S&W Model 21 .44 Special: stealing some of Clint Smith's thunder

Guns Magazine, July, 2005 by Mike Venturino

Back in July 2003 I wandered into the Bozeman, Montana, gun show shortly after telling a friend that only one thing would tempt any money out of my wallet. That would be a S&W Model 1950 Military .44 Special, otherwise known as Model 21. I also said any of the barrel lengths--4", 5" or 6 1/2"--would be OK. But given my druthers I'd like the 5" length. My friend laughed and said, "Good luck! They only made 1,200 of those. Fat chance of finding one in a small Montana gun show."

Not 10 minutes into the show I found myself looking down precisely at that handgun. It had a 4" barrel and fairly high price tag, but without dickering very hard I paid the fellow and went home a very happy gun buyer. A handgun that had eluded me for nigh on 40 years was now in my hands: albeit not with the exact barrel length desired.

Fast forward to November 2003. Now I was at Thunder Ranch shooting beside Clint on the first day of an Old Rifle Class. Just for fun I was also packing that same 4" .44 Special. It began to rain--I mean one of those Texas gully-washer rains. Clint turned to me and said, "Why don't you put that .44 in your van. I don't want it rusty when I buy it." I didn't even know I going to sell it.

Would I actually sell a handgun that had taken me so many years to find? Yes, I would because just the month before I had gotten another one sporting the 5" barrel I was most partial to. John Taffin was kind enough to put me onto its owner because John already had a Model 21. Clint got my .44 that week and, after firing it a bit, turned and said, "You know, this would made a fine fighting revolver."

Now Clint isn't one to let grass grow under his feet. By January of 2004 at the SHOT Show he had Smith & Wesson interested in making a Thunder Ranch revolver. Smith & Wesson's Tony Miele, Clint, Roy Huntington, and myself had dinner together at that SHOT Show and what did we talk about mostly? Handguns. Not ones made of some material looking like walls of a toilet stall. We were talking blue steel revolvers.

Now the following is impressive. When I was back at Thunder Ranch in April 2004, who also happened to be there? Tony Miele. And what did he have with him? The prototype of Smith & Wesson's Thunder Ranch revolver, which, not coincidentally, was patterned almost exactly like the 4" Model 1950 Military that I sold Clint not six months before. How's that for the wheels turning fast? Even better, a scant six months later I took delivery of my very own Smith & Wesson Model 21-4.44 Special Thunder Ranch revolver serial number TR0010.

The Thunder Ranch .44 Special revolver, AKA Smith & Wesson Model 21-4 is certainly a throw back to those 1950s and 1960s revolvers I grew up with. It is blue steel and nicely polished to boot. On the left side of the frame is the Thunder Ranch logo in gold plate. Hammer and trigger are color case hardened steel. On the left side of the barrel is stamped ".44 S&W SPECIAL CTG." Grips are wood with round butt because all S&W N-frames now have the round-butt grip frame. I am especially partial to its sights because they are fixed; a half moon front and a groove down the revolver's top-strap for a rear sight. My gun's double-action trigger pull is very smooth and reminds me of the DA pulls on some of my 1950s-vintage S&Ws. Its SA pull is four pounds.

Fixed sights need be regulated for one weight of bullet. Although Black Hills Ammunition made a special run of .44 Specials with 250-grain SWC bullets and cases saying Thunder Ranch for head-stamp, Smith & Wesson decided to regulate the new Model 21-4s for 200-grain bullets. Their reasoning was that the special run of Black Hills Thunder Ranch .44s would disappear fast, and people needed the guns sighted for something readily available. That was good thinking because I didn't even manage to land a box of the Black Hills 250-grain loads. No problem. When I'm carrying my new TR .44 seriously it can be loaded with either Federal or Winchester 200-grain HP loads. When shooting for fun and practice it can use the Black Hills 210-grain "Cowboy" load, or my own handloads with 200-grain or so bullets. With 240- to 250-grain bullets, its point of impact is a few inches high depending on range, and I'm very partial to the Redding/SAECO No. 442, 252-grain roundnose in my other .44 Specials.

Some died-in-the-wool Smith & Wesson traditionalists have taken a few potshots at the new Model 21-4. Collectively, they don't like the round butt, lack of firing pin on the hammer, key-lock, or MIM trigger and hammer. Here's my answer to all that. I don't know what MIM means. When and if my hammer or trigger breaks, then I won't like MIM either. Firing pin on hammer? I can't see the front of the hammer when I'm shooting the gun--at least if I do I'd better not pull the trigger! Key-lock? As far as I'm concerned it is not there. I never unpacked the key when I did the revolver, and honestly don't even know where it is.

And last, I don't like the round butt either. With the first 100 rounds fired, the factory grips wore a hole in the web of my shooting hand. But there's an easy remedy. I called my friend Raj at Eagle Grips and had him send me a set of his new walnut Heritage grips, which are patterned after the old S&W "coke bottle" shaped grips of the 1950s. They can be had to fit a round butt S&W N-frame and instantly convert it to a square butt. Mine now make the new TR .44 an exceedingly comfortable handgun to shoot.