I like this one... 629-2 unfluted, w/combat grips.

my vote. the 329ng.

By the way, if I am reading this correctly, C&S does offer installation of these on the old style revolvers with the squared off sight spring. You can't just order the parts, but if you send in your revolver, they will machine it to accept the sight: C&S Extreme Duty Fixed Rear Sight with Dovetail Front Sight Installed on OLD STYLE

I have tried over and over too. I like the way these feel but the point on the end is not good for CCW. I cut it off.

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Shoot fast & live long
Warren

I'm partial to the 3.5" 27 with the 3" 24 as second favorite. I regret not buying a pre-lock 8-shot 627 2 5/8" when I was in college, though. Someday, I hope to have first-hand experience with it, too. If I had a 25 Jovino, I'm sure it would be high on my list, too.

Beautiful gun and grips! What kind of grips are they?

I have to go with my favorite caliber of .44 special and a 3" 24-3 LH.

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Memory of Randy Freas-Rimfired

Since posting the unfluted 629-2 earlier in this thread, I sold that one and bought a fluted 629-1. I prefer the flutes.


(I need to take a better photo)

My 29-4 is my avatar, with bonded ivory combats.

Here is my M-629 with Hogue Pau Ferro grips:

Love to shoot .45 ACP and have been searching for some time for the right deal on a 3" 625...finally landed this one earlier in the year. For me, it's the perfect snubbie revolver.

Here's one I had put together from an old 1917 and a new 3" barrel from Numrich.

Attached Images

rebarrelled to a 3in 003.jpg (98.3 KB, 157 views)

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Sheriff Russell Cottle. ret

Beautiful! An all steel 3" would be my choice too.

I'd enjoy a 3" M625/45ACP, but somehow manage to make do with a 3 1/2" 357:

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July 4, 1776 not Jan 30, 1909

In my opinion, the N-Frames are best suited to .44s or .45s.
For me, the perfect ideal marriage is .44 Special in a 3 inch gun:

Awaiting my new LOBO holster for this one.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

But then you loose the cool esthetics of that neat hole in the side of the gun, and it's so much more dangerous, without the safety, that the new Smith&Wesson people went to so much trouble, and expense of putting on the gun, to keep you safe! Heck, you might as well buy one of those ****** old S&W's, with the nice bluing, forged parts, and one piece barrels, if that's all you want.

EarlFH

I think of myself as somebody who likes guns with longer barrels, but maybe I'm fooling myself. I just took stock and found that more of my recent vintage N-frames have shorter tubes on them.

A 24-3 LH...



A couple of 627 PCs...



one of which has some accessories...




and this recently acquired 625-3:



It's still hard for me to think of a gun with a three-inch barrel as a true snubnose, but it's less difficult with N-frames. The two-inch "pugnose" N-frames look a little too snubbed to me. I think the 2 5/8" 627 barrels look just right.

The frames just have to be steel. I just can't see shooting lightweight N-frames. And the fixed C&S sights have appealed to me for a long time. I still think I may have a gun equipped with those some day. Maybe one of the 627s.

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David Wilson

I'm with you on the 325NG. While the steel frame guns actually feel better and are more pleasant to shoot with, I find I'm taking that 325NG along because it's just so nice. It's almost like an overgrown J-frame. I really like the big dot sights as well.

I'm thinking I'll most likely have the trigger smoothed up quite a bit - it's atrocious and stacks quite a bit throughout the trigger pull - and I might have the hammer reduced or even cut down for pocket carry. Even with those, it's still a great carry piece and shoots well.

Love those white grips.... who makes those??

Here's my choice 629-3 PC carry comp


Cheers
Bill

Nice choice Bill, that would be my choice as well in the woods. If urban it would be 627 udr.

Man....you folks have some awesome snubbies. I am just getting back into revolvers and recently picked up my 1st short barreled offering.

Random Thoughts

These 8 shot 357 Magnums...

WHY did it take S&W so LONG to start making them???

Now I am not a 357 Mag kind of guy, I like 45 ACP and 44 Mag revolvers.

But even I can appreciate an EIGHT shot 357 Mag S&W.

I was visiting a buddy out of state a while back, and he had a double shoulder holster rig, and 2 LW short barreled S&W 8 shot 357 Mags.

Well I gave the shoulder rig and both handguns a try in some live fire drills.

Even I liked it...

The 8 shot 357 Magnum revolvers were announced in 1996 and began shipping in 1997.

That is when S&W was finishing their conversion to multi axis CNC mills. It is the combination of CNC manufacturing techniques and advances in metallurgy that made the 8 shot 357 magnum and J-frame magnum revolvers possible

Well I will say I think it is one of the best concepts in revolvers S&W has ever made.

I will NEVER own one, again I am a 44Mag/45ACP N frame kind of guy...

But for 357 Mag People, an 8 shot N frame is BAD to the Bone, IMHO.

And again even I appreciate the Concept...

Especially with Full Moon Clips...

I am not the only 10MM Magnum shooter here

The 10MM Magnum is an OLD cartridge.

It was developed for the Automag IV decades ago.

It is a stretched version of the 10MM Auto cartridge that yields 41 Magnum level performance.

How about the S&W Camfor 629-5 fixed sight snub? That's the ultimate 44 pocket gun

Another 624 vote:

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Okay....caliber debates aside, there is nothing cooler than a N Frame Snubbie

They are all going to do a great job at whatever you want to do.

However, my personal choice is a 657

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On the Oak Savannah

Sorry, I didn't see this until now. They are Ahrends Tactical finger groove grips in moradillo wood.

N-Frame snubbie? How about this:

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Dave

No matter how many times I look at this incredible work of art, I am still awed. It is one of the most beautiful revolver and rig combos I have seen.

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I'm with the banned ...

Gawdy was the first word that came to mind. Odd how the cylander doesn't begin to fill the open area in the frame. BBQ rig to the extreme.

I have the 327 Nightguard and the 327 PC. I love revolvers, and I love having 8 rounds onboard.

...Model 520

Attached Images

0626a12 021.jpg (107.9 KB, 58 views)

I found this 29-10 last week at the local gun store,It will become my all the time carry.It shoots great,carries better and looks good also.Took it out to the department range and qualified with 100 out of 100.Even the rookies who are Glock groupies loved it.Some of them have never seen a wheel gun much less shot one....

Attached Images

Model 29-10 005.jpg (44.3 KB, 68 views)

Are those Grashorn stocks ? Very nice.

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SWCA #2601

3" 44Mag. snubby built on a 57 frame.




Ned

It'll do....
M29-4

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Great gun, Fantastic pictures! Well done sir, well done.

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Dave

That is why I posted that gun to this thread about the ideal N frame snubbie. There is a reason the cylinder doesn't fill the window.

I believe it was Ed McGivern (Might have been another famous gun guy) who showed a picture of a 1917 with a cut down cylinder in one of his books. The idea is to eliminate (as much as possible) "bullet jump". So the cylinder has been cut back to the absolute minimum it can be and still contain a 45acp round without it protruding out the front. The barrel is then set back with an extremely tight (yet still functional) barrel cylinder gap.

The result of those modifications is that the bullet travels the absolute minimum distance before engaging the forcing cone.

A secondary benefit of that setup is that you get a 3" barrel in a gun takes the physical space of a gun with a 2.5" barrel and you lose a little weight in the process.

Beauty maybe in the eye of the beholder, but in this case it is more than skin deep.

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Dave

Thank you Dave!!

Sorry to see your revolver all scratched up. Those should buff right out! Just kidding, obviously...that is one beautiful revolver. The grips look amazing.

How are you guys carrying the steel N frames? I tried packing this 629 in a strong side holster and I spent half the day pulling my pants back up, or pulling my belt tight enough to choke off my internals!

Of course I had to wait until S&W discontinued the nightguards to become interested in them...

With all this blubber decorating my waist I wouldn't try to belt-carry an N-frame unless I wore suspenders as well. If I dumped 30-40 pounds I could probably cinch a belt tight enough to lock on my hip bones. Then I could bypass the over-the-shoulder style issues.

Right now the best answer for somebody with my vertical profile would be a shoulder holster of some sort. Or a heavy sag-resistant jacket with stout side pockets.

Fortunately I don't get out of the house much so the how-to-carry question does not even present itself.

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David Wilson

My current one and only N-Frame Snub, a 24-3.

Now if one of those 3" 625s crossed my path, I'd probably dislocate something while yanking my wallet out...

Attached Images

24-3(5).jpg (136.8 KB, 37 views)

Either one of these two -
Problem is I'm 5'8" & 150lbs., I've got nowhere to put 'em for CC.

Bruce

624 LH


629-4

I'm partial to the .45 ACP in the old "Model of 1989" 3" 625-3:

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Now go make God proud...

was lonely, so I pulled out another 58 that had been converted to 44 mag in the 70's and stuck this 629, 2.5" barrel on it, round butted it, and tuned it up .





Now it's happy again.


Ned