Yes, I do still have the HP. It unfortunately is not a five screw. I believe I bought that gun in 1965. Front Royal Supply was a very popular distributor in that time and some early Model 29s should letter to them if they were in business under that name in 1956. Ken hunted with the big boys, Keith, O'Connor etc. However, that was not important to me then since many of the old timers were still alive and writing about hunts they went on last week. It is too bad Ken didn't write so we could know more about him. I found out how deep he was in handguns and big game hunting by reading the work of others. To me, he was just a guy I bought guns from. I was buying handguns from Ken when I was in high school and, somehow, my age never came up in the conversation. One time, Ken and I were in the parking lot in front of his warehouse. He brought up something about the Magna grip. To illustrate, he pulled the big 29 out of the holster on the driver's seat of his truck and told me to sight on the showroom window of the Ford dealership a half block up on Commerce Street. As an afterthought, he said, "Don't pull that trigger."

Lowgun, too funny...I'll keep trying to find something on him. My kind of dealer!
Chuck

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Rangers LTW!

I just brought this thread up so some more readers could see the pictures of the first .44 Magnums and learn a little more about them.

lowgun, thanks for keeping this alive. Last year I posted 12 consecutive months of 1956 44 Magnums, each with information on this great S&W caliber. You can search for each with 'Miss.' It's good to see new folks to the forum are interested in what I consider the flagship model of Post WWII S&W.
Chuck

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Rangers LTW!

When I first found this site last week, I used the search function and found the "Miss" threads discussing the Pre Model 29s that were made in each month of the first year. Very interesting and worth bringing up again.

Just bringing this thread to the top so we can look at the first .44 Magnums. 29-1 and I are on a mission and we will share our information when it reaches fruition. Stay tuned.

Good luck on the "mission". I hope in the past 55 years that it did not become a "Fitz Special".

Good shooting.

WoW, Love to see stuff like this! Thanks for sharing!

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"Till The Wheels fall Off"

Lowgun, don't tell these guys too much as they figure things out pretty quickly.
Chuck

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Rangers LTW!

Chuck, sorry I lost track of this thread. Yes, I still have the HP. It has about 100 rounds through it and has never been carried. Kenny Haag hunted in Alaska with Keith, I believe and killed bear with the Model 29s. Ken was a man's man, champion skeet shooter as well as avid hunter. His name may appear in some of Keith's writings. I bought Smiths from him like they were candy and resold them with no problems. His wholesale prices were very generous. I bought from him as a teenager with no FFL. Once, he asked me if I had handled his 29 with custom grips. He took me out to his truck and handed me the gun from the holster. I sighted on the showroom of the Ford dealership down the block. His comment was "Don't pull the trigger. It's loaded." I had not opened the cylinder, thinking it was certainly not loaded. A lot of this post is a repetition of an earlier post from five years ago, but Chucks comments deserve a new look. Bill Murphy in MD.

Bill, thanks for the relook on this great early Pre-29. I'll send you a PM. I'm moving again!
Regards
Chuck

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Thanks to lowgun for bringing back this thread. I may have seen it 5 years ago, but I'm not sure. I am sure that this is one of our classic threads. Great guns.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Chuck and I are still on the path of a grail gun. We are getting older, but we aren't dead yet. Stay tuned.

Bill, we are finally almost settled here in your neck of the woods. Just saw your post and you are correct, we're not done with our little quest just quite yet, far from it! "Grail gun" is almost an understatement. That one will blow the socks off folks in the S&WCA if and when it comes to light. Thanks for keeping the dream alive friend.
Chuck

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It's been a couple of years since Chuck "29-1" and I have discussed the grail gun that we are pursuing. I understand that Chuck has disposed of the "Miss Guns" but I am not sure of that. I am not a Smith and Wesson collector, but am assisting Chuck in his and my search for an important gun that will be of interest to all of us. I am only posting to keep this interesting thread near the top on the forum. Chuck and I are in touch and will keep forum readers informed.

.....gravy. What a piece with all the trimmings!

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

speechless

I am impressed. Great guns and display

Almost two years since I have discussed the "grail gun" that Chuck and I are pursuing. One poster opined that the grail gun could possibly have become a Fitz gun. I don't know what a Fitz gun is, but I'm sure it has something to do with originality. Chuck and I haven't discussed originality, but the original grips seem to have been trashed for or made into some kind of hand carved grips that I have not seen. I think even the carved grips have been lost. Maybe a Fitz gun is a gun that has lost its original grips and had them replaced with Fitz grips. How did I do? I have seen and photographed the gun and all metal is original. Stay tuned.

Typically when I see someone online say a gun has been Fitz'd, they are referring to the front of the trigger guard being cut out.

I only have one "Fitz'd" gun, which I purchased for next to no money and I enjoy because of that, and by what a hilarious wreck it is:



It does however illustrate what I mean by the trigger guard being cut away, as Fitz liked to do.

Thanks for the post about the Fitz trigger guard cutout. I remember that from the early days. No, the gun in question has not been Fitzed in that way. The search continues.