Smith & Wesson model 29

[Ranger Al]

I have a hunting buddy thats planning to get a model 29 .44mag with 6" barrel. He though it is a very nice looking gun, personally I don't really care for it. Too much power to keep the bullet straight for me. Also around $2K a little pricy for my liking.

What do you guys think about about model 29, any of you have experience with it? Good for backup gun for bear and big hunt? I have the ole Ruger Blackhawk (.357 mag) and though it is a fine gun and will certainly do a job.

What do you guys thing??

[Careby]

Nothing wrong with a 29 or 629, I think everyone should have at least one. I do think .44 special ammo is a lot more fun and better for most purposes than magnums. But $2,000??? No thanks, I'll pass. (I just bought a new stainless 6" 629 from my local dealer for $749. They had the blued 6 1/2" 29 Classic new in presentation case for $849.)

[BigJimP]

I'm a big fan of S&W revolvers / in .357 mag and .44 mag. I have a variety of .357's and .44's - and I have N frame model 29's and 629's in
3", 4", 6" and 8 3/8" barrels. I grew up in Montana - and spent a lot of time in Alaska fishing, hunting, camping, etc.

A good serviceable 6" model 29 / from say a 29 no dash to a model 29 dash 3 model / collectable but not "special" should be under $ 750. The model 29 no dash was made from 1957 - 61 / the dash 1 and dash 2 starts in 1962 / dash 3 starts in 1982 - 87. I see a lot of examples at my local shops and gun shows in that price range. You will pay a little more for a Nickle finish on the older model 29's / a little less for blued. The dash 2's are a little more money than the dash 3's - and if he's looking for a "shooter" there isn't any difference in my opinion between -2 and -3 . The 629's are popular (they're stainless ) - and in the same price range.

In the lower 48 - outside of Northern Montana or Idaho - where you won't find any Grizzly a .357 Mag is plenty of gun. In Grizzly country or Brown bear country in Alaska - fishing, hiking, etc the .44 mag is the gun I take.

A 6" .44 mag is very accurate / at least out to 25 yards ( and is really only limited by how good your eyes are ) ... mine are getting older ... but its a very accurate and lethal gun (especially single action) for defense in the woods (where your shots might be 10 feet - 40 feet in the brush. When I'm fishing, I carry a sidearm in a shoulder holster / if I'm just hiking, etc ( the 3" .44 mag Trail Boss ) is an easy gun to carry on a belt holster.

If you shoot the .357 mag well / I think with practice the .44 mag will also make it easy to shoot. I'm a big guy / but I don't really see that big a difference in them, especially in 6" guns, and I shoot full power loads in both calibers. You can put .44 spl's in the .44 mag ( and that's ok for defense against people ) - but not for big bears - like Brown's or Grizzly. You don't want to be undergunned - if you bump into a Grizzly. Black bears don't worry me much / kind of like a German Shepard - just a nuisance unless there are cubs - but even on a big black bear, in my opinion, a .357 Mag is plenty.

I think your buddy is looking at a "collectable" gun vs a shooter - and for $2K - he should shop around a little. He should find a lot more options - but I like the .44 mag a lot.

[BigJimP]

As a footnote - despite a lot of "close contact" - within 100 yards with Grizzly and Brown bears - hunting, fishing, hiking, etc - in well over 30 years in the woods ( I only had to kill one Grizzly ). Wear bells when hiking, etc - give them room on the rivers when fishing ...

I've killed a dozen or so Black Bears - but the only ones I ever killed - were for family food ( mix bear meat with venizon ) into sausage patties... its pretty tasty. Chasing a black bear out of camp or off the porch at the cabin - takes a good soaker squirt gun / or a chunk of firewood upside his head ...and a lot of hollering .... and go back to bed.

[madcratebuilder]

Also around $2K a little pricy for my liking.

That price is for a collector gun not a shooter. 2k should get you a NIB, unturned, P&Red, M29 no dash. 600-800 well buy a 6", 95% shooter.

[madmo44mag]

Not a fan of the 29 or 629
I have owned two 29's and one 629 and all ended up with issues caused by full bore magnum hunting rounds.
IMO a Ruger Super Redhawk is a better value in the 44mag.
Don't flame me here. I own several S&W guns, just the 44mag from S&W is not my preferred 44mag gun.

[Ranger Al]

Thanks for the input guys, my buddy wanted a brand new out of the box gun. I guessed he have been watching "Dirty Harry". I'll stick with my Black hawk and my Glock 22.

[sandbag]

$2K?Is it a commemorative NIB or something?I bought a nice 29-2 with a 6.5" barrel in the high $700 range.It's a great handgun.I just wouldn't run a lot of high end .44Mags through it for practice.I generally shoot 240 gr/1100 fps rounds in it.Or 44 Specials.Those rounds will never hurt that gun.

[mssurrey]

How 'bout a Colt Anaconda? Well built and IMO the best .44mag out there.
Only thing is that they're going for top dollar at this time...

[Russ5924]

$2000 WOW! They sell new for about $1200. I just bought one today 29-2 with 4 inch barrel for $525 was like new Bluing was 100%. The grips are beat up I think some one switched the grips how can a gun be in that kind of shape and have beat up grips

[Corn dodger]

The Model 29 is a great gun. I think maybe Big Jim could be selling the black bear a bit short. You may get away with using a squirt gun or hitting them upside the head with firewood for quite a while, until you do it one time too many. The bear might be mixing you up with a bit of venison. I have no idea what that would taste like, the bear might enjoy it though.

[BigJimP]

Hey, I'm old and chewy ...and quicker than I look.

Maybe I have been lucky with black bears - but seriously, I find they spook and run pretty quickly. We used those big water gun / soakers or even garden hoses to keep them out of the veg patch and garbage cans around the lake cabin - and occasionally a .30-06 .

But trust me, 2 parts venizon to one part black bear meat - using one of the old hand meat grinders when I was a kid - my grandma put up some serious sausage patties. She probably made up a good 800 lbs or more of it every year / and sent it out to members of the family around town to stock the freezers. She ran the family / despite what grandpa or my dad thought ... Usually 2 black bear and 4 deer a year went into breakfast sausage ... / we saved the Elk, Moose, etc for steaks, roasts, chops ...and some venison.

[crowbeaner]

Considering that S&W M29s are commanding almost as much as they did during the shortage of the Dirty Harry era, I really can't see paying $2K for a run-of-the-mill 29. I've owned a few, and the most I paid for one was $450 in like new condition with the presentation case, tools, and factory papers. That was a 6 inch 29-3 in the N481XXX range. I had an "S" prefix 4 inch that was absolutely flawless that I paid the same amount for. My hunting gun in 44 was a 5.5 inch stainless Redhawk that was one of the first 5.5 inch guns to hit the shelf. I paid $395 OTD for that, and that was during the craze.
I shot a lot of cast bullets in the 6 inch gun that were loaded with the RCBS 44-245-KT bullet over 8.0 grains of Red Dot because the accuracy was superb in that gun. I shot some of those bullets over 21.0 of 2400 for hunting, although the deer didn't cooperate when I had the gun in the holster. It is not advisable to shoot lots of full power loads through the Smith because they have a tendency to loosen up after time, and retiming and parts replacement becomes a reality. They are, however, my favorite big bore revolver platform. CB.

[P-990]

That price is way too high for a "shooter", even in California! Right?

As for the .44 Magnum, in my mind THE .44 Magnum is a 6 1/2" S&W Model 29. Mine is a 6" 629, and I absolutely love (well, not quite THAT strong) the pistol and round. I paid $479 4 years ago for mine, and it was LNIB. Solved that problem though! I have 3600-3700 rounds through it, and it's about as tight as it was when I first got it.

I'm with others who opine that a 240/250gr bullet at 1100-1200 fps is a more comfortable load for this pistol.

[CarbineCaleb]

As far as reliability goes, the later model 29s and 629s fare better than the early ones, which had trouble with a steady diet of full power loads.

The later guns (29-5 and newer, and 629-3 and newer) have been strengthened so they won't "shoot loose".

See John Taffin's excellent article:
http://www.sixguns.com/range/SmithWesson44Mag.htm

Surely you can get a 629 for a lot less than $2000! I would just get a new one, as the quality has also improved since the 1980s.

[Auto426]

I just bought a 6" half lug 629 from Buds for $707, and that price includes 2nd day air shipping to my local dealer. I have yet to shoot it yet due to time constraints, but I'm hoping to go out this weekend. Fit and finish where pretty good, and the trigger, at least in single action, was perfect. I guess the double action was a little different for me, since I'm used to my very smooth GP100.

Living in South Louisiana, there's no job out here that a .357 can't accomplish. I just wanted a .44 Mag, so I got one. I plan on shooting .44 specials for target practice, and putting some magnums through it for fun. I ordered a nice set of wood grips for it, and I plan on building a wood presentation case for it. What's not to love?

[Hammer It]

John Taffin's assement...One of the problems with those early .44 Magnums was the fact that the ejector rod screw would loosen under recoil, back out and move forward making it impossible to open the cylinder. In 1960, this rod was given a reverse left thread so it would tighten rather than loosen under recoil. With this change, the Model 29-1 had arrived with serial number S270000.For years, Smith & Wesson refused to acknowledge a problem that definitely existed. It became especially prevalent when silhouette shooters started pounding hundreds of rounds of fullhouse loads down range in a single day. When a cartridge was fired, the cylinder would unlock, rotate backwards and when the hammer was cocked, the fired round would be back under the firing pin. Silhouetters literally "beat their swords into plowshares" as far as the Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum was concerned. About the same time silhouetters were pounding 240 grain bullets unmercilessly through the Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum, handgun hunters discovered 300 grain bullets which put a further strain on the mechanism whose basic design went back to 1899.

Hello Carbine Caleb
All Due respect to MR Taffin's findings here, but I suspect their Merit is weak and unfounding. If Elmer Keith took one of the first Pre-29's and Pounded it with full House loads with No Ill effects, why would it be said later this gun was not strong enough with very Few design changes ? Do you think if S&W felt their 29's were Problematic they would have not called them back and corrected it long ago ? That is the reason for their dash system to improve design and include safety in these changes, they would not have stood by and waited through several design changes to add a durability Package. I want to think that the Durabilty Package was added to Make those Happy that had been Plagued with The Hype of Ruger's stronger design more than anything else. I also feel any gun can be shot loose if Loaded beyond it's intended use, and the rare cases if this cylinder unlocking problem did really Occur may have been a Bit exagerated here. I have never met anyone that shot a .44 Magnum Loose as most can not Take the Fierce recoil to do this to start with...It has been a Long standing argument that Ruger's are stronger than S&W's in the .44 magnum Caliber, but I have seen Rugers shot loose and even Blown up before, so that does not prove anything to me either other than the fact that some idiot will always go past what a Guns intended use is for. Like it Or Not, all mechanical things wear out, and eventually need to be refurbished, so I suspect if a S&W 29 Get's out of time or has this cylinder backing up issue, it may have been a flaw when it left the factory with final fit and finish more so than Gun Error with Ton's of them out there, I think this is Very Sterotyped... In Taffins Comments about the revolver's Frame being of Old design, That is very true but the Newer magnum frames and cylinders have special heat treating to take The Punishment of Magnum Recoil unlike the Early ones that had No Heat treating what so ever due to lower cartridge pressures of Non magnum status.. I can tell you that I had a Model 629-4 that Got Loose from magnum Loads and I Later got a Model 29-2 that is still as tight as the day it left the factory, so I find these claimes of Later models being stronger than the early Ones to be Meaningless & False in my findings anyways..Hammer It

[lagavulin62]

Also around $2K a little pricy for my liking.

sounds like a gunbroker quote, cash only, no feedback yet.

[Roger Nuss]

"commanding almost as much as they did during the shortage of the Dirty Harry era".......almost as much? Around these parts, I haven't seen any pinned and recessed (or even just pre-lock) N-frame guns under 600.00 for quite a while.

[CarbineCaleb]

All Due respect to MR Taffin's findings here, but I suspect their Merit is weak and unfounding.

I want to think that the Durabilty Package was added to Make those Happy that had been Plagued with The Hype of Ruger's stronger design more than anything else

I find these claimes of Later models being stronger than the early Ones to be Meaningless & False in my findings

Hi Hammer It: Well, I am not saying that the early 29s will be problematic, but I am saying that I think the new ones are stronger, due to the addition of this Endurance Package, which was completed with the 29-5, as Taffin says.

For the benefit of others - The "bolt" which is located at the bottom of the cylinder cutout in the revolver frame, engages mating notches cut into the cylinder's outside surface. The purpose is to provide precise alignment of the chamber that is being fired at the top of the cylinder, with the barrel forcing cone. The concern is that this joint, which is reformed at each indexing rotation of the cyilnder, may become compromised by forces from shooting a lot of heavy loads in the gun.

In the endurance package, S&W made the clearances tighter, the bolt thicker and longer, the notches deeper, radiused the corners, and provided a supporting bolt block.

I don't doubt your experiences, but it's logical that each of those changes make this frame-to-cylinder joint/interface stronger, at least to me.

[Hammer It]

Hello Carbine Caleb
In Reviewing the design changes to improve the durability of the Model 29 Taffin is wrong as the first design change that involved the Radius stud package appeared on a model 29-3 in 1987 Not the 29-4 design change which occurred in 1988 as he stated, This design which Taffin proclaimed strengthened and Improved the Durability of the Model 29 was actually an Ancient Old Design feature S&W had used many years before the Model 29 was even born on the Pre-War-N-Frame and K-Frame revolvers, as I have a second series hand eject that shipped in 1916 with this Crane Detent stud package. It a spring Loaded Pin in the crane area that acted as a Detent on these Pre-War revolver's which was not all that different than the Modern Dash-3 29's radius stud package Idea. The Lengthened cylinder stopping bolt was more than Likely Over Kill as well on The S&W design Teams part, since I have Never seen any S&W revolver that did not have an Obtrusive Cylinder turn line from early advancement of the Cylinder stopping Bolt and Lock up has always been superior on all S&W Revolvers due to this early advancement of the cylinder Locking Bolt. I suppose the deepened Stop Notch's in the cylinder they Provided in the Model 29-5's did have a more Positive Lock up effect when advancing the cylinder during firing, But I still feel it was to Stifle all the Hype of S&W revolver's Not being as Strong as the Rugers & Dan Wessons. I know also during Lock up that the cylinder Hand is held in contact with the rear of the cylinder when firing a round, so that part Too Played a key role in keeping the revolver in Good timing, and it's design Goes way back to the first swing out cylinder designed S&W revolvers. S&W did Improve the later dash series 29's but their changes were certainly Not reinventing the wheel at all, as they had used some of these Proven design features on previous revolvers and I find it Odd that right after they redesigned the complete Frame and Internal Lock work in the 29-7 series in January 1998 They Discontinued the model 29 all together In January 1999 and this makes me wonder if these New Better ideas were not as good, or as Unneeded as the Original ones that Came out back in 1956 ? Regards, Hammer It

[mssurrey]

My local GS has a new Model 29 in its presentation box for sale at $950 - so I don't know why yours would want $2K !!!

Maybe just trying to cash in on the frenzy...

[ramptester]

I suspect that the reason Elmer Keith did not shoot his guns loose is the reportedly low number of rounds he shot through them. The number I have seen in several sources suggests about 600 per year. Compare that with a metallic ram shooter who probably went through 600 rounds every week or two.

[CarlC]

I just got an as new model 57 for $650. If it isn't "Dirty Harry" it is at least "Scruffy Larry." It puts much less shock to my achy shoulder. I shoot it with more confidence and accuracy. I have Super Blackhawks in .357 and .44 mag. I'd take the S&W as back-up over those on any lower 48 hunt. I haven't hunted for a while but wouldn't hesitate using it for anything on hooves up to elk. I reload, but I've seen more .41 mag on shelves than .44 mag these days.

Carl

[Hammer It]

I suspect that the reason Elmer Keith did not shoot his guns loose is the reportedly low number of rounds he shot through them. The number I have seen in several sources suggests about 600 per year. Compare that with a metallic ram shooter who probably went through 600 rounds every week or two.

Hello ramptester
What you did not take into Consideration here is "Keith's" Load's were much more Fierce in Velocity or Pressure than any of the Metallic shooters would have been able to handle recoil wise on a steady Basis. I would say Elmer Did indeed shoot some of his Hand Gun's Loose and I also know he exploded some when expanding way beyond their intended Purposes and of those some were Rugers as well !! Hammer It