[Doc44]

Charles Connors was the President of S&W's Midwestern Sales Group and received three of the first seven 44 Magnums made by S&W. They were made on January 30, 1956 shipped on January 31. Serial numbers are S130847, S130889, and S130938. The location of S130889 is unknown. S130847 (shown below) became the personal revolver of Mr. Connors and stayed in his family until being purchased in 1996. It shows use (no abuse) and the stocks were changed to smooth Goncalo alves. A good move for anyone who wanted to shoot the 44 Magnum!

Bill

 

[DHENRY]

Bill,
Mr. Connors (and you!) make good sense in the use of those smooth G.A.'s for shooting the .44 Magnum.
Checkering just wears your hand down too quickly.
He obviously took great care of his gun, and you have a neat piece of Smith & Wesson history there.
Thank you for posting another super photo.
The gun pictured below is one I bought because it was shipped on my birthday, July 26th.
The smooth G.A.'s on it were originally mounted on Emerson Axe's Registered Magnum during the brief time he was Board Chairman at S&W.
They make this 44 Magnum much more pleasant to shoot!
Don

 

[SaxonPig]

I have to have checkering on hard kicking revolvers or the gun goes in the weeds.

How do you hang onto a 44 with smooth stocks?

 

[Doc44]

Don....Very nice 44 Magnum and stocks!! Is the 44 factory engraved? I also have one that shipped on July 26, 1956 (my 12th birthday), S130705. It has the lowest s/n known for a 44 Magnum.

Bill

 

[DHENRY]

Bill,
This one shipped on July 26th, 1957.
That made me 13 :lol: .
Don't know who did the engraving, but it's first-rate.
I'm bringing the gun to Detroit in hopes you can identify the engraver.
Looks like Russell Smith's work.
Don

 

[Ralph G]

Amazing guns gents !!!

I was just thinking ....... Their old !! :lol:

 

[WGlide90]

Hi Guys,

I guess that makes Bill and Don twins! You both have some great pieces of history as well.

Always love the stories of history behind your guns, Bill, Don.

I'll have some pics of my more recent examples soon!

Dave

 

[WGlide90]

Bill, Don are you guys coming to the show in Novi in Feb?

I just talked to my buddy on the phone and he told me about the show. I believe Feb 14, 15!? Could be different weekend, not sure.

We're going.

Dave

 

[Hunter]

Man this place is great!!! And those guns are awesome!!

 

[Doc44]

Don...I will look forward to seeing your 44 Magnum. My next show will be Tulsa in April.

Bill

 

[onenut58]

I would be over whelmingly over joyed to own a registered magnum. A pre 29 or 27 and I see some of you guys posting pics of multiple ones in here. Even engraved ones,I just love seeing pictures of them.I feel like a little kid in a big candy store and no money. But I still enjoy looking and salivating.Some time in the future I will have a pre 27 and pre 29 come hell or high water.
This site is absolutely great and the knowledge and imformation here is un believable. Just in the couple weeks I have been here I have seen and learned more than I could in years just surfing the net reading articles.I wish guys like DHenry and Doc here were my nieghbors just so I could see all there guns and pick there brains.

 

[landspeedracer]

I just traded for a super nice and if fired it was very seldom Pre Model 29 built in 1956 with the five screws, pinned barrel and recessed cylinder bore. Now I will attempt to do the impossible for me, post a decent picture.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Very nice, Garrell! I really like those cokes on it!

 

[Curt360]

Beautiful revolver. A .44 is one on my list to get.

 

[saemetric]

What are the other two screws in the sideplate for?

 

[Wiregrassguy]

It's a 5 screw sideplate. Hmmm. I totally missed them.