My first foray into the .44 Special realm........

[bobwright]

When I was very young, I sent off and bought, via mail order, a .45 Colt New Service revolver. It arrived in September, 1954, a date I count as my beginning as a handgunner. My gun was an ex-Canadian Mounties .455 Eley, a commercial model, that had been reamed to accept .45 Colt cartridges.

After taking my discharge from the U.S. Army in 1959, I began to get interested in the .44 Special, through a liberal reading of one Elmer Keith. Over a period of several months, the gun went from a .45 Colt to a .44 Special. Then I added the S&W rear sight (a story in itself) and a Micro ramp and blade, had the gun refinished, with all the lettering filled in with gold. Heavy .44 Special handloads really did a number on my shooting hand, and I made a pair of oversize target grips from scrap walnut. This tamed the gun down considerably and made it a pleasure to shot.

The gun broke the mainspring in the fall of 1971 and I put it in the shopfor repairs. While in that shop the gun was stolen, along with several others, by a break-in. I was compensated for it, but still................




Bob Wright

[RDW]

Man, i would have been so PISSED!

[ezekiel38]

Hate to hear of such a loss, handguns become treasures.

[bobwright]

Jun 24, 2020 10:00:26 GMT -5 RDW said:

Man, i would have been so PISSED!

We didn't know about that in those days.


Bob Wright

[magman]

That's horrible. Beautiful gun.

[RDW]

Jun 24, 2020 12:43:01 GMT -5 bobwright said:

Jun 24, 2020 10:00:26 GMT -5 RDW said:

Man, i would have been so PISSED!

We didn't know about that in those days.


Bob Wright

Well i certainly would not have been very happy that some one had stolen such a treasure! It makes it even worse when you have some historical interaction with the gun, (modifications, parts ,time ,money)
I had a 357 lifted from my dresser by an acquaintance of my roommate in 1985! Obviously he went thru my possessions one eve while i was not there and my roommate was preoccupied with a young lady.
Another acquaintance that was a mutual friend of both parties reported that he just showed up with it one day and recognized the brass grip frame on it. He had actually shot it before so he asked me if i was missing my 3 screw.
I looked and i was.. So he contacted him and myself and my roommate went over to his apt and met him in the parking lot. The gentleman that had informed me about this met us there.
I confronted this young man, he said he had bought it brand new. My roommate pulled it out from under his seat while i read the memorized serial number out to him. I informed him that he could not have bought it brand new in 1965 because we were both 3 years of age. Not to mention i had never even heard of a midframe with a large trigger and a brass dragoon gripframe with arizona rosewood grips on it being factory.He had a very bad day soon after. I can still feel the rage i was experiencing at that moment today. Just the sheer thought of a man stealing another mans gun just releases a very unpleasant instinct in me!.
Not to mention that it was a birthday present to me from my Grandfather who had passed away six years earlier. So i can only imagine your disappointment to lose such a nice piece with a history to you. So let me Rephrase my statement.
I WOULD HAVE BEEN MAD AS HELL! hahahaha

[RDW]

Mr Wright, Have you ever replaced it?

[taffin]

FORTUNATELY I STILL HAVE MINE

[taffin]

PLUS AN ORIGINAL .44 SPECIAL FLAT-TOP TARGET AND A CUSTOM .44 SPECIAL FITZ SPECIAL BY ANDY HORVATH

[bobwright]

Jun 24, 2020 13:24:38 GMT -5 RDW said:

Mr Wright, Have you ever replaced it?

I took a brand new Ruger Blackhawk .41 Magnum as compensation. Was my first, and only, .41 Magnum. Sure, I was disappointed but replacing that gun with a new Single Action sort of evened things up. In my mind, at least.


The .41 is the bottom gun in this photo:




This gun had a rather vicious recoil so I put a steel Super Blackhawk grips frame on it as my Super Blackhawk handled recoil so well. The .41 was really a nice gun but components were hard to come by in those days and soon traded it off.

So I never really mourned the loss of my .44. I did go for awhile without a .44 Special, but have rectified that situation in recent times.

(I'm sure you wish I could have answered you question with a simple "yes" or "no."



Bob Wright

[bobwright]

Mr. Taffin,

That custom .44 Special was my dream gun years back. I wrote Colt urging them to give it the same treatment as the Python and then they'd really have something.

Colt told me to mind my own business. They knew the market.

Bob Wright

[RDW]

(I'm sure you wish I could have answered you question with a simple "yes" or "no."

No No No No Sir i loved it.
Simple yes or no doesnt teach us anything!
I like the fact that you look at it as if a book closed and a new one opened.
I love my 41s. Revolvers just get so personal with me.
Thank you for your answer it was informative. Gives me a look see into what seems to be a great personality Mr Wright.
Ronnie

[tj3006]

John, that Flat top Target is beautiful , some of the old colt wooden grips, are just works of art, the checkering and the shape ! Someplace i saw a picture of on in 44 Russian ! looked like a brand new gun !

[x101airborne]

I am glad to see someone else prefers the Super Blackhawk frame. My Super in 44 Mag shoots like a tame kitten with full house loads yet those same loads out of a Smith 29 make me want to go fishing. I still have the 29, I just dumbed down the loads for it, which also means longer parts life. But for my Super?? FIRE IT UP!

[weiler]

among my favorite articles/stories are the ones detailing how “the older guys” got their first 44 special (especially all the work that went into it).

beautiful gun and great story