Heh, I've got a 38/44 Outdoorsman that's seen a lot of use but it still shoots accurately enough for me that tweetybirds inside of 30 yards are at serious risk, once took one off of a barbed wire fence at 25-30 yards within 3 shots to prove a point to my buddy who didn't believe that I could hit squirrels with the gun out to 40-50 yards.
Sadly it's time to retire my 38/44 to occasional use status, it's got to chambers that are slightly out of time so that it won't lock up if you slowly draw back the action for a single fire shot and the barrel/cylinder gap has shortened a few thousandths because the retention slot in the crane has slowly marred over the years throwing off the gap, after the handgun has been fired a few shots and the cylinder face gets dirty there are two cylinders that are slightly out of parrallel with the other chambers and the dirt will rub against the barrel/forcing cone area causing it to bind up when the cylinder rotates unless you help it with your off hand.
I'll likely send it out one day to have it tightened up and replacement parts fitted with the originals returned so as to keep them with the gun.
From what I gather it's a 5 screw, four in the side plate and one ahead of the trigger guard, were all of the old 38/44 guns 5 screws or did they make them long enough to start dropping screws before they were discontinued.
My 38/44 is what started my love affair with N-framed smiths and I likely will not buy a 27 until I can find a 27-2 that matches my 38/44 as closely as possible in nearly every respect.
