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Old February 2, 2012, 02:23 PM   #5
carguychris
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Join Date: October 20, 2007
Location: Richardson, TX
Posts: 7,523
Quote:
Theres is a stamp that says oklahoma Hwy Patrol. 9439?
Lots of .38/44s have similar stamps because most were sold to LE agencies. Consequently, unlike many other older revolvers, these marks don't seem to affect the value if they're period-correct.

Check my first post; I added some warning notes, and I just thought of another one!

A fair number of .38/44s can be found with the chambers lengthened to accept .357 Magnum cartridges. Your first instinct may be to exclaim "HOLY CARP, were they nuts?!?", but the conversion is usually (key word usually...) fairly safe because these guns were designed to accept a cartridge that ran close to .357Mag pressures anyway. That said, I wouldn't fire .357Mag in a converted .38/44 today, because it's a valuable collector's piece and the risk isn't worth it IMHO.

FWIW the conversion doesn't seem to affect values much unless the gun is in a high condition grade, and this one isn't.
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