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And of all the revolvers developed during this time, none of them is more interesting than the heavy-caliber, largeframe wheelguns from the Springfield, Massachusetts, firm of Smith & Wesson.

Smith & Wesson introduced their first large frame (referred to as the N-frame), swing-out cylinder, DA revolver, the .44 Hand Ejector - also known as the ‘Triple Lock” or “New Century” - in 1907 to compete with Colt’s New Service revolver. Up until this time all of S&W’s large-caliber revolvers had been of the hinged-frame, top-break variety, and, while popular, they were never viewed as quite rugged enough or chambered for powerful enough cartridges to be a real threat to Colt’s predominance in the American military and civilian markets.

S&W brought out their first swing-out cylinder revolver, the .32 Hand Ejector, in 1896 followed by the 38-caliber Military & Police revolver in 1899. The .44 Hand Ejector used the same basic mechanism as these smaller caliber revolvers. The cylinder was locked by a rod that passed through the ejector system and latched into a recess on the face of the breech while a second lock was provided by a spring loaded stud in a lug underneath the barrel that snapped into the forward end of the ejector rod. But S&W felt that a stronger system would be required with the powerful cartridges they intended to use, so additional locking was provided by a bolt housed in the ejector rod shroud that locked into a mortise on the cylinder yoke.