The Gun Dirty Harry
Couldn’t Find.
A documented original 4-inch factory-nickel 5-screw .44 Magnum. The configuration the Smith & Wesson collector census has been hunting for decades and, until this letter was issued, was not believed to exist as an original.
Three of the rarest features in S&W’s most historically significant revolver, stacked onto one frame — with paperwork.
The Smith & Wesson Forum maintains a running census of factory-nickel 5-screw Pre-Model 29s. Across the entire .44 Magnum collecting community, the standing summary on that thread reads as follows.
S169056 is the 4-inch the census says it has not seen. Built mid-1957, shipped on July 16. Documented as original factory nickel by the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation in a letter signed by company historian Michael Helms on April 30, 2026.
Three rarities. One frame.
5-Screw N-Frame
The original .44 Magnum tooling, phased out around serial S170000 in mid-1957. S169056 is roughly 1,000 serials below that change-over — among the very last 5-screw N-frames Smith & Wesson ever built.
4-Inch Barrel
Across the entire 5-screw era, 4-inch guns are “only several hundred” of the total ~6,500 Pre-Model 29 production run. The standard catalog barrel was 6½″. A 4-inch on a 5-screw is genuinely scarce.
Factory Nickel
The Blue Book of Gun Values puts total 5-screw factory-nickel production at approximately 11 units. The collector census has documented 4–5 of them — every one with a 6½″ barrel.
Original factory nickel.
In writing, from the factory.
A re-plated original (a gun shipped in blue and later returned to Smith & Wesson for nickel) is a very different gun from a factory-original nickel. The difference between the two configurations is an order of magnitude in collector value. The factory letter shipping with this revolver settles the question.
The original 1957 factory invoice itemizes the entire Sargent Sowell shipment.
One nickel revolver. Twenty-five blued. That ratio is the empirical floor on how rarely the factory built a nickel .44 Magnum in this era.
| Qty | Configuration | Unit Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | .44 Magnum 6½″ blued | $73.77 |
| 10 | .44 Magnum 4″ blued | $86.06 |
| 1 | .44 Magnum 4″ NICKEL — S169056 | $86.06 |
All seven pages of the factory letter, including the handwritten 1957 shipping ledger, are available on request.
The Configuration the Studio Could Not Find.
In September 1970, the screenwriter John Milius — a serious firearms enthusiast — was finishing a draft of a script he had been developing for Warner Bros. The hero was a San Francisco police inspector. For the inspector’s sidearm, Milius specified, deliberately and precisely:
What followed is documented in the Internet Movie Firearms Database, citing Smith & Wesson historian Roy Jinks directly.
At the time of filming in 1970–71, regular Model 29 production was paused. Warner Bros. approached Smith & Wesson for guns. Clint Eastwood personally contacted Bob Sauer, S&W’s representative.
Fred Miller at the Smith & Wesson plant assembled two Model 29s from spare parts just to supply the production. The only parts on hand were 6½″.
The screen gun in the iconic “Do I feel lucky?” scene is a 6½″ blued Model 29, cobbled together from spare parts — not because that was Milius’s vision, but because Smith & Wesson, working directly with the studio, could not source the script’s 4-inch nickel.
The script gun is what you are looking at on this page.
The gun, in detail.
Close inspection invited. We will send any of these at full resolution on request, along with additional angles, action shots, and bore detail.
The full record.
The chain of custody.
Built at the Roosevelt Avenue Factory
Smith & Wesson’s Roosevelt Avenue plant in Springfield, Massachusetts — the same factory that built the very first .44 Magnum in December 1955.
Shipped via Republic Freight
Salesman: Connors. Factory invoice WR 73927. Total dealer cost $94.67 including federal excise tax. Destination: Sargent Sowell Inc., 1211 East Jefferson Street, Grand Prairie, Texas.
Held in private hands
Sargent Sowell — doing business as SA-SO — was a major police-supply wholesaler catalogued to departments nationwide from the 1950s through the early 1980s. (Still in business today, now in safety supplies.) Original sale destination unknown but consistent with their pattern of supplying premium-finish revolvers as presentation pieces.
S&W Historical Foundation factory letter issued
Signed by Michael Helms, Historian and Secretary/Treasurer. Letter includes a scan of the original 1957 invoice and the handwritten shipping ledger that allowed positive identification.
Elk River Guns, Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Available for inspection in person by appointment. Ships to your FFL. Full factory letter, original presentation case, factory tools, box, and papers all included.
A revolver without a true comp.
The Smith & Wesson collector census essentially does not yet acknowledge a documented 4-inch original-nickel 5-screw exists. There is no recent realized sale to bracket against. The published ceiling for the configuration becomes the anchor.
Positioned just below the published ceiling for the configuration. The rarity arguably supports more. Serious offers considered; trades accepted on items of like value.
The complete package.
- The revolver — serial S169056, 4″ factory nickel 5-screw Pre-Model 29 .44 Magnum, condition 95%+
- Original period-correct presentation case (black leatherette over cardboard, the only correct case for a 1957 Pre-29)
- Original factory tools — screwdriver, cleaning rod, cleaning swab
- Original factory box and papers
- Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation factory letter (all 7 pages, including original 1957 invoice)
- Transfer to your FFL or in-store pickup in Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Available now.
Serious inquiries welcomed.
At this price point we expect to talk to you. Call us, and we will walk you through the factory letter and invoice, send additional close-up photos, answer every question, and discuss escrow arrangements if you prefer them. We are happy to scan and email the full 7-page letter to verified inquirers ahead of any commitment.
Or email [email protected]