New Smith & Wesson No. 3 ‘Worth the Wait’

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 5/11/20 | M Nesbitt

[w1n1]

It took five years – and maybe a little begging on the author's part – but Taylor's and Company now offers their S&W New Model Frontier revolver in .44 Special, along with .45 Colt. Here's the review.
Five years ago, in the August 2015 issue, this column featured the New Model No. 3 Frontier revolver from Taylor's & Company in .45 Colt caliber. At that time the .45 was the only caliber offered and my story was concluded with – I'll admit – some rather straight-forward begging for this revolver to be available in .44 Russian or .44-40 caliber, and the .44 Special. I'm not trying to say that my story or my little bit of begging had any influence on Taylor's, but I am very pleased to say that the .44 Special versions of this fine revolver are here. And it was worth the wait!

In profile, this .44 Special doesn't look any different than the very same model in .45 caliber. At this time, however, the .45 is available with both 5-inch and 6½-inch barrels, while the .44 is offered only with the 6½-inch barrel. We'll have to see if the .44-caliber guns are welcomed enough by buyers to add the shorter barrel to their available list in the time to come. Frankly, I'd like to see that, although the longer 6½-inch barrel will still remain the choice.

BEFORE TALKING ABOUT the shooting with this .44 Special, let me repeat a bit of the history of this gun, just in case you didn’t read that story from five years ago. The Smith & Wesson New Model No. 3 was introduced in 1878, after their Russian and Schofield contracts had been fulfilled. In 1885, S&W lengthened the No. 3's frame and cylinder from 17/16 inch to 19/16 inch, adding 1/8 inch to the length of the cartridges that could be used.
This made their revolver acceptable for the popular .44-40 Winchester cartridge and, like Colt, they called this gun in .44-40 their Frontier version.

The S&Ws in .44-40 did not prove to be popular and several of those .44-40 single-actions were converted back to .44 Russian caliber. The New Model No. 3 was discontinued by S&W in 1908. Just before that, the .44 Special cartridge was introduced in 1906 and it was the very last of the American cartridges to be designed for use with black powder. As introduced, the .44 Special was loaded with a 246-grain bullet over 26 grains of black powder, but it was also available with smokeless powder loads.

MY FIRST SHOTS with this revolver were taken using .44 Special ammo, with 250-grain cast bullets over 6.0 grains of Unique smokeless powder. A bull’s-eye target was posted at 50 feet and my group, with five shots, printed in an acceptable size or diameter, but obviously to the left. Without changing targets, five more shots using black powder loads in .44 Russian cases were fired into the same group. It pleased me quite a bit that the black powder and the smokeless loads were printing at the same elevation on the paper, but the group had to be moved to the right. Read the rest of Smith and Wesson Model 3.

[exnavy]

The .44 special is a much overlooked cartridge. Taylors and Uberti make some high quality goods.

[Track9]

Bump

[JudgemAll]

That’s because the 44 magnum is popular and can use 44special

[Viking2002]

Never fired a break-top before. Love to add one to my collection. And one look at Uberti’s prices, you can believe they’re proud of their guns.

[NFHale]

I sorta... love it...

No, it’s official. Ain’t no “sorta” about it.

It’s love...

[Fido969]

Top break revolver frames aren’t as strong as swing-out frames, for obvious reasons. They were made for black powder rounds, and pretty much became obsolete with higher pressure smokeless powder.

[Fido969]

Actually, an exception that occurs to me are the old Webley revolvers, some even adapted to shoot .45 acp.

You can get an old H&R or Iver Johnson in .38 S&W for about $150.

[Oatka]

Taylors and Uberti make some high quality goods.

Prefer the Schofield modification - and Uberti makes a sweetheart:

[zeugma]

Hasn’t Smith and Wesson been a long time supporter of gun control?

[gattaca]

bump

[shotgun]

Gratuitous Dirty Harry picture

[marktwain]

Actually, an exception that occurs to me are the old Webley revolvers, some even adapted to shoot .45 acp.

The Webleys may be the strongest of the top break revolvers, but they should not be used with .45 acp loads.

An ordinary .45 acp load is equivalent to a .455 Webley proof load.

[Big Red Badger]

I had a model 999 HR
.22,
Loved it!

[real saxophonist]

[shotgun]

Classic

[Carriage Hill]

Website Blocked Due To Trojan Virus

[Eagles6]

No.

They signed on to some of Billy Bob Clintoon's agenda to avoid being targeted in things like the Assault Weapons bill. as did Bill Ruger with his refusal to produce 30 rd Mini 14 mags.

Didn't work out the way either hoped.

S&W has new owners and is a solid 2nd Amend supporter as is Ruger.

They both produce excellent American made firearms.

[Eagles6]

Looks cool.

Would love to shoot one.

[Pilsner]

Worth the wait. But is it "Worth waiting for?"