Picked up a Model 29-2, six inch, nickel, North Carolina State Highway Patrol, 1929 – 1979, 50th anniversary commemorative revolver yesterday. I knew a bit about them before buying the gun and have learned quite a bit more so I thought I would report it here for those who may be interested. There are two older threads on the forum about the guns and they had some good information, but I found more than was included in them.
I retired from a sister agency (in the same state department) to the NC SHP and worked with troopers my entire career, but my desire to own one of these dates back to about September, 1979.
As I said, my agency (NC Alcohol Law Enforcement Division) was in the same department as the SHP beginning in 1977 when the new Dept. of Crime Control and Public Safety was created. As a result of being in the same department and having a small budget (we had less than 100 agents then) the powers that be decided that our agents (for a short period of time) would go through the same training, at the same time, as the SHP. The Highway Patrol Basic School was then modeled after the US Marines boot camp and was no fun. The days began at 5:00 AM and went to 9:00 PM five days a week. Can’t remember how many we started with but 17 quit during the 17 weeks of fun. As is usual with such a school those in charge devised myriad ways to make us miserable. That’s where this gun comes in. One group of the guns was delivered to the armory, which was/is, at the SHP Training Center (now Academy). Those in charge got all the trainees together and told us they had credible information that the guns were going to be stolen from the armory and that we would be posted to guard them while they were there. This mean that we all had to pull two hour shifts, all night, watching an empty building for over a week. The SHP troopers in my school were not eligible to buy the guns, but the previous school was. This created quite a bit of envy among the trooper cadets in my class. The guns were distributed to those who bought them and forgotten about, save for every once in a while when one would turn up for sale.
Fast forward to the present. I found one at a decent price, unfired, in the presentation case. While deciding whether or not to buy it I did some research. My former director was, at one time, a trooper and bought one of the guns. The best he could remember there were about 1200 authorized trooper positions at that time, but with vacant positions and the fact that the guns were expensive ($386.00 best he can remember) not all bought them. At that time I was paid $622 per month, before withholdings and the troopers were at a similar pay grade. He could not remember if retirees were allowed to buy them or not, but possibly they did. He estimated they ordered about 1000, but was not sure.
The guns have the SHP Badge on the side plate. As engraved guns, they had the small S&W emblem on the left side. On the right side of the barrel there is, acid etched: 1929 NORTH CAROLINA HIGHWAY – PATROL 1979. They shipped with smooth target grips with a “football” cut on the left and a cut out on the right to allow the badge to be completely seen. On the left side, under the cylinder on the frame is stamped “NCHP” and a four digit number. This number was based solely on seniority of the SHP member as of the date of order. So the oldest trooper, based on hire date, got number 0001. (Which incidentally sold at auction last year for $2995 plus auction fees after the member passed away). Mine is 941. The guns were shipped in a presentation case with the SHP seal on the top and a cut out for a small, brass, plate (which was provided for engraving). The case is interesting as it is not the usual mahogany, but looks to be poplar or some similar type wood.
I bought the gun and the seller sent it to my favorite local gun store. In another interesting twist, the owner of the store, actually a very large law enforcement supply business in NC/SC was there when it came in and we unboxed it together. It just so happens he began his career as an employee of Davidson’s, a large S&W (and law enforcement) distributer in the 70’s/80’s right out of college. At this time Davidson’s was headquartered in Greensboro, NC and the order for the guns was placed with them. He was put in charge of the order and dealt with the SHP and Smith and Wesson throughout the process. He said, best of his knowledge, there were about 1200, more/less of them ordered. He thought they were 6.5 inch, but mine is 6 inches (actually 5 7/8’s). We inspected the gun and it does not have any evidence of ever having been fired. It does not have the usual carbon around three cylinders from factory test firing. We theorized that the SHP requested they not be test fired, but this is merely a theory and he could not recall such a request being made. It may explain how the “ghosting” issue got past quality control as if they had to be test fired at least one more person would have handled and examined the guns prior to boxing. He remembered they were the first commemorative that S&W ever did using the model 29, 44 magnum. It was also the first gun they used acid etching to do the engraving. When the initial shipment arrived at Davidson’s he called the SHP representative and had him come for the unboxing. On many of the guns they observed what he called “ghosting,” i.e. the acid etching of the SHP Badge, on the side plate, did not come out perfectly and they simply etched over it resulting in two distinct badges being visible, one clearly and one “behind” it. They had to go through the entire order and return all those that were not perfect. He did not remember how many, but it was a fairly large number. He also told me that one of the guns turned up missing and was never found. It had to be replaced by Davidson’s. So theoretically there are two existing with the same SHP seniority number, but different serial numbers. (The missing gun was entered into NCIC and to his knowledge has never surfaced). All employees were polygraphed and none were found to be responsible.
While I was completing the 4473, two SHP Troopers, who were in the store, came up and wanted to look at the gun. One said he had one as his father was a trooper when the guns were received. The other trooper was born ten years after they were built. The young trooper was very excited to see it as he had not only never seen one, had not heard of their existence prior to that day.
My agency was/is very small and we never could get our people together enough to do a commemorative, so being able to have one from a sister agency and one that I have a history with, was something I could not pass up. I planned to photograph the gun, but have not done so as yet. The other threads have photos and I will drag out the equipment soon to show this one.
I hope this is informative and not too rambling. I do promise photos in the near future.
I retired from a sister agency (in the same state department) to the NC SHP and worked with troopers my entire career, but my desire to own one of these dates back to about September, 1979.
As I said, my agency (NC Alcohol Law Enforcement Division) was in the same department as the SHP beginning in 1977 when the new Dept. of Crime Control and Public Safety was created. As a result of being in the same department and having a small budget (we had less than 100 agents then) the powers that be decided that our agents (for a short period of time) would go through the same training, at the same time, as the SHP. The Highway Patrol Basic School was then modeled after the US Marines boot camp and was no fun. The days began at 5:00 AM and went to 9:00 PM five days a week. Can’t remember how many we started with but 17 quit during the 17 weeks of fun. As is usual with such a school those in charge devised myriad ways to make us miserable. That’s where this gun comes in. One group of the guns was delivered to the armory, which was/is, at the SHP Training Center (now Academy). Those in charge got all the trainees together and told us they had credible information that the guns were going to be stolen from the armory and that we would be posted to guard them while they were there. This mean that we all had to pull two hour shifts, all night, watching an empty building for over a week. The SHP troopers in my school were not eligible to buy the guns, but the previous school was. This created quite a bit of envy among the trooper cadets in my class. The guns were distributed to those who bought them and forgotten about, save for every once in a while when one would turn up for sale.
Fast forward to the present. I found one at a decent price, unfired, in the presentation case. While deciding whether or not to buy it I did some research. My former director was, at one time, a trooper and bought one of the guns. The best he could remember there were about 1200 authorized trooper positions at that time, but with vacant positions and the fact that the guns were expensive ($386.00 best he can remember) not all bought them. At that time I was paid $622 per month, before withholdings and the troopers were at a similar pay grade. He could not remember if retirees were allowed to buy them or not, but possibly they did. He estimated they ordered about 1000, but was not sure.
The guns have the SHP Badge on the side plate. As engraved guns, they had the small S&W emblem on the left side. On the right side of the barrel there is, acid etched: 1929 NORTH CAROLINA HIGHWAY – PATROL 1979. They shipped with smooth target grips with a “football” cut on the left and a cut out on the right to allow the badge to be completely seen. On the left side, under the cylinder on the frame is stamped “NCHP” and a four digit number. This number was based solely on seniority of the SHP member as of the date of order. So the oldest trooper, based on hire date, got number 0001. (Which incidentally sold at auction last year for $2995 plus auction fees after the member passed away). Mine is 941. The guns were shipped in a presentation case with the SHP seal on the top and a cut out for a small, brass, plate (which was provided for engraving). The case is interesting as it is not the usual mahogany, but looks to be poplar or some similar type wood.
I bought the gun and the seller sent it to my favorite local gun store. In another interesting twist, the owner of the store, actually a very large law enforcement supply business in NC/SC was there when it came in and we unboxed it together. It just so happens he began his career as an employee of Davidson’s, a large S&W (and law enforcement) distributer in the 70’s/80’s right out of college. At this time Davidson’s was headquartered in Greensboro, NC and the order for the guns was placed with them. He was put in charge of the order and dealt with the SHP and Smith and Wesson throughout the process. He said, best of his knowledge, there were about 1200, more/less of them ordered. He thought they were 6.5 inch, but mine is 6 inches (actually 5 7/8’s). We inspected the gun and it does not have any evidence of ever having been fired. It does not have the usual carbon around three cylinders from factory test firing. We theorized that the SHP requested they not be test fired, but this is merely a theory and he could not recall such a request being made. It may explain how the “ghosting” issue got past quality control as if they had to be test fired at least one more person would have handled and examined the guns prior to boxing. He remembered they were the first commemorative that S&W ever did using the model 29, 44 magnum. It was also the first gun they used acid etching to do the engraving. When the initial shipment arrived at Davidson’s he called the SHP representative and had him come for the unboxing. On many of the guns they observed what he called “ghosting,” i.e. the acid etching of the SHP Badge, on the side plate, did not come out perfectly and they simply etched over it resulting in two distinct badges being visible, one clearly and one “behind” it. They had to go through the entire order and return all those that were not perfect. He did not remember how many, but it was a fairly large number. He also told me that one of the guns turned up missing and was never found. It had to be replaced by Davidson’s. So theoretically there are two existing with the same SHP seniority number, but different serial numbers. (The missing gun was entered into NCIC and to his knowledge has never surfaced). All employees were polygraphed and none were found to be responsible.
While I was completing the 4473, two SHP Troopers, who were in the store, came up and wanted to look at the gun. One said he had one as his father was a trooper when the guns were received. The other trooper was born ten years after they were built. The young trooper was very excited to see it as he had not only never seen one, had not heard of their existence prior to that day.
My agency was/is very small and we never could get our people together enough to do a commemorative, so being able to have one from a sister agency and one that I have a history with, was something I could not pass up. I planned to photograph the gun, but have not done so as yet. The other threads have photos and I will drag out the equipment soon to show this one.
I hope this is informative and not too rambling. I do promise photos in the near future.
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Just kidding of course, but I can't wait for the pictures. Congratulations.
