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The .44 Hand Ejector could be ordered with 4-, 5-, 6- or 6.5-inch barrels, with wooden or hard rubber grips and a choice of blue or nickel finish.

S&W also introduced a new cartridge that was to become as famous, if not more so, than the revolver itself: the .44 S&W Special. This was based upon their popular .44 Russian but used a case 0.2 inch (5mm) longer and loaded a 246-gr. lead bullet moving at 755 fps. In addition to becoming popular for law enforcement and self defense, it quickly earned a reputation for accuracy and preempted the .44 Russian as the dominant target shooting cartridge of the day. While .44 Special guns accounted for the majority of sales, the Triple Lock revolver was also offered chambered for the .44-40, .45 Colt and, for the British market, .450 Boxer and .455 Webley.

The .38-44 Heavy Duty was designed for serious police work and fired a special heavy-duty .38 Special loads that came close to equaling the .357 Magnum.

When World War I broke out in 1914, the British government placed large orders with S&W for revolvers. In addition to producing purpose-built .455 revolvers, many 44-caliber guns were retrofitted with .455 cylinders and barrels to supply the anxious British. But in the brutal conditions of trench warfare it became obvious that the Triple Lock was far too finely made a revolver: the third lock and the ejector rod shroud often became clogged with mud or debris, preventing the cylinder from closing.