This should be an interesting thread, I'll throw my opinion in. Original pre 29's and early model 29's are some of the best finished and well put together S&W's ever made IMO. But if you plan on lot's of shooting then no, dash 2's are nice as well (love that 6.5" barrel) but alas they are also not made for lot's of magnum shooting. Now with the dash 3's we lose P&R, no loss for some a major loss for others, also not a long lived magnum shooter. By now we're in the late 80's and S&W has heard of the "weakness" of the 29 and has begun to take steps to strengthen the platform resulting in the stream of dash #'d models of the 90's, these 29's while nowhere near as well finished as the original 50's/60's guns are much more long lived as magnum shooters.
Honestly it really depends on what you plan on doing with a model 29, collector? Pre or early no question, Dirty Harry? 6.5" dash 2 no question. A Shooter? post endurance pkg gun. Just my 2 cents...

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