These .44 Specials are not often found for sale, so when the opportunity arose, I took it...This one has a 5" barrel and original nickel finish...The gun is way too early to have been shipped with the Magnas it wore when I received it, so I replaced them with correct era service stocks...The gun shows no sign of refinish and all metal numbers match...There are no service codes...
A new arrival is this 2" barreled square butt M&P...It arrived with all matching metal numbers, but the wrong grips...I decided to put this in my EDC rotation, replacing my 99 year old M&P Target...Magna stocks don't fit my hand well, so I resurrected a pair of unrelieved Target stocks not more than a year or two newer than the gun,.,Shipped March 1951...
From 1950 when production began until production ended, there were only 1200 .44 Special Military Models of 1950 produced...This includes those that carried the Model 21 designation after 1957...I do not have a breakdown of this number by barrel length...This one came to me with a beautifully crafted solid brass grip adaptor...I noticed while processing the photos below that the grip adapter appears discolored or tarnished; this is a result of the lighting and shadows used in taking the photos...It is actually bright and shiny...
All numbers match including the original Magna stocks...S&WHF letter is included...After receiving this gun I was informed by the seller it was formerly carried on duty by a Kansas City Missouri Police Department officer (possibly a detective) and he remembered he also had the 3 speedloaders he carried and his badge, all of which he sent to me...I added a KCPD shoulder patch, and my plan is to repurpose one of my empty S&W presentation cases to hold all these items...
