Show me your 44's!

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Other than an Old Model S&W break-top 44 Russian, this is the only one left. Frame is a Colt New Service .455 Webley, cylinder is from a 38 Special and barrel is a Green Mountain cut off special. Barrel is five inches so I could carry it in a holster if I wanted, and as heavy as I could make it and have the ejector rod swing under the barrel. Rear sight is a S&W J frame and front, at least temporarily, a Lyman 94 Winchester bead. Not great looking, but a great shooter.
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Cherokee

Medina, Ohio
Well, here is a Ruger OM 357 converted to 44 Special by Andy Horvath, Ruger 44 mag barrel. Shoots great.
9197

Another shot of it:
9198

Also got this old thing:
9200
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Two N-frame Lew Horton specials, both made in '85:Webp.net-resizeimage.jpgWebp.net-resizeimage-2.jpg

S&W Model 624 (no dash), 6 1/2", square butt, .44 Special. I've had Pachmayr and Hogue grips on it, but prefer the original Target grips, only because they don't allow the backstrap to smack the web of my hand, when shooting Mr. Keith's loads. Purchased new-in-the-box 12-97 for $299.
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S&W Model 24-3, 3", round butt, .44 Special. The factory original Combat grips fit my hand perfectly. Purchased used 5-01 for $400. It came with its black leather factory holster, but it's left-handed. So, if anyone has a factory righty and needs a lefty, perhaps we can trade.
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Ian

Notorious member
29-3, .44 Magnum. No famous names attached. Case by me, ca. 2008, for my late FIL.

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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Nice case Ian.

Here is mine. Bought this from Rick a couple years ago and boy do I appreciate it. This revolver is everything I was hoping it would be. Rick, this revolver has a new home and a happy home. It is much appreciated.
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This is all I feed it. Tried other loads but once I found his one I stopped looking.
NOE HG 503 at 265 gr, Starline brass, and 4.5 gr of Titegroup. Runs 725 FPS and does all I need.

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Ian

Notorious member
Finally we get to see it, what a sweet piece Brad. Rick is gonna cry a little.

Thanks for the compliments, gentlemen. Sorry I don't have anything more interesting or custom for a .44 revolver, almost didn't post after seeing some of the beauties you all have! I tend to spend my money on .45-caliber things. I made the case with all the enthusiasm of a young man wooing the daughter of the revolver's owner. Evidently he liked it, I got the girl and after he died some years later we discovered that the case....and revolver...were specifically willed to me. The revolver likes an old Ideal SC 429421hp with radius lube groove cast of 16:1 over 19.6 grains of 2400, lubed with FWFL, in Federal brass, sparked with a Federal standard primer. 2.5"/5-shots from bags at 100 yards has happened far too many times to be a fluke.

Someone fill me in on Lew Horton?
 
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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Ian, that revolver and load is in my avatar.

I do have a SRH in 44 mag but it is a bench gun more than anything. Shoots better than I do with the right load.
 

Ian

Notorious member
:embarrassed: oh. Last time I paid any attention to your avatar you was wearing a sequinned sombrero and then a gearbox lookin' thing....
 

Wiresguy

Active Member
My 24-3. A previous owner was proud of it. He had the action slicked up and jeweled the hammer and trigger. It had Pachmayrs on it when I bought it about 10 years ago. Also have a Lipsey's SS Flattop Bisley Blackhawk 44 Special, but no photo of it.

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Jeff H

NW Ohio
I've had a lot of 44s (Specials, mostly) but this one is the one I always wanted. I've had a bunch of them (to include a converted OM 357), but this one was the one I always envisioned as being the "right" one.

My "final" 44 Special is a Flat Top 44 Special NM with a SBH hammer, Belt Mountain base pin, a proper "trigger job" and an aluminum XR3-RED grip frame and factory walnut grips. The grips shown were passed to a friend who kept his (narrow) steel grip frame. The black cheese-grater grips were pawned off on the guy who bought the steel grip frame.

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462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Brad,
A heads up that you and Rick may, or may not, be aware of:
A batch of stainless steel S&W used to manufacture some of the Lew Horton 3" and 6 1/2" 624 cylinders was later found not to specification. Somewhere, on the Internet, is a list of affected serial numbers. S&W does not recommend shooting the guns, and there is no recourse. Mine is not on the list, but a friend's 3"er is.

A 4 5/8", blued .44 Special, Ruger New Model Flattop is number one on my list.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I looked and far as I can tell his one is good to go.
I really wish S&W would bring some of these revolvers back. Maybe a nice 32 H&R too?
 

Wiresguy

Active Member
The topic of cylinder steel in the 624 has generated much conjecture.

This link has some info - check out post #17. (NOT saying this is the LAST WORD on the subject, but might be interesting to some.)
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Ian, if I understood your question correctly, Lew Horton is a distributor, one of the ones which gets
the factory to make "interesting" non-cataloged variations which they, apparently, take the whole
run of, and do the marketing risk themselves, ending the risk of the factory being stuck with a bunch
of "oddball" guns.

Talo and Lipsey's do this, too.

Bill
 
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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
The topic of cylinder steel in the 624 has generated much conjecture.

This link has some info - check out post #17. (NOT saying this is the LAST WORD on the subject, but might be interesting to some.)
Pretty much the same info I found.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
No pics here of my 44s. I have a Uberti Cattleman in 44/40 WCF, and just a few months ago scored a new Ruger Bisley Hunter x 7.5" in 44 Magnum. That one hasn't been shot (yet), though it did go along on a rat-strafing safari last month in the United States. That was all rifle-work, and not much of that between gale-force winds and horizontal blizzards. Ground squirrels had better sense than we did, and stayed indoors.

I wouldn't mind a nice S/A 44 Special of some sort, with 4-3/4" barrel. "Need" has nothing to do with it.
 
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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Agreed, a nice 4 3/4” 44 special SA would be good.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I have an identical 3" Lew Horton 24-3 as pictured above, and the right hand factory holster. Wonderful piece and easy to shoot. Also have a near stock, ugly Charter 44 BullDog. Love that gun, sharp edges and all. Nothing wrong with it a session with a few files and stones and the addition of an adjustable sight wouldn't fix. As it is, it's a very reliable working gun.

Ric in Yakima, I like it! I've been thinking of adding a J frame rear sight to my Colt Army Special 32-20 for years. Just haven't got the guts to try it. It's a snapper with the hog wallow in the top strap, but the front would need to be higher and I haven't got that figured out yet.