A little background on this piece. I purchased it New in 1980 and never fired it. In 1984 I had a Christmas party at my place and ended up given it to a friend as a gift at the end of the party. I was "FULL" of Christmas cheer and regreted it the next day. 30 years later the same friend who I haven't seen or heard from in 16 years calls me and wants to Re-gift the 29 back to me! He said that he fired it a total of 6 rounds the week after I gave it to him.

My collection of firearms has changed over the years and I do not collect safe queens. My question is "Would you fire it or trade for something that you would use on a regular basis"?

I've cleaned all of the fine rub marks off sense I took this picture. It also came with the original presentation wooden case.

I don't own any safe queens. All of my guns are shooters.
I'd either shoot it or trade/sell it for something I would shoot.

Just my opinion.

If you want to shoot it, shoot it, just maybe not holster it and clean and care for it, it will be fine.

But most importantly, stop drinking so much at Christmas parties, you won't get that lucky again!!

Shoot and enjoy it. Like others I don't own any gun I don't shoot so unless you plan to store and sell at a profit later, I'd just take it to the range

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Send it to me and I will shoot it.

Well, it's already been shot, so fire away! Six (or fifty) extra rounds won't make a dent in its value. If you don't want to keep it as a safe queen you'll probably find a willing buyer or two here.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

It's not rare.

It's not new.

If I had 10 bucks for every NIB gun I shot I could buy another NIB gun and shoot it, too.

It is very pretty, BTW.

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No life story has happy end.

I would try it since your friend did the same

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Smith, and Wesson, and Me!

I'd leave it alone and use it as an excuse to buy another with some experience and shoot the hell out of it.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, and bang.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

This is true of me also.

I'd shoot it......even if or especially if I planned on selling it tomorrow.

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Paul
S&WCA #2726

I would like to buy you 10 or 20 drinks and then we could discuss the future of that awesome gun!

Nice Gun. You are very lucky to get it back. BTW, I would like to be on your Christmas Party invitation list!!

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

Its a tool meant to be used, shoot it by all means.

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S+W Fan

I am in a similar situation, I also purchased a model 27 all nickel and an 8 3/8 barrel new and since I enjoyed using all my other guns this one kind of slipped into storage and it has never been fired. I am seriously considering selling or trading.

Just remember that no gun is truly unfired since the factory test fires them all before they leave. Shoot it.

BTW- If your friend drinks as much as you do/did when he got the gun from you in the first place, he may not know just how many shots he has ran through it.

A gun is a tool to me.
Owning an unfired gun or an undriven collector car or an unplayed guitar is, to me, the same as dating an anatomically incomplete supermodel. It may be lovely to look at, but it has an inherent value in it's design that far exceeds simple aesthetics.
I vote shoot it.

LMAO!! True that!
He also returned 3 Ducks Unlimited Commenrative knives that were produced in 1982 that I "apparently" gave to him at the same party. To my knowledge "I don't collect knives" but did back in the day,"I Guess"

I'm on the fence like you to shoot or not too shoot my brand new guns that had been test fired only by the manufacturer.

I think of it this way if I don't shoot them and I pass on my two sons will gladly shoot them or the next owner who purchases them will.
This leaves one question in our minds who are we leaving them unshot for?
We purchased them originally and why should someone else have the first go round with it. I say handle it very carefully at the range and shoot the snots out of it.

I started giving stuff to my kids only because I'm getting older now. My guns are in my will and left to them.

I have a few that I don't shoot,but I bought them as investments in the first place.The rest get shot..a lot

Thanks to "ALL" that have replied. And after reading all of them I've decided to keep and shoot the heck out of this thing. And to "NEVER" drink in the same area as my stuff. I will post filthy pics of the used 29 after my range trip on Saturday.

This is a Great forum to be a part of!

There's NOTHING that I don't shoot. Well, there was a 2nd Generation Colt SAA that I sold without ever shooting it. But the SAA in 357 Magnum didn't interest me anyway.

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No life story has happy end.

Don't shoot it. By the way, I will be having a Christmas party and you're invited. There will be lots of egg nog. Feel free to bring the gun so we can look at it in person.

This reminds me, when I was a kid it was customary to put Seat Covers on the seats of your new car. This protected the original seats until you were ready to trade or sale your car....then you took them off. Now the new owner gets to enjoy the "New Original Seats" that you never did.

Shoot the gun!

You are just keeping it for the next person anyway may as well enjoy shooting it.

You sir are one lucky feller. Get rid of something and it later returns. Wow.

I got rid of something about 20 years ago. If it shows up I'll send it to you. How are you with ex wives?

I have "Plenty" Thanks anyway!!

.................FUEGO!!!

I say shoot it, and then decide if you want to keep it or not. There was a time I kept safe queens. Then one day the reality of "safe queens" hit me. Why deny myself the pleasure of actually using something as it was meant to be used simply for the sake of dying and letting someone else actually use it and enjoy it? I decided right then and there I would only keep guns I would actually use to one degree or another. I won't be that old man on his deathbed thinking, "thank goodness I never fired that Python."

I say shoot the gun and enjoy it. One of my 29-2's is a nearly pristine* example and I shoot it anyway.......and it remains looking pristine because I take proper care of it.

As others have stated, 29-2's are not all that rare.

I've always thought that the only guns that should NOT be shot are ones due to reasons of safety.....or due to damage because of ancient metallurgy.


(*I hate using the term "mint" because it is a term applied way too loosely. My definition of "mint" means it is still in the factory!)


Russ