The S&W Model 544 – Customizing a Texas Commemorative

Two years ago I was browsing Rob Leahy’s table full of leather holsters displayed for sale.  Simply Rugged holsters are as handsome as they are practical and they will last several lifetimes.  Leather holsters go well with blued steel and one in particular caught my eye. It was a Threepersons style (as made by George Lawrence) that Rob calls the 120.  This one had the extra touch of being made and floral carved by Richard Gittlein.  I picked it up to see what revolver it was made to fit.  The back noted that it was for a 5-inch N-Frame S&W.  I didn’t have a 5-inch N-Frame.  But I’d always wanted one.  I talked with Rob while still fondling the stitched leather and tried to talk myself into the fact that my 4-inch Model 624 would fit and look great.

Three days later, the holster was still unsold.  Rob walked down to where I was shooting.  He approached me with the gorgeous 120 holster in his hands.  5-inch N-Frames are much less common than the other factory length S&W barrels.  I’d been thinking about various S&W 5-inch revolvers to fit that holster, but they were all priced beyond my thin wallet’s budget.  Rob is an enabler and I think he wanted to see what gun I’d eventually go and find to fit properly in the holster.  He left with my money and I weaved my belt through the 120’s back.  I holstered my 4-inch barreled Model 624 and it carried on my hip just fine.

I’d always liked the idea of shooting .44 Specials out of a 5-inch barreled S&W N-Frame revolver.  Skeeter Skelton appreciated the barrel length in between the 4-inch and the 6-inch because he said it balanced well in his hand.  The 5-inch length provides more inherent accuracy with its longer sight radius and it doesn’t poke down into a vehicle’s seat as much as a 6-inch barrel will when carried in a hip holster.  Skelton liked them in .357 and .44 calibers.

A 5-inch S&W .44 isn’t a lot to ask, right?  Unfortunately, it kind of is, because a Model of 1950 or a Model 24 are rare and expensive when found with factory 5” barrels.  The Model 1926 revolvers didn’t come with big adjustable sights and adding them to these collectible and costly revolvers would be wrong on several levels.  Target model Triple Locks are super rare and prohibitively expensive…at least for me.

H.H. Harris was a Chicago law enforcement supply company back in the 1950s and Herbie Harris ordered 5-inch S&W 1950 Target Model .44 Specials and Model 29 .44 Magnums direct from the factory.  He sold many S&W firearms that had unique features that only he had access to.  Those 5-inch .44s are hard to find these days and they command high prices if they come up for sale.  Model 29 and 629 Classics came with 5” barrels, but they were heavy, full underlug versions and not exactly what I’d prefer.

Rare, Collectible, and Expensive (But often not all three at once)

This leads to a quick discussion of rare, collectible, and expensive when it comes to limited edition firearms.  Ruger has made over 7 million 10/22 rifles and that’s a lot in anyone’s book so they’re certainly not rare.  Specialty runs of 10/22s of less than 500 are rather rare.  300 or less is considered rare by just about everyone in the firearms industry.  But the term “rare” only applies when you’re looking for one and you can’t find it.  If you find it easily, you may not think it’s all that rare.

Collectible?  Well, to a Colt collector who specializes in .38 Super semi-automatic pistols, a Talo Limited Edition of just 300 would likely be both rare and collectible.  But to someone who doesn’t fancy 1911s or Colts or .38 Super pistols, the concept of these guns being collectible may never even enter their mind.  One man’s collectible is another man’s everyday carry pistol.  I’ve got one and it was hard to find and I considered it rare.  While it may be collectible to some, to me it’s an everyday carry pistol.  It wasn’t expensive, but maybe one day it will be.

Expensive.  This one we all know, whether we agree with it or not.  Plenty of rare and collectible guns are expensive…to a point.  Expensive is relative and to some a new Glock for $480 is expensive.  There are some firearms collectors, however, who don’t even twitch when dropping $25,000 on a vintage firearm.  Cost is relative, usually relative to the total in your bank account.

Back in 1989 I purchased a Sig Sauer P220 .45 sidearm for duty carry at the beginning of my career, $425 was expensive in my mind, but the gun was certainly not rare or collectible.  Today, the Sigs from 1989 are now considered rare, collectible, and expensive to those who appreciate them and they sell for more than double, even triple (in 99% condition), than what I paid new.  If I had known this would happen, I’d have bought several when I had the chance!

There was a time during the 1960s and 70s when Colt and Winchester were making all kinds of commemorative firearms for every event you could think of.  Colt offered Frontier Scout .22 single action revolvers for the Golden Spike 100 year anniversary in 1969 that included a gold plated railroad spike.  Colt had a state of Maine Sesquicentennial commemorative that included a golden lobster in the case with the revolver (google it, it’s hilarious!).  Many people bought the guns thinking they would become collectible because they were rare (not made in great numbers, usually under 3000) and the buyers further hoped the rarity would eventually make them expensive.  However, this did not happen very often, if at all.

Texas Sesquicentennial

In 1986, Texas celebrated its 150th year of statehood.  Many events took place to commemorate the year, including a six month long wagon train that stopped at towns around a 3000 mile journey within the Lone Star state.

Smith and Wesson released a Texas Wagon Train Commemorative Model 544 revolver in conjunction with the year long celebration.   Part of the fun when discussing the Model 544 is seeing the look of confusion on fellow gun enthusiasts’ faces when that number is thrown out there.  Most have never heard of the Model 544.

I’m taking an educated guess that the “5” stands for the 5-inch barrel and the “44″ stands for the caliber of bullet that the double action revolver fires.  But it’s not a .44 Special, nor a .44 Magnum.   Nope, Smith and Wesson decided it would be a great idea to bring back the chambering of .44-40 WCF (Winchester Center Fire), which they hadn’t made a revolver for since the American model top break was discontinued in 1940.  The Single Action Shooting Society wasn’t even formed until 1987 and Cowboy Action Shooting hadn’t taken off back then to the point where ammunition makers were offering .44-40 in any great numbers.

Serial numbers were set to begin with TWT0001 with a maximum of TWT7800, according to S&W published information.  The TWT prefix is obvious, but the actual number of guns made is said to be 4782 (according to the Standard Catalog of S&W) with gaps in the middle of the run.  This accounts for serial numbers as high as TWT5100.

Why less than just 5000 made?  If I were a Texan, I’d want want one if I was buying guns back in 1986.  Texans are known for being proud of being Texans and understandably so. But I suppose if I was not a Texan, the draw would be considerably less for this particular revolver.

The 544 had the handsome and bright blueing S&W was known for at the time.  The red ramp front sight and Micrometer Click white outline adjustable rear sight were standard.  The right side of this special gun’s barrel had gold filled lettering that stated, “1836 Texas 1986” and the side plate was roll stamped with  a circle around the Texas State outline with the Texas Wagon Train logo (also gold filled).  Smooth Concalo Alves (I looked up how to properly pronounce this tiger wood and it was worth my while) target stocks. The revolvers came in blue “barnboard” stained, basswood presentation cases emblazoned with the Wagon Train and S&W logos and further commemorative markings on the top lid.

All in all, the revolvers are gorgeous.  Two guns were kept together with serial numbers 1836 and 1986.  The first 150 guns were Deluxe editions further engraved, gold inlayed, adorned with faux ivory scrimshawed stocks, and cased in glass with a medallion and a bronze statue of a Texas longhorn.  They look amazing and are rare, collectible, and expensive.

I have a vague recollection of these guns from back when they first came out.  I was in college and read all the gun magazines.  It was before the internet, when information was spread in print and by word of mouth.  Everyone seemed to agree that the guns had just the right touch of embellishment without going overboard.

But S&W made the decision to use Model 29 barrels from the .44 Magnum with .429 bores.  Lead bullets of .430 diameter usually shoot accurately in .429 bores when guns are chambered for the .44 Special/Magnum.  The problem was that this gun was a .44-40.

The .44-40 Winchester Cartridge

Factory .44-40 ammunition was made with bullets smaller than .430 because the dimensions for .44-40 barrels back 130 years ago were smaller than those for .44 Special/Magnum.  My dad shot his original .44-40 chambered Winchester rifles (Models 1873 and 1892), Marlin rifles (Model 94), and Colt Single Action Revolvers (Frontier Six Shooters).  They weren’t just old collectibles to him, he shot them.  My dad slugged the barrels of all these guns (driving a soft lead, slightly oversized .44 caliber bullet down the barrels with a dowel rod and a hammer).  He recovered the bullets to measure the lands/grooves.  This determined the best sized bullet for each gun to determine which would result in the best accuracy.

I still have boxes of my dad’s hand loads with labels in his handwriting.  For his Marlin 1894 .44-40, he found .425 bullets worked best.  The same .425 bullets worked well in his Colts, and .429 diameter lead bullets shot the best in both of his Winchesters.

Factory .44-40 ammunition is often produced using .426 bullets, especially since Cowboy Action Shooting became popular several decades ago.  Manufacturers fear their customers shooting bigger width bullets in older guns and creating high pressure scenarios.

The reality is that factory .44-40 ammunition, as currently made, is not accurate in a barrel like the Model 544’s that measures .429 in diameter.  It’s accurate enough for the relatively close shooting on large steel targets at Cowboy Action Shooting distances.  But for those who want to get serious accuracy out of their .44-40, the only way to do it is to hand load yourself.

Hand loading the .44-40 cartridge with .430 hard cast lead bullets should lead to much better accuracy in the Model 544.  When it first came out, someone in the shooting industry actually shot one and found it to be inaccurate.  The word of mouth that the Texas Wagon Train  guns were not very accurate likely hurt their sales.  S&W probably figured most people wouldn’t shoot these commemoratives and therefore the extra cost of making barrels specific to the .44-40 cartridge didn’t make sense.

This leads us back to the whole rare, collectible, and expensive thing.  Next year, the Model 544 will be 40 years old.  So we can add “old” into the mix as well.  Of course, rocks are trillions of years old, but that doesn’t mean they’re valuable.

Model 544s come up for sale online fairly often.  They’re usually “as new in their presentation cases” and unfired since leaving the factory.  They’re cool and they have factory 5-inch barrels.  But they don’t shoot well unless you hand load the .44-40 cartridge.  I don’t and I’m not all that interested in buying a set of dies and starting.

I looked at these Texas Wagon Train commemoratives on Gunbroker for around a year.   I got a feel for what they really sell for.  The lowest sale price was an actual auction that sold for $894.  Most asking prices that sold were around $1100-$1200.  There’s been one on there forever for $1450 (with no box or papers!) and I cannot imagine it ever actually selling for that price.

Consider current prices for N-Frame S&Ws of any caliber.  New or used.  The new Mountain Gun Model 629 .44 Magnum is a steal at a suggested retail price of $1199.  A new Model 29 .44 Magnum with 6.5-inch barrel is $1379. The selling price of $894 for a 40 year old cased gun seems pretty good.  But only if you are willing to reload the .44-40 cartridge.

The Blue Book of Gun Values states that the original MSRP of the Model 544 was $600 in 1986.  An inflation calculator online states that today’s 2025 equivalent of that price is $1750.  This goes to prove the theory that limited edition firearms made to commemorate certain events are not usually very good investments.  The 544 is worth less today than it was new (accounting for inflation).  It has actually depreciated over time.  Asking the magic of the internet what $600 invested in the S&P 500 in 1986 would be worth today, the result is $36,000.  The 544 as an investment wasn’t even close.

This makes me feel pretty good about paying $1100 for one of these revolvers.  It also makes me feel comfortable customizing it because I really cannot “hurt” its value since it has little comparative value today anyway.  It’s not like S&W only made 300.

The Custom Route

My desire for a .44 Special with a 5-inch barrel kept me thinking about converting a 544.  I could buy a .44 Magnum and have the barrel cut back and re-crowned to 5-inches and have a new front sight put back on.  It’s not a huge job, but it has to be done right.  Cut back barrels never quite look right to me either.

I could buy a S&W Model 27 or 28 in .357 and have the barrel re-bored to .429 and cut back and re-crowned and a new front sight put on…and have all six of the cylinder chambers re-bored to .44 Special cartridge dimensions.  That’s a lot of custom work, which equals a lot of money.

I figured the Model 544 would be really neat if I just had a second cylinder made from a .44 Magnum cylinder that would shoot .44 Specials.  The 544’s cylinder chambers are too big (because the .44-40 is bigger overall) to be made to chamber .44 Specials.  Cylinder chambers can be made bigger, but not (easily) smaller.  The overall dimension of the Model 544’s cylinder length is 1.66-inch and the Model 29’s cylinder length is 1.74-inch.  It would seem reasonable to shave down the front of the Model 29 cylinder to make it fit the 544 without changing the rear of the barrel where it screws into the frame and meets up with the original factory cylinder.

Colt offered Sheriff’s Models of its SAA with dual .44 Special and .44-40 cylinders (as have clones of the SAA).  If it works for them, maybe it will work for me.

Mike Wood and I discussed his previously published Revolver Gunsmith Roundup articles.  I had a custom takedown Marlin .45-70 Trapper made by Lee Hadaway and he works on S&W revolvers as well.  I spoke with Lee, but he recommended Thomas Beaudette at Trapper’s Guns for the work.  Mike wrote about Tom as well and even noted how Lee had recommended him.

I emailed Tom and told him what I was looking for.  We went back and forth a few times, getting certain points straight.  From my perspective, it was pretty simple…or so I thought.  Fit a .44 Magnum cylinder to my Model 544 so that I can swap between .44-40 and .44 Special.   Bringing the face of the cylinder down caused me no concern as I wouldn’t be shooting .44 Magnums in the gun anyway.  The story goes that a S&W executive once advised against swapping a Magnum cylinder into the 544 because of differences in “heat treatment” of the frames on the .44-40 guns.  In the almost 40 years since the gun’s arrival, reasonable shooters have concluded that the idea of S&W not heat treating the frames the same as any other N-Frame (.357, .44, .45) is ludicrous.  I had no concern with the concept.

Tom agreed to the customization and he eventually used a new .44 Magnum cylinder/yoke/crane and fitted it to my 544.  However, he emailed me with a problem that confirmed why I am not a gunsmith.  To fit the new cylinder without modifying (shortening) the part of the barrel that meets the face of the cylinder, the difference between the Magnum’s 1.74-inch length and the 544’s 1.66 (.08-inch) would reduce each cylinder chamber’s throat too much.  The .44 Special cartridge’s bullets would have too far to go to jump from the cylinder into the barrel with too little cylinder throat to ensure accuracy.

Tom said the only real option was to leave the cylinder length as it was and instead file down the barrel from the face where it meets the cylinder.  He said he could make an additional .44-40 cylinder from another new .44 Magnum cylinder (again, the .44-40 cartridge is bigger than the .44 Magnum so this is possible).

I thought about that for a little while before replying to Tom.

Then I told Tom to forget about the .44-40 cylinder.  What would the point be anyway?  I’m not going to hand load the cartridge.  I just figured it would be neat to have both calibers since I was having him make me a cylinder to shoot .44 Special.  The work and cost of converting a .44 Magnum cylinder over to .44-40 wouldn’t be worth it because it would still be a non-factory original cylinder to the gun.  If the original could have been kept, the gun could always be swapped over to original.  But since the original cylinder would no longer work, well what’s the point, right?

Back from the Gunsmith

When the S&W arrived back from Tom Beaudette several months later, I picked it up from my local FFL.  He already knew the story, but a friend of his was in the shop and he asked me to tell his friend about my 544.  I did and the poor guy seemed to think I was some kind of lunatic.  He understood the rarity of 5-inch barreled .44 Specials, but  I think he leaned toward the idea that an inch or so one way or the other wasn’t worth the effort.  I do have a 4-inch 624 and a 6 1/2-inch 29.  While it might not make sense to many, to me it was a project worth doing and Beaudette did a fine job.

The bluing on the newly fitted cylinder matched well.  It’s strange to see a S&W cylinder without a turn line (caused by the bolt riding between the stop notches due to dry fire or live fire).  But having been re-blued, this 544 cylinder looked unique without a turn line.  I took pictures before I shot it.

I also removed the factory smooth target stocks and put on a pair of maple Bear Hug Grips on the square butt 544. These stocks were made by Deacon Deason more than 35 years ago and they’ve travelled from N-Frame to N-Frame of mine over the years.  Securing them to this 5-inch .44 with a final twist of a tiny screwdriver gave them a permanent home.  They’re the kind favored by Skeeter Skelton, although they don’t have the speedloader cut out like the birdseye maple Bear Hug Grips that I have on my 624.

The single action, .400-inch wide, grooved trigger dropped the .500-inch wide target hammer at just under 4 pounds of pressure.  There is no over travel once the trigger does its job.  The double action measured 10 pounds, 12.5 ounces.  A trigger pull any less than these makes me fear for light primer hits.  I’ve seen too many custom double action revolvers go “click” instead of “bang” with extremely light trigger pulls.

Looks Great, Shoots Great!

I had shot the Texas Wagon Train commemorative when I’d first received it.  I used factory Winchester .44-40 jacketed soft point ammo as my “control” or “before” test.  I pulled one of the bullets from the case and measured its diameter with a dial caliper.  Its width was .426, which is two thousandths of an inch smaller than the lands of the 544’s barrel rifling.  It’s an exaggeration to say that the bullet was bouncing down the barrel, but the rifling was definitely not engaging the bullet the way it should.  The best five shot group I could muster off a rest at 50 feet was 3 1/4-inches.

I fired the Texas Sesquicentennial revolver again after receiving it back from Tom Beaudette (but this time as a .44 Special) and my best six shot group at 50 feet came it at just 1 1/2-inches.  I’m not sure why I shot only five shots seven months earlier with .44-40 and then six shots with .44 Special.  I guess I just wasn’t paying attention when I loaded all six chambers.  But I do know that the .44 Specials I shot were Meister hard cast lead bullets with a width of .430 and they took proper hold of the 544’s rifling.  These were the classic Skeeter Skelton load that I hand loaded. It consisted of a CCI large pistol primer with 7.5 grains of Unique powder.  The bullets from Meister weighed 240 grains, slightly lighter than the 250 grains Skeeter utilized.  Recoil is mild and accuracy is outstanding.  There were no light primer strikes either.

Tom Beaudette’s conversion of the S&W 544 to .44 Special resulted in a huge improvement.  The fired group size was reduced by more than half!  His careful fitting of the cylinder/barrel gap, along with the smooth and light precision timing of the action, produced a finely customized revolver.  The proof is in the shooting.

The cost of the work was $500, including the new cylinder.  Add this to the cost of a “like new” Model 544 and it still comes out to be much less than any other method of obtaining a 5-inch barreled .44 Special double action revolver.

The Custom Revolver

The year long 1986 Texas Sesquicentennial produced commemorative knifes, belt buckles, coins, stamps, books, pins, charms, bronze statues, art prints, paperweights, hats, flags, thermometers, patches, and even vehicle badges.  That’s a lot of stuff to collect…if you’re a Texan.

The Smith & Wesson Texas Wagon Train Model 544 commemorative is the most interesting item to me and other shooters, whether they’re from Texas or not.  S&W may have goofed up the .44-40 chambering by mismatching it with the standard barrel from their .44 Magnums and is likely one of the causes for the revolver’s failure to meet sales expectations.  But 40 years later, these Model 544s are still for sale on the used gun market, mostly unfired in their presentation boxes.  They have handsome blue finishes and a build quality most of us wish we still had today.  These big bore .44s are a great deal compared to other N-Frame models and they’re great shooters if you hand load for the .44-40 and use .430 bullets.

I now have a reliable (no light primer strikes), custom 5-inch barreled N-Frame .44 Special that hits to point of aim.  I can load it up with Skeeter’s “all around load” or Elmer Keith’s hot load (250 grain bullet with 17.0 grains of 2400 powder).  I can also utilize factory CCI blue or red snakeshot, Blazer/Speer flying ashtrays, Hornady Critical Defense, or even some old Glaser Safety Slugs in .44 Special.  My Lee Progressive 1000 reloading press can create all kinds of .44 Special loads if I can dream them up.

They’re all options I already have on hand, which is why it made sense to have this 544 converted from .44-40 into .44 Special.  I’m pretty sure Rob Leahy will like how great it looks in the Simply Rugged holster he sold me that lead me down this Texas Wagon Train trail.