Our readers are special! In a .44 kind of way

Guns Magazine, Dec, 2008 by John Taffin

I consider myself a connoisseur. Not of fine wines or delicacies, but rather of sixguns and cartridges. As a Cartridge Connoisseur I am one of the special group of sixgunners over the past century who truly appreciate that finest of all sixgun cartridges, the .44 Special. Yes, I know it is been overshadowed by the magnums and then bigger magnums and then even bigger magnums.

However, the .44 Special and its original home, the Smith & Wesson New Century, 1st Model Hand Ejector, or as it is more lovingly known, the TripleLock made all subsequent cartridges and sixguns possible. The sixgun itself was used as the platform for the .38-44 Heavy Duty, the .38-44 Outdoorsman, the .357 Magnum, subsequent .44 Specials, the Model 1926 and the 1950 Target, the 1950 Target .45ACP, and then the crowning achievement, the .44 Magnum in the 1955. The .44 Special cartridge was simply lengthened to become the .44 Magnum, and the .44 Magnum opened the door for the long line of big bore cartridges which followed.

When the .44 Magnum arrived on the scene, .44 Special sixguns were mostly pushed aside. Elmer Keith retired his .44 Specials and took to the .44 Magnum as one would expect since he had been trying to get the ammunition factories to produce a powerful .44 Special load for 30 years. Skeeter Skelton, who was also a true connoisseur of the .44 Special, sold his 4" 1950 Target and took up the 4" .44 Magnum for law enforcement duties. He soon found that was a major mistake and went back to the .44 Special and then spent much of his life writing about the joys of the Special. He single-handedly resurrected the .44 Special in the 1970s.

I also spent much time shooting the .44 Magnum, however as I grew older I began once again to appreciate the .44 Special and have been doing my best to carry on what Skeeter Skelton started. I have had a lot of help from readers over the past decade or so. My thirst for .44 Specials is insatiable, I'm an addict, and many readers are enablers. Readers who are truly "special" .44-style as they have not only helped me find some really great .44 Special sixguns they also came up with some real bargains in the process.

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My latest .44 Special acquisition is a perfect example of how readers fuel my passion. A couple years ago Clint Smith paid me a high compliment. He called me "the old guy" and then said "Young guys should spend time with old guys--they know stuff." Even I realize this as I spend time with even older guys who know stuff. One of my favorite older guys is one of our readers, sixgunsmith Jim Martin. Jim is the one responsible for putting the two Great Western .45s, which appeared on the first cover of this magazine in January 1955, in shape so I could shoot them for our 50th Anniversary issue. They were very early Great Westerns and were not really right when they left the factory. Jim corrected that error in spades.

Jim and I talk frequently as he is a true walking encyclopedia when it comes to Colt Single Actions. Last month he called me to let me know he had tuned and tightened a 3rd Generation 7-1/2" New Frontier .44 Special and the owner said it wouldn't shoot. Jim said the fellow wanted to sell it and was asking $600. He hardly got those words out of his mouth before I said, "Sold." It arrived at Buckhorn Gun & Pawn the next morning and within the hour I was shooting it. With 260-grain bullets of the proper diameter and over a favored load it cut 1-hole groups and shot right to point of aim. It would have been a bargain at twice the price.

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Earlier this summer Cactus Tubbs, a reader who is now my good friend, stopped by while he was in town. He lives about 50 miles away and before coming to my place he had stopped at Boise Gun Co. and came away with one of a consecutively numbered pair of USFA 4-3/4" Rodeos in .44 Special and proceeded to enable me with, "You really need to have the other one." The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Diamond Dot, said we had the money so she began the pre-sale negotiations over the phone. I now have another .44 Special.

One just doesn't find .44 Specials in every gunshop nor even often on the Internet gun sales and auction sites. I can't be everywhere at once and, fact is, I can rarely handle being one place at once, however readers supply many pairs of eyes and legs for me. It all started about 10 years ago and since that time I have added a Baker's dozen .44 Specials to my shooting collection. The emphasis is on shooting as I am normally not interested in high-dollar collector's items. Perhaps as I grow older this will change, but for right now I am interested in good shooters in excellent condition.

Not So Bisley

The first reader to ever contact me about a .44 Special had called to ask about the Bisley Model he had which happened to be in .44 Special. Now Colt never made, as far as we know, a Bisley Model .44 Special. Any Bisley so configured has to be a conversion. He gave me the serial number which was not a Bisley number but rather a 2nd Generation Single Action. He decided to send it to me so I could check it out. It turned out to be a nickel-plated .44 Special with a blued barrel and cylinder.