The 44 Associates

[Matt_G]

Does anyone here happen to own a copy of the booklet compiled and printed by 44 Associate member Lawrence Newton in 1945?
Several folks over at the S&W forum have been looking for quite a while for a copy that could be scanned and posted online for all interested parties.
There is a thread here:
44-associates-44-special-data

No one has come up with a copy of that booklet yet (hereinafter referred to as the "Grail").
However, a lot of other older magazine articles and such has been accumulated and I am now hosting all these files on my web server.
In fact our own Dale53 supplied some of them via CD just yesterday.
There is a link to all of them in my signature.

I know there are many here who will enjoy reading these old articles.
If you have anything you would like to contribute, please feel free to send me a PM.
Especially if you happen to have a copy of the Grail.

[mike454]

Posted a few pages on S&W forum.

[Bodydoc447]

Matt,
I have been perusing the .44 Special files you have hosted on your server. Thanks for putting them up. I really enjoy reading the old Rifleman articles a lot!

Doc

[Matt_G]

Thanks mike454!
Glad you enjoy them Bodydoc.

[MT Gianni]

Thanks, Matt great job.

[Dale53]

This is a GOOD THING Matt is doing. I hope that someone will step forward and offer a copy of the .44 Associates Newsletter so that it is not lost to the future.

If you have a copy or know someone who has a copy, please help us all out.

Dale53

[mike454]

Dale, don't know if you saw but I posted the only pages of any historical interest over at the S&W site and Matt now has them on his site.

[GLL]

All of the posted information is great BUT as Dale indicates we need the Newsletters ! I have asked about them on a semi-regular basis for the past several years but nobody has stepped forward with copies !

Jerry

[Dale53]

Actually (I just looked) Matt has posted a partial copy of a Newsletter. I wish it was the complete copy but...

Look at the first entry in Matt's blog:

http://www.goodrichfamilyassoc.org/44_Special_Articles/

Dale53

[Matt_G]

Dale is correct, I have posted a partial copy, however page 4 and 5 were swapped in order.
I have uploaded a new copy that has all 5 pages in the correct order.

One other note; the article titled S&W Triplelock and the 44 Special Cartridge.pdf was a bit blurry and hard to read.
I found another source for that article and he came thru today.
A new copy of that file has been uploaded and is much easier on the eyes.

[GLL]

Matt:

A couple years ago when I originally enhanced some of those articles I used Photoshop and posted them on the S&W Forum. Could we do the same enhancement for the Newsletter articles to make them easier to read?

I notice that 200 copies of the Newsletter were printed. Let's hope more examples turn up to be saved !
Thank you for consolidating all of this information and making it available to all !

Jerry

[mike454]

All of the posted information is great BUT as Dale indicates we need the Newsletters ! I have asked about them on a semi-regular basis for the past several years but nobody has stepped forward with copies !

Jerry

I have good reason to suspect that there were never any newsletters. I believe this loadbook to be the only publication of "the 44 associates"

[Matt_G]

Mike454 sent me the original scans of that 44 Associates booklet. I have created a pdf file from them and uploaded it to the server. It has replaced the file that was there and is a bit better quality.
Thanks Mike.

I have good reason to suspect that there were never any newsletters. I believe this loadbook to be the only publication of "the 44 associates"

I have a feeling you are exactly right Mike. I don't think there were any newsletters either. Just this compilation by Lawrence Newton.
I bet all those guys would have killed for a forum like this (or e-mail) to discuss their ideas in!
As it was, I bet they burned up a lot of stamps.

[Dale53]

Matt G;
Thanks for your work on this (and thanks to the original contributor, also).

It was interesting to me to see that these good people (the .44 Associates) pretty much knew all about what it takes to make good loads. Their suggestions on cylinder throats (bullet size) etc. are "state of the art" today. It seems that many have to relearn what the good people who went before us, already knew and practiced.

We are doing what we can to propagate the best information available today - that's one of our most important tasks.

Dale53

[GLL]

Matt & Mike:

Do we know any of the living "members" of the .44 Associates so we can get some idea of how many people were interacting with each other? Are we talking one or two dozen individuals or many? Even though they printed 200 copies of the loading booklet it may have been a very small group ! ?

Jerry

[mike454]

I posted on another site a few days ago that nothing can be inferred from the 200 copy print run. Lawrence Newton was selling copies of the load book for $1 in the back of the Rifleman. My guess is that Newton would be the only one who really would have had an idea.

[Matt_G]

If you look at the fifth page of the pdf file, you'll see the list of sources for all the data in the booklet.
I think it is a pretty safe bet that those individuals listed there were all members of the 44 Associates.
Now whether that is all the members or not, who knows.
By my count there are 14 individuals in that list.
Gordon C. Boser
George V. Chapman
Eric M. Farr
Elmer Keith
J.W. Landon
R.G. Mosgrove
F.C. Ness
Lawrence I. Newton
Capt. Philip B. Sharpe
J.A. Smith
George W. Spence
Ray C. Thompson
Norman P. White
O.L. Yancey

If there were other members, they didn't contribute any data that was included in this booklet.
FWIW...

[stbryson]

Hello,

Also on page IV (fifth page of the pdf file), it states (emphasis is mine):

"This compilation could not have been made without the ready cooperation of the several score big bore shooters who call themselves informally "44 ASSOCIATES". To each of them personally the editor acknowledges his debt and tenders sincere thanks, and especially is he grateful to those whose major contributions are evidenced by individual listing in the Source Identification table above."

That would suggest to me that there were more members than the fourteen listed. Also, two of the sources were "Assoc. - Reliable data from 44 Associates files" and "Auth. - Competent ballistic authorities who prefer anonymity". So, perhaps other unnamed individuals contributed, also.

At least two originals have survived (I am sure there are more out there):



Bob Nichols was Arms and Ammunition Editor for Field & Stream magazine. He also authored The Secrets of Double-Action Shooting, copyright 1950. I don't know if he was a member of "44 Associates", but he received a copy of the list:





Take care,

Steve Bryson

"Right is right, even if no one does it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone does it."

[longhorn]

I swear I read in a John Lachuck (sp?) article once that he was a member of the ".44 Associates" and mentioned newsletters----I'll have to do some searching. Is Lachuck still with us?

[mike454]

Nice condition original Steve! Here's a bit about 44 associates from Lachuk article from 1990 G&A special issue "Magnum Handguns"