I was going through some old photos in Fototime and thought I would re-post this one for those of you who really like 5-inch 44 Magnums. The one of the left (S231233) was shipped on March 7, 1963 and the one on the right (S229239) ten days later. Both went to H. H. Harris in Chicago. Both are fairly early 29-2s and have an "L" stamped on the rear surface of the cylinder indicating they have an extractor rod with an improved or left-hand thread.

Bill

Thank you for posting, sir. Pretty guns, and I like the Cokes.
Sonny

Doc,a full house couldn`t beat that pair.Are the still together or long departed.

Boy Tim is gonna have an accident when he see's this thread.

Great guns Bill

Dave...they are still together. The S231 revolver came with the original case, accessories, and all of the the paperwork. S229 has all of that plus the original shipping carton with end label. As the photo shows, both guns are 99+ percent, although I have shot S231 some (it was 100 percent when I bought it).

Bill

It's very possible a friend of mine sold those guns. He worked for Harris during that period of time. ...sold me my first (store bought) firearm. Very knowledgeable guy and always very generous with his knowledge.

... just passed away last year and I'm happy to say a lot of people miss him.

They definitly have the look of typical Harris guns, being 5 inch N frames. The guys there knew their stuff and stocked the shop accordingly.

/c

Bill, very nice as always. You're making me want to get creative with the camera again.
Chuck

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Rangers LTW!

I just checked in to try to escape from all the emotional stress I've been under lately, and OH, WOW!!

Yea, Curtis is right. I almost joined my dad when I saw this thread. I have been wanting to turn the 8 3/8"gun I just picked up a few weeks ago into a 5", but I am reconsidering that now because what I really want is an original like one of these. Maybe someday I'll be lucky enough................

Thanks for posting Bill. I needed to see some beautiful old guns like these right now.

Thanks for posting Bill. Those pair of 29's made my day.
They are beautiful. Don

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Twins in blue 5" with grips of such majesty are so uncommon to see. Thank you.

Doc, my original LOOKING 5" that I have a letter that it was sent to stoegers on june 24 1964 as a 6 1/2" is # S 231718. That is just 485 above yours, and was sent about 14 months later. My lettering is identical placed as yours and the crowning and front sight is perfect too.
Its still got me wondering about the accuracy of my letter! I still have the original cokes to it stashed, and put these presentations on it. If it was a 6 1/2", shouldnt the lettering be further forward?

feralmerril...Your 29-2 may have had the original barrel replaced with a 5-inch barrel. S&W had extras and used them to rebarrel guns for many years. I once had a nickel 44 Magnum that had a 5-inch barrel exchanged for the original 6 1/2-inch. It looked perfect also.

You can always call Roy and ask the invoice be checked again.

Bill

Thanks, Doc.

Hi Bill:

Great pair of five inch 29-2's! Very nice photo! I just love those 29's in the S-227,000 to the early S=230,000 serial number range where you find both four screw and three screw 29's, 29-1's and 29-2's all mixed together. Is the S&W patch from the early '60's?

Bob

As usual, another awesome pair!! Very nice indeed and thanx for sharing them with us.

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Bob...the S&W patch is late 50s to early 60s. I bought three of them (all different) at our meeting in Sturbridge. Like stocks, patches are fun to collect too.

Bill

Very nice - BUT, it's illegal to own two 5" M29s especially S series. So you must sell one to me. :-)

Wonderful guns! Thanks for posting.

T-Star

I've long and hard thought of sending my 6" 629-1 back to S&W to have 1" cut off and the front sight remounted. I thought it might look wrong with the stamping being too far forward, but when I looked hard at the stampings on the 6" barrel, they are back farther towards the ejector rod housing, so that they'd be perfectly centered if I had the barrel cut down... Now, of course, that's a different model and many years of production away, but it makes you wonder about that letter and the location of your stampings...


As far as ANY 5" 44 Magnum goes - I'm soooo jealous! Having something like this would be my grail gun. If I run across a non-fully-lugged 629-3 w/ 6" barrel, it would definitely get converted to a 5", and I doubt I'd ever shoot any other revolver again...

Bill, those are just stunningly beautiful!

I just pulled mine out of the safe and looked again. The same serial # is on the barrel as well the frame. So mine DID NOT have another 5" barrel put on it. The lettering is exactly centered as doc`s. The muzzel is perfectly crowned, the front sight looks right with the two flush pins.
My letter says it left the factory as a 6 1/2". The big question I guess is, did the 6 1/2" have the lettering on the same place on the barrel as Doc,s 5"s? If not, I am going to reletter it again.

Merril
with the exception of some odd cases, and 3 1/2" guns, the rollmark on pretty much all barrel lengths were in the same place. I had my -3 cut to 5" some years ago from a 6", and the lettering is almost perfectly centered. You have posted in the past that you saw another 5" gun that was close to yours in SN...if you can remember that number maybe you ought to letter them both

merril...Rollmarking of the barrels varied slightly over the years and should not be used to determine if a barrel is original or not (unless the marking is obviously way off). S&W would sometimes stamp the serial number of the new barrel in the ejector rod shroud, so your 29-2 could have been rebarreled.

I would call Roy and ask the invoice be checked again. If it shows your 29-2 as having been shipped with a 6 1/2-inch barrel, that is what you will have to accept (even if the invoice is incorrect, there is no way to prove it).

Bill

Bill,

These are another set of fabulous guns and the grips are just stunning.