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Something amiss there. Serial dates 79 - 80, wrong box for sure and cylinder not recessed. Front sight pin looks changed to me. Cant recall ever seeing a blue sight on a nickle 29-2.

Doesn't it say 23-2?

Joe

Front sight - not sure, but I don't think the 29-2 came with a pinned front?

Box is incorrect - serial number indicates 1979 production, this box was first used in 1983.

Cylinder - non-recessed style was first used in 1982, and I have never seen a 29-2 without a recessed cylinder, but with S & W anything is possible. Perhaps the frame sat around a few years, until after the changeover?

The frame and cylinder both have the N stamp, but who knows if the factory put them together on this gun?

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

It tool me about 3 seconds to recognize it as a 29-3. Seller added a comment stating it appeared to be 29-3 rather than 29-2 as he thought.

Hope the buyer at $644 got what he wanted and expected because I don't think a -3 is worth that much.

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No life story has happy end.

The front sight should be pinned, but it has been replaced, or at least tampered with.

My book (SCSW 2nd ed) says on page 209, that the serial number range N580000- N 700000 was 1980, so the gun in the picture has several things that are out of place.

The gun is too early to be a transitional gun, so it should be recessed. The front blade should be of the dull, nickel plated type, not blued.

The box is wrong.

The N on the frame would be correct on a -2, but it could be from a factory re-nickel job done at a much later date, while the N on the cylinder would be correct for a factory -3 cylinder that was used for a replacement, and the fact that it isn't recessed seems to indicate that is the case.

Saxon Pig-

The pictures clearly show that it is stamped 29-2, and the fact that it is pinned eliminates it from being a -3, unless that was done after the fact, then re-finished.

Saxon;

A pinned barrel 29-3?

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

"A pinned barrel 29-3?"

Sure anything is possible...

[QUOTE=Gun 4 Fun;1251717]The N on the frame would be correct on a -2, but it could be from a factory re-nickel job done at a much later date, while the N on the cylinder would be correct for a factory -3 cylinder that was used for a replacement, and the fact that it isn't recessed seems to indicate that is the case.
QUOTE]

If the gun was re-nickeled by the factory, shouldn't there be one or more appropriate stampings into frame that "rework" occured?

Not necessarily. I don't know exactly when they stopped the practice, but they haven't stamped the re-work markings on the frame for quite a while now.

Looked unpinned to me. Guess I need glasses.

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No life story has happy end.

Now I see the pin in the right side photo.

I think it's a 29-2.5 with the pinned barrel of the -2 but the new unrecessed cylinder that would be on the -3.

I personally have no interest in anything beyond the -2.

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No life story has happy end.

Is this a parts gun?

I thought that I saw a triangle with a "N" on the frame.Does this mean that it was factory re-nickeled? If the gun was redone at S&W they may have replaced the cylinder,I don't think that a N600xxx gun would not have a recessed cylinder when it first left the factory,also a presentation case and tools would have been standard.The folded box may have been sent when the gun was returned after the service was performed.

In the 1981-82 period a number of N frames are seen with both -2 and -3 features. usually it's the unpinned -3 barrel on an otherwise -2 gun, but in some cases you see the -3 cylinder. I think this is one of those.

My theory is that they started running out of the proper -2 parts and started using -3 parts to finish up the guns in production.

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No life story has happy end.

I too saw the N inside the triangle and was wondering if this means a factory re-nickle.

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