By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The big news of the week, coinciding with the 2026 Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas, is the resurrection of the Smith & Wesson Night Guard revolvers, in collaboration with Lipsey’s—one of the nation’s largest independent wholesalers based in Louisiana—this announcement actually says a lot.
Chambered in either .44 Special (Model 396) or .357 Magnum (Model 386), the Night Guard features a lightweight Scandium frame and barrel shroud, 3-inch stainless steel barrel and stainless cylinder with a PVD coating. Finger groove Bantam grips are from Hogue with the trademark “Cobblestone” texture—to fill the hand and suck up some recoil—plus a fully-adjustable rear sight, and an XS Sights yellow tritium front sight. Images of the revolver show it has a smooth trigger; good for double-action shooting. The Night Guard boasts a ball detent lockup and thicker forcing cone, and according to the introductory video, someone can run full house loads all day long in either gun. Look closely and you’ll spot a heat shield insert above the gap between the cylinder and forcing cone.
The announcement is all over social media:
Best of all is something which isn’t there: the internal locking device. While S&W did a good job in developing the internal lock with the little keyhole on the left side of the frame above the cylinder release latch, a whole lot of people didn’t like it. When Lipsey’s teamed up with S&W on the return of the Mountain Gun, the internal lock wasn’t present, either.
S&W has even posted an introductory 4 ½-minute video on YouTube with lots of shots being fired both single- and double-action. I’ve seen some folks verbally salivating on social media about these newly-returned wheelguns, so it’s safe to say there is some excitement out there, and “exciting” is a word I seldom use.
Built on S&W’s proven ‘L” frame, the .44 Special version holds five rounds while the .357 Magnum holds seven rounds. The .44 weighs 23.4 ounces and the .357 hits the scale at 24.4 ounces. My guess is that by the end of this week’s SHOT Show, pretty much every holster maker on the map will be designing new rigs for these guns, if they don’t already exist.
Dimensions on both sidearms are the same: 1.56 inches wide, 5.6 inches high, so it’s concealable with the right holster.
So, let’s cut to the chase and talk about the .44 Special, since that’s the version which appears to be getting most of the attention, at least among the folks whom I’ve seen declaring true love for the Night Guard’s return.
Ballistically, the .44 Special is no slouch when it comes to being a fight stopper. With lighter-weight bullets, it can top 1,100 fps with a push from the right propellant, and as projectiles get heavier, the .44 can still rock them out above 1,000 fps, as noted in the Hodgdon Annual Manual.
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to shoot various .44 Specials, and have reached the conclusion it is a cartridge which may not get its deserved credit in today’s world, which has embraced the .44 Magnum, or such rounds as the 10mm Auto, .40 S&W and .357 SIG.
Put it in the same category as the .45 Colt, perhaps; a round which earned its reputation in a simpler time, when people took carefully-aimed shots and didn’t “spray and pray” for a satisfactory outcome. I’ve never owned a wheelgun chambered for the .44 Special, but this hardly suggests I disdain the cartridge. Quite the contrary, actually. I’d have no misgivings about heading into a dark alley with a .44 Special in hand or on my hip, as I’ve always appreciated what a big, slower-moving bullet can do when it hits something.
In looking over load data for the .44 Special in the Hodgdon’s Annual Manual and a Speer reloading manual, one discovers data involving virtually all of the popular propellants including 2400, Unique, HP-38/Winchester 231, AutoComp, CFE Pistol and so forth. Bullet weights can range anywhere from 165 to 240 grains, so it’s safe to say the .44 Special is a versatile round.
Remember, it was Elmer Keith’s tinkering with the.44 Special, pushing the round to its limits, which helped lead the way to development of the .44 Magnum.
S&W and Lipsey’s say the new revolvers will be available in the spring, and my prediction is that some folks will be lining up at their local gun shop to get their hands on one.
