Recently I cruised a local shop, and saw a S&W .44 Magnum with a silver finish. What caught my eye was that the cylinder finish did not quite match the rest of the gun. With it in hand I saw that it was a M29-2. The shop guys could not figure the gun out; they stated that they thought all stainless S&W revolvers were "6" series items.

During the 1970s, when all stainless Smiths were hard to get, the various chrome finishes were hot items. Most were so well done that you had to open them up to see the model designation to determine what they actually were. During that era a M29-2 was hard enough to get, with prices well above MSRP being asked and paid more often than not. A stainess .44 Mag was a unicorn. Hard chrome was the way to go.

Why the cylinder on the gun I saw recently did not match the rest of the gun I don't know.