Smith & Wesson Model 57 Smith & Wesson Model 57 The Smith & Wesson Model 57 is a large frame, double-action revolver with a six round cylinder, chambered for the .41 Magnum cartridge, and designed and manufactured by the Smith & Wesson firearms company. The gun was designed as a weapon for law enforcement agencies. However, due to size and recoil it found more favor with civilian target shooters and hunters. In the early 1960s, Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan, and Skeeter Skelton, all noted firearms authorities and authors, lobbied Remington Arms and Smith & Wesson to introduce a new .41 caliber police cartridge with the
Smith & Wesson .38/44 either blue or nickel finish. Production was interrupted by the second world war. Postwar production serial numbers are prefixed with the letter S. After the war these N-frame revolvers were popular with veterans experimentally handloading the .38 Special at pressures up to fifty percent higher than the recommended for conventional .38 Special revolvers. In 1957, the "Heavy Duty" fixed sight version was marketed as the Smith & Wesson Model 20 and the "Outdoorsman" with adjustable sights became the Smith & Wesson Model 23 Smith & Wesson .38/44 Smith & Wesson .38/44 identifies a series of 6 shot, double-action, Smith &