I just got back from the LGS where I found a Model 29-2, 6.5" bbl, with some wear. The grips are diamond cokes without a cut-out or football. I took them off and looked for a serial number on the inside but found nothing. I checked the revolver's S-serial number and the gun was from 1965.

Could these grips be original to this particular 29-2? They also have some wear, with a chunk missing from the left panel, up near the trigger guard. The wear matches the gun, implying that they have been together a pretty good while. I am suspecting the grips are from much earlier though, as I think the football cutout was added in the 50s. Still, there should be a serial number in there, right? Did Smith sell these as aftermaket options without the serial number? Still, the gun would have already had targets, so why change?

I'm cleaning the lead out of the bore right now. Once it is back together, will try to post some pics. I think I got a pretty good deal.

Does anybody know of a good grip restoration guy? It would be nice to clean these up.

I think,but I may be wrong,that cokes all have the football cutout.Those sound like nonrelieved diamond targets from the early fifties

gkitch...If the stocks look like those in the first photo, they pre-date your 29-2 by at least nine or ten years. The correct stocks are shown in the second photo. Target stocks were not numbered to the revolver.

Bill

DWFAN for the grip resto!!! VM does grips also and is a first-rate guy...............I have grips from both.

__________________
Go big or stay home

DWFAN is the man for the job!

Bill,
Yes, they are like the first photo. I wonder how they ended up on this 29-2....

I'm not Bill, but the answer is easy.
Many Gun owners over the years have done the "grip rodeo" and changed wood on their revolvers many times for their personal taste.
Even though your grips are not Cokes, they are quite valuable.

Well, now that I know the grips are not original to the gun, I think what I would prefer to do is find some 1965 appropriate grips and try to either swap or sell the Diamond Targets to fund the aquisition.

I am trying to be home when it is still daylight so I can get some decent pics.

When you pay $500 for a set of correct stocks you will understand what happened to the ones that were originally on the gun. Many sellers realize they can get more by selling the gun and stocks separately. Try to find a Python with the correct stocks. Same situation with the Colts.

Wow. Perhaps I'll just have these older stock resored and go with that.

Your stocks are worth restoring, even if you don't use them on this gun. A correct gun for the grips is in your future.

__________________
Living a dream - S&WCA #2364

Unfortunately this happens with vintage pocket watches too. Guys part out movements, dials and cases to get more money. They don't realize or care they are destroying history or colletor value.

__________________
Memory of Randy Freas-Rimfired

Will follow up with the grips..

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Very Nice!!!!

__________________
Go big or stay home

That's an odd looking set of stocks. They look like Cokes that somehow missed the football cut.

HOLD THE PRESSES!!

gkitch - you may have a set of rare grips there. Those have the larger checkered area like Cokes and are non-relieved.
I'm almost postitive Doc44 has a pair and hoping he comments on these.
Please take some better pictures of your grips, inside and out and repost.
You may have something more valuable than Cokes. I hope I am right.

*Disclaimer* - I do have a pretty bad vision problem right now

WHat are these?

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They are probably the original stocks that came with that gun. I believe I would get them restored. They look like it could be done.

What exactly are these grips?

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Ummmm..... Rosewood. Looks like Bahia to me, not the more common Cocobolo....

Nice Stocks, but I doubt that a .44 Magnum would have shipped from the factory with stocks that did not have the cartridge relief. The empties are just too long.

Here is my new/unfired 1968 29-2 for comparison:

Those could be original to the gun. We'll wait to hear what Doc has to say. Here is his Expert Commentary:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/blogs/d...-model-29.html

While there is no doubt that these are interesting stocks, my sense is that they shipped on a pre-1955 .45ACP NT gun, probably a 1950 or perhaps on of the earliest 1955s. These short cased rounds could still be extracted without the football cartridge relief.

WOW definitely waiting for the final verdict on those Stocks
Very neat

That was my thought exactly, although I cannot claim to even be close to an expert, we have seen a lot of pictures on this forum of many different grips and should be able to identify the differences between cokes and non cokes by now.

__________________
Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

Here is a pair of stocks dating from 1969-1973 that probably did miss the step where the relieved area was cut into the left panel (creating an instant collectible!?!).

Bill

Then, there is always this pair shown on the first 44 Magnum (prototype) made in January, 1955.

Bill

So do these more match the style from 1955, or are they more likely a set from 1964-65 that missed the football step? My eye for the subtle details of these grips is yet rather undeveloped. Again, the stocks themselves are not serial numbered to the gun...so they would have missed that step too if original to the revolver.

If we think they are likely original to the 29-2, I will certainly keep the grips with the gun.

The stocks are closer in style to those made from 56-66 since they have the larger checked area on each panel and are made of Goncalo alves. Whether they were actually made without the relieved area or missed a manufacturing step is something we will never know for sure.

Bill

Probably not from '55, but it seems as if they are a pair of Coke bottle grips that missed the cut-out step...in my opinion.

1) they are Coke bottle grips...due to shape and checkering pattern
2) they are missing the cut-out

I guess that would be the final verdict? Are they original to the gun, I do not know. A letter would tell you what it was shipped with when it left the factory.

Doc I know your an expert however that sure looks like rosewood to me
being a rookie

I am inclined to agree with Bill. If you look at the pictures carefully, particularly those showing the inletting, they look more like GA than rosewood, based on the grain structure. They may have been stained a little before finishing, or the finish itself may have discolored to give the rosewood appearance. It's hard to say with any certainty.

In any case, it is an interesting set of stocks and if they were mine, I would want them restored and returned to the gun. That's probably contrary to the instincts of a collector, but with the chunk out of them they haven't got a lot of value to a collector, so I can't see any harm. It might be considered a waste of money by some, but to me, it would make perfect sense.

I would definitely have them restored as they are a unique variation (intentional or not). Keith Brown would do a super job.

Bill

Since the grips lack both a "football" cutout AND a serial number, I'm still having trouble believing that they were original to the gun. Here's my best theory: these grips were old prototype grips for the 44 Magnum in 1955. When S&W decided to make them withthe cutout, they threw this (and maybe a few more) in a box. For whatever reason, 10 years go by and there is a shortage of wood or grips or something. Somebody finds the old box and decides to just use them. They go on the newly made 29-2 and off they ship.

So, any other good theories out there? Is mine plausible?

First, don't obsess over the lack of serial number. Those stocks were almost never numbered to a gun. You are thinking of magnas, which usually were numbered to a gun. It is unusual to see coke-bottle stocks numbered to the gun.

As to your theory, heck, it is as good as any. But, you now have the word from one of the foremost experts on S&W 44 Magnums. Bill says restore 'em. What else do you need to know?

Aye, aye. WIll get er done.
After I shoot the 29-2 a bit it may have to go back to S&W for a proper facelift to match.

oh I have quite a few times......

I'm still trying to learn so be patient. When you say football cutouts are you referring to the thumb relief (football shaped) at the top of the left stock?

__________________
John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

Yes. The grips in question are odd in there is no such cutout.

I'm sitting here comparing my one pair of cokes to my one pair of early diamond targets.From the bottom of the grip to the checkering on the cokes,I get 5/16". On the targets,I get 9/16".

That's not a "Thumb Relief". It's the to allow clearance for the longer cartridges like the .44 Magnum during extraction. The cut allows cases in those charging holes closest to the frame to be full extracted without hanging up on the stocks. We have come to call this relief a "Football" due to it's shape.

The earliest Target Stocks did not have such a Football as the shorter cases such as the .45 ACP in the 1950's and 1955's will extract properly without the "football".

As much as some would like to believe it, I am dubious of the idea that S&W "missed a step" when making the particular stocks in question. My thinking is that they are simply the early, pre-1956 pattern stocks without the football that were checkered by the factory in the "Coke" pattern. Then, later in the guns service life, these stocks found their way onto a much later 29-2.

BTW, gkitch, did I read that you were contemplating refinishing this 29? I would discourage that idea.

Drew

Yes, that gun looks too good to run the risk of a refinish job. Unless it is worse than the pics make it look, I would agree with Drew. Repair the stocks and stop at that.

I had a rough 5" M27-2 that went back to S&W for a factory refinish and it came back like new. I really would classify it as more of a restoration than a refinish. The experience was "worth it" in that case.
I suppose you guys are right...this M-29-2 is in good enough condition as to not justify the cost and the tampering.

DWFAN did an outstanding job:

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