This gun has only recently come out of the woods.
A Five Inch Performance Center Model 629-3 with Fixed Sights:







Traditional Square Notch Rear and Double Action Only. The Hammer does not have a single action notch:



Dovetailed Brass Bead protrudes like a McGivern Bead, but is not quite as domed and has straight sides:



Trigger Stop and Chamfered Cylinder:




Did I forget to tell you it is in 45 Colt?



A letter to the original owner in February, 1997. Gwinnett County is one of the original five counties making up the metro Atlanta area. It is the second largest county in Georgia by population. The MAB prefix on the serial number is the owner's initials:



Interesting One Piece Grips. We have no idea if they are original or not. Unfortunately, the Box or Case is lost to time and circumstance.





The gun did still have two custom rigs with it from the original owner. They are extremely high quality. All are lined in suede. I can't find any logos or markings anywhere on them. The shoulder rig reminds me of a Jackass (now Galco). Note the J frame backup holster. The J frame is mine, NOT his. Both guns ride horizontally and the pouches still hold two HKS speedloaders for the 45. Both rigs show obvious signs of being worn. The gun shows obvious signs of being carried and shot, though it has had a careful deep cleaning that removed all carbon.




The open front pancake is a masterpiece:

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Cool firearm, awesome leather! I would love to find out who made the pancake holster. What a shame the original owner lost the box and accessories. A very impressive find.

That is one awesome find there Lee. Love seeing a PC gun I have never seen. Those grips look they would be comfortable as hell.

Eric

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk

The gun also has the unique "raised" thumb piece that the performance Center only used on certain variations in the 1995 - 1997 time frame.

Thanks for sharing such an interesting piece. The original owner must of had a very close relationship with senior executives at S&W.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

The leather looks like Sam Andrews. Was out of Orlando Florida and now St. Augustine.

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Billy
Gunsmith, M/C mechanic

A very, very neat find. Out of curiosity ,were you aware of this or did it come out of the "blue" ? You just never know what treasures lurk out there. All my very best , Joe.

A friend of mine bought it at a gun show.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

That is one interesting piece for sure. And in 45 Colt to boot!!

Be still my heart!

Those grips look ugly to me but I would bet they're comfortable. Strange to see something like that on something that would be a "duty" rig.

It would be a dream for me to find something like that since I love the 45 Colt caliber. (That is if I had to money at the time)!

i don't like it. Looks like they ground away too much.

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S&W Accumulator

I thought so too at first.
Maybe not ugly, but "less than attractive".
Then, I played with it some. Apparently, the man was about my size/build. I can wear the shoulder rig comfortably without adjustment.
The grips positively make my hand find the exact same position each time without any jockeying around. The hand is simply forced into the exact same position each time. There is no 'alternate' grip. That is beneficial on a carry gun.
I believe they are Hogues. The stirrup is marked Hogue, and the inletting is typical of their work.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Cool! What was it's purpose?

After looking at all the photos and reading all the descriptive stuff, my first thought is wondering just who Mike Baker is, and how much pull he had with S&W? He was apparently already retired when he ordered/received the gun.

Have you made any attempt to contact him (assuming he's still alive) to find out why he special ordered this revolver in this configuration?

I also wonder what his favorite load was.

As you say, the grips may provide the optimum grip and alignment for the shooter, but they sure won't win any beauty contests, will they?

It'd be interesting if you could track him down and find out more about him and his gun.

Things like this are what make this forum worthwhile.

That IS a lot of iron to lug around!

Would indeed be interesting to learn more about Mr. Baker. He obviously had some very definite ideas about his sixguns.

That’s very interesting both in design and the fact that the factory turned out a custom one of one for, what Im guessing, is one of their own.

The only way this revolver could possibly be more appealing to me is if it had a five inch ejector shroud barrel instead of the full lug. Nevertheless, I find myself in a state of gun envy yet again.

The shoulder rig is probably Andrews Leather but it might also be by Ted Blocker. I think Sam Andrews liked to deal with more exotic, off the wall designs though.

Bruce

THIS IS JUST AN AMAZING FIND, ON SO MANY LEVELS ! ! ! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BEAUTIFUL, AND VERY DETAILED PICS. OTHERWISE, SOME READERS MIGHT HAVE A HARD TIME IMAGINING, OR BELIEVING THIS STORY.......

IMHO, IT WOULD BE WELL WORTH THE EFFORT, TO SEARCH OUT, THE OBVIOUSLY VERY INFLUENTIAL, LT. COL. MIKE BAKER. ONLY HE WOULD BE ABLE TO ANSWER, THE MANY QUESTIONS THAT SURROUND THE CREATION OF THIS UNIQUE REVOLVER---IF HE IS STILL ALIVE....

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.

I can't understand why they made it on a 629 frame instead of the 625, am I missing something?

*
I'll admit that the grips look weird, and ... well, less than attractive. It's almost jarring to look at the pictures. However, given the performance description that Lee has given us, I'd say that they are exactly what they should be.

BTW: I sure wish the PC would build to spec like that for anyone willing to spend the $$.

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NHI, 10-8.

Awesome find Lee, thanks for sharing..!

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Todd