the original finish. The finish looked "too good" to be original to me.

I don't know the difference between the grips. Felt a little plasticky.

Finish wise it appeared to be flaking in a few spots. The gun does look pretty nice though. There was some very minor pitting here and there but no rust.

 

[saltydog452]

I wouldn't know flame cutting if I srepped in it.

That said, I had a 4" 1926 that had, what I thought to be flame cutting. Come to find out that the supposed flame cutting was intentional from SW as a place for crud, lube, lead shavings to build up rather than hinder cylinder rotation.

Old Fuff should be around soon. It anyone knows, for sure, he'd be the guy.

salty

When I had all this concern about flame cutting was back when the .357 Maximun was being touted and cussed. There was lots of ink spilled about flame cutting. I showed the 44 Spcl to Jim Clark Sr and expressed my concern . His response was more of less..'don't worry about it. If it ever cuts, bring it back and I'll fix it. Doubt that you'll ever bring it back'.

sd.

 

[Drail]

Some combinations of powder type and bullet weight will produce serious flame cutting. Speer No. 11 had some light weight/BlueDot loads that damaged a lot of forcing cones (seems people liked them). They removed those loads from the next Volume. It's not a matter of weakening the structural integrity of the gun but accuracy will become degraded if you keep it up. Seeing as how there should be plenty of used .44 Spl. revolvers out there that have for the most part only used with anemic factory loads I would keep looking.

 

[Iggy]

Re: Flame cutting.

Those old timers had a black powderfouling cup in the topstrap above the forcing cone to prevent build up restricting the rotation of the cylinder. Some old timers
referred to it as the thumbnail.

There appears to be a bit of flame cutting at the front of the cup in this picture.

 

[Chevelle SS]

^thats what it had

 

[Jaymo]

Iggy, why does that revolver look like a well seasoned cast iron skillet?

 

[Drail]

Wd 40. Don't need to worry about THAT forcing cone......

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Iggy, why does that revolver look like a well seasoned cast iron skillet?

LOL!

 

[Radagast]

Based on your description, I'd buy it.
For reference, the gun sounds to be in good condition if refinished, trending to very good if original. In 2006 the Standard Catalog of S&W gave a value of $450 for good, $575 for very good. Throw in some inflation and the guys asking price is on the money.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

This is a 2nd Model 44 Hand Ejector. Notice the lack of a shroud under the barrel, just a lug.





This is the relief cut on the underside of a Triple Lock (1st Model 44 Hand Ejector.) You can see a bit of flame cutting. Flame cutting is always a straight line across the top strap in line with the barrel/cylinder gap.




Colts had the same relief cut. This one was made in 1909. Notice there is a bit of flame cutting too.



For what its worth, I have never seen the point to the relief cut. I have fired thousands of Black Powder rounds through my Colts. Even after 100 rounds, the relief does not fill up with crud. It really has no effect.

The price of the old 44 Hand Ejectors is always going up. If I found one for $525 I would grab it and run for the door, unless it was an absolute dog.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=437362128

Driftwood, whip out the wallet man! It's only $3000 to start the bidding on this one, in absolute mint condition.