Smith & Wesson Model 29-2 5" Barrel/Performance Center Buy 1999

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Texasflyboy

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My John Ross copycat Model 29-2 with 5" barrel from his limited production run around 1998-2004. Manny in the S&W performance center did the build. I was last in line for the builds and Manny only had two 5" barrels left from the limited run so I sent two 29's in for the build. A 29-1, and a 29-2.

IIRC the total cost was ~$700 per for the barrel change and the complete overhaul and tuning.

IIRC, John Ross's run had custom serial numbers and a frame design honoring "Unintended Consequences." I've always wondered what happened to his after his untimely passing.
 

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I vaguely remember this deal. Did I sell you one or two barrels. People call me Many also. Could there be two Many’s or Mannys in this deal ?
 
I'm curious about the barrel profile, doesn't look like the standard 29-2 under lug (ejector shroud) profile. Looks to me like the "open on the books" five inch 29-2 I have that I've been trying to figure out from where the barrel may have came. Looks like a 44-40 544 barrel rather than the standard 29-2 but with the standard 44 Magnum stamps. Do you have any more information on that "limited production run" of barrels? Here's my five inch compared to a standard 6 inch 29-2.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

https://flic.kr/p/2oVUgHR https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934231@N03/
 
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22hipower said:
I'm curious about the barrel profile, doesn't look like the standard 29-2 under lug (ejector shroud) profile.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
Click to expand...


Are you talking about the "scallop" at the front of the extractor rod shroud on the Nickel gun compared to straight on the blued gun? That isn't anything special, sometime in the 1980s I believe they stopped doing that and leaving the right side straight on all models with the shroud. Strictly a period of production thing.
 
Alk8944 said:
Are you talking about the "scallop" at the front of the extractor rod shroud on the Nickel gun compared to straight on the blued gun? That isn't anything special, sometime in the 1980s I believe they stopped doing that and leaving the right side straight on all models with the shroud. Strictly a period of production thing.
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There are no 29-2s with that barrel configuration as far as I know. Do you know of any five inch blue S&W 44 magnum models with barrels like it? The only ones like it, as far as I know, were made for the 544 44-40s and definitely were not stamped as 44 Magnums. The 29-3 ejector rod housings have the same "scalloped" shape although it did change later, although as far as I know, no five inch blue models. The Classic, available today, but not in 5 inch, has the "scallop."

I'd sure like to know more about the "limited run" of 29-2 five inch barrels mentioned by the OP.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
 
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The barrel you are asking about began to be used around 83/84. One of the first models it was used on was the Elmer Keith Commemorative 44 Magnum (a Model 29-3). I believe this type of barrel has been used since that time, but that is a guess on my part since I don't collect guns past the mid-1970s.

Bill
 
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Doc44 said:
The barrel you are asking about began to be used around 83/84. One of the first models it was used on was the Elmer Keith Commemorative 44 Magnum (a Model 29-3). I believe this type of barrel has been used since that time, but that is a guess on my part since I don't collect guns past the mid-1970s.

Bill
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Yes, but weren't the Elmer Keith 29-3s 4 inch guns? Are you aware of the "limited run" of 5 inch barrels and Performance Center production of 29-2s in 1998 referred to by the OP?

The pictures of the Model 29 Classic, available now, shown on the S&W website appear to me to have the same "scallop" profile as the 29-2s.

Jeff
SWCa #1457
 
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A10 said:
An example of the 29-3 underlug
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Yes, exactly like that except the Keith guns are 4 inch barrels. The OP is showing a 29-2 with the 5 inch and refers to it as a "limited run" of 5 inch barrel guns by the Performance Center.

I'm not aware of any blue 29 models, much less 29-2s, with this style 5 inch barrel. I'm eager to learn though.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
 
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The OP sent in two 44s, a 29-2 and a 29-1 for a barrel change. Why these barrels were made in the first place is a question for the Performance Center. By 1998, the 44 Magnum was a 29-7. The 5-inch guns made by the Performance Center in 1998 would not have been 29-2s. The Model 29 was discontinued (for a time) beginning in 1999.

In order to investigate this special run of 44s with a 5-inch barrel, we need to know the serial number of one of them (a product code would help too).

Bill
 
Bill I remember this deal vaguely . I think at the time I had a 5” barrel. The performance center had these laying around. They had never been installed. An employee there said these barrels weren’t going to be used for anything and could be purchased. This gentleman, TX Flyboy , he was from Houston, I don’t remember his name, he purchased these barrels either from me , or the Performance Center. I may have had one and the PC still had two, so he bought those. This was over 30 years ago and I just don’t remember all the details.
 
Doc44 said:
The OP sent in two 44s, a 29-2 and a 29-1 for a barrel change. Why these barrels were made in the first place is a question for the Performance Center. By 1998, the 44 Magnum was a 29-7. The 5-inch guns made by the Performance Center in 1998 would not have been 29-2s. The Model 29 was discontinued (for a time) beginning in 1999.

In order to investigate this special run of 44s with a 5-inch barrel, we need to know the serial number of one of them (a product code would help too).

Bill
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I don't know that mine was one, but mine certainly appears to have the same 5 inch barrel as does the OP's. My SN is N859774 but that won't help as you checked it (thanks much) back in early 2022 and it is open on the books although you found that it had gone back for service in October of 2002 but S&W could not/would not tell me what was done then.

Hope the OP and lowriderfxr come back to comment as both seem to be aware of the Performance Center acquiring, installing on -2 and earlier frames, and perhaps selling those 5 inch barrels separately. If so, I'd think there should be more than just three of them somewhere in the collector community.

Thanks.

Jeff
 
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lowriderfxr said:
Bill I remember this deal vaguely . I think at the time I had a 5” barrel. The performance center had these laying around. They had never been installed. An employee there said these barrels weren’t going to be used for anything and could be purchased. This gentleman, TX Flyboy , he was from Houston, I don’t remember his name, he purchased these barrels either from me , or the Performance Center. I may have had one and the PC still had two, so he bought those. This was over 30 years ago and I just don’t remember all the details.
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Thanks for the additional information. Why do you think those would have been laying around the Performance Center? Do you know of any other issue of the 29 that used a five inch barrel like those shown? Would the Performance Center have taken 544 44/40 barrels and reworked and stamped them as 44 magnum barrels? Here's my 5 inch and a comparison photo of its barrel and my 544. Those barrels sure look alike to me except for the stamps.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

https://flic.kr/p/2oWcnGK https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934231@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/2oWbXL5 https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934231@N03/
 
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lowriderfxr said:
Bill I remember this deal vaguely . I think at the time I had a 5” barrel. The performance center had these laying around. They had never been installed. An employee there said these barrels weren’t going to be used for anything and could be purchased. This gentleman, TX Flyboy , he was from Houston, I don’t remember his name, he purchased these barrels either from me , or the Performance Center. I may have had one and the PC still had two, so he bought those. This was over 30 years ago and I just don’t remember all the details.
Click to expand...

This is correct. I was living in Houston at that time. All I did was make contact with the Performance Center after calling/messaging here with John Ross. I called S&W and got a RMA for the 29-1 and the 29-2 to send them in. A few months later I got email that they were ready. The modified revolvers came with the 5" barrels installed and included the original barrels (~6" for the 29-1 and 8 3/8" for the 29-2).

I looked for the message traffic between John Ross and I that was here but its gone from my inbox. I don't often hang out here anymore. I was more active in the late 90's early 00's.

I am not 100% sure about the dates. Reading all the replies here it could have been as late as 2002/03/04 when this deal happened. I would not be surprised.

I may have the S&W paperwork. I will look for it tonight.

I also want to add that this started when John Ross popped up on the website and I verified it by calling him on the phone. It was him. Really nice guy and we had a long chat, mostly about S&W revolvers. Later, I don't recall exactly when, John posted pics of a 5" Model 29 and said (paraphrasing) "I had this built at the Performance Center/S&W." I instantly messaged him here and asked how I could get in on that deal and he later called me on my phone and gave me Manny's name and phone number. That's how it started. John and I exchanged emails for a few years but after a bit they dwindled to nothing, he had other things going on in his life as did I. Found another pic:
 

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Texasflyboy said:
This is correct. I was living in Houston at that time. All I did was make contact with the Performance Center after calling/messaging here with John Ross. I called S&W and got a RMA for the 29-1 and the 29-2 to send them in. A few months later I got email that they were ready. The modified revolvers came with the 5" barrels installed and included the original barrels (~6" for the 29-1 and 8 3/8" for the 29-2).

I looked for the message traffic between John Ross and I that was here but its gone from my inbox. I don't often hang out here anymore. I was more active in the late 90's early 00's.

I am not 100% sure about the dates. Reading all the replies here it could have been as late as 2002/03/04 when this deal happened. I would not be surprised.

I may have the S&W paperwork. I will look for it tonight.

I also want to add that this started when John Ross popped up on the website and I verified it by calling him on the phone. It was him. Really nice guy and we had a long chat, mostly about S&W revolvers. Later, I don't recall exactly when, John posted pics of a 5" Model 29 and said (paraphrasing) "I had this built at the Performance Center/S&W." I instantly messaged him here and asked how I could get in on that deal and he later called me on my phone and gave me Manny's name and phone number. That's how it started. John and I exchanged emails for a few years but after a bit they dwindled to nothing, he had other things going on in his life as did I.
Click to expand...

Thanks for adding more info. The John Ross aspect is certainly interesting. Perhaps someone else here saw your, or his, posts back then and did as you did resulting in the gun I have which also turned up in Texas in a fellow SWCA member's collection last year. But he didn't remember how he came by it other than had traded for it at some point. Doesn't clear up the mystery of how these apparently unique 5 inch barrels came to exist, but perhaps, as Bill says, we'll never know.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
 
Mystery solved, as least for my two barrels. Both of my 5" barrels are leftover's from the 1836 Stamped special run shown under Post #13. When I arrived home today I took the 29-2 out of the safe and looked at it with bright light and a loupe and caught the faint lettering. My best guess is that my two 5" barrels were rolling around in somebodies work desk at the Performance Center after the run of 1836 commemoratives.

The pic speaks for itself. My 29-2 barrel is below the pic captured from Jeff's post #13:
 

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Ok, that adds up, leftover 544 barrels, which was really the only thing that made sense as these don't show up anywhere else. . . .as far as I know. Thanks for confirming it.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
 
Somewhen, about the time this transpired, I read that the factory had some 5 inch model 29 barrels. I immediately called the factory and was told they did not have any. So, my 4 inch still has it's original barrel. A few years later, I found a 5 inch model 29-2 in a Colorado Springs gun shop, so at least I have one, but it does not get shot much. I really like my 544 though, surely like to have a shooter 5 inch 29! Now I know what they were and where they went! :-)
 
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