I just bought myself a birthday gift for turning 50!

I have been looking for a S&W 629 Deluxe 3" for a while. I finally stumbled into one while cruising one of the online sellers and pulled the trigger.

I picked it up on my birthday. At first impression, I was a little bummed out at the fit of the faux wood grip. The fit on the backstrap area leaves a lot to be desired. Looks like this is going to be a major hotspot!

Second impression..................trigger pull absolutely SUCKS! It is very heavy and gritty. probably the very worse trigger that I have ever tried. My Rugers feel like butter compared to this one! I am getting some snap caps and hoping that it smooths out!

I recently bought a new 442 J-frame. Even that trigger is steps above this one! And we all know how crummy new J frame triggers could be.

So, complaining aside! I really like it! Have not shot it yet only heavy fondling! Any members here crazy enough to carry one of these on a regular basis?

Any suggestions for sweet grips?

Holsters? I'm thinking of a Simply Rugged pancake holster.

Thanks!

Happy Birthday

Where are the pictures?
What do you mean by faux wood grips? I might think you will want rubber grips for that. You are going to know it when you touch that off.

__________________
Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

Here you go!

*Not sure why the picture is turned around?

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I recommend Nill grips. I have a set on mine and absolutely love them.

Congratulations and happy birthday. I’m a 3” Smith and Buck 110 fan myself.

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Get one of the original precision lock delete kits offered on this forum. Once installed the trigger will smooth out. Nice looking rig.

Congrats. I'm looking forward to shooting mine, but was not happy it its "out of the box" condition. How does yours compare to mine?

Bought a NEW 629 Deluxe...does this look new to you?

My wood stock don't fit all that well, either. On one side of the top/horn, there is a good 1/16" or more gap. I'm going to try it both with the grips from my 500 and with a pair of Pachmeyr Diamond Pros I bought.

Rob

For grips, I recommend a nice set of Culina's round butt combats:

https://www.culinagrips.com/

They look great and feel good in the hand!

As for holsters, check out Kramer Leather:

Kramer Leather - Belt Scabbard Gun Holster

You'll like it; I've been happy with mine. Haven't seen any need to change the stocks. The DA trigger is one of the smoothest on any of my S&Ws although I suspect the previous owner had some work done on it. The holster is from H C Leather (eBay) and I have several of his with which I have been pleased.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

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These are Badger grips. No offense to anyone here but I think those factory grips are ugly with those fish scales. I also have a set of Hogue rubbers that I use when I'm shooting or carrying in the field so that I don't bugger up the nice wood ones. I changed out the springs in mine with Wolff springs and after shooting it for a while, it has smoothed out nicely. I love the 3 inch. It carries nicely in a Hume pancake holster.

I love the look of the 629 deluxe 3". I have been trying to get one to match my 686 deluxe 3", but prices are insane right now

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First question is whether you broke it down, cleaned and lubricated? Broken down as in side plate off and all internals associated w/ trigger and hammer removed. Some agree/disagree, but I always drop in a quality spring kit right from the start. It's a smith, doesn't take much to clean them up.

That's not excusing poor factory workmanship, but also emphasizes the need to thoroughly inspect prior to accepting (especially when ordering online). I'd be more concerned with barrel alignment and timing vs. heavy/gritty trigger pull. You'll find barrel alignment is more critical with the shorter barrels/sight radius.

I think you will like that revolver. I got one a few years ago in a pawn shop. It was filthy dirty so I took it to a gunsmith and had it put through the scrubbing bath. It has become my favorite shooter and is extremely accurate out to twenty-five yards. I don't shoot it past that. It came with cheap rubber grips which I replaced with a pair of S&W wood combat grips from the S&W store. I like my revolver!

Had mine out yesterday. Here it is with the above mentioned Kramer horsehide holster:
.

.

On my 629 short barrel guns (3 and 2.5 inch) I use round butt targets. Due to my hand size, I don't use the finger groove grips as they don't fit. Here I the guns are wearing Hogue (three inch) and Ahrends Retro Banana grips on the two 2.5 inch guns.

The Camfour 2.5 inch guns came with "rubber" grips, but I don't like the feel of them.

Just to qualify, I rarely ever shoot magnum ammo from these guns. With .44 Special Gold Dot JHP ammo the wood grips are a pleasure to shoot.

__________________
Bill

A friend has one of those. We took it to the range to try it out. I've shot plenty of 44 mag over the years in my 29-2's, but they never caused my hand to bleed. One cylinder full of factory 44 mag in that 3 inch with those horrible grips split the skin in the web of my hand. We switched over a pair of Keith Brown hideout grips from my 24-3 and it was a night and day improvement.

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Tony

Same grips as shown above except modified to remove finger groves and rounded butt - ugly but functional and a bit more compact than unaltered factorys. Shown on a 329 Alaska Backpacker:
.

I have a 2 year old 629-8 2" Performance Center model with real wood grips of the same design as the OP's. They too allow the ripping of skin on the last knuckle of my thumb with factory 240's. I don't own any other 44 mag factory ammo but 240 gr. cast SWC over 11 grains of Unique is not mild but is manageable! (and blood free!) And it groups as well as my 4" 15-1, so I call that accurate, especially for any 2"!

Ivan

EDIT; The model # inside the crane is actually a 629-6, the -6 is fuzzy like it is over or double stamped.

Those appear to be Altamont Super Rosewood Grips, they're real wood, but it's Birchwood laminate, dyed red.

Altamont is licensed by Smith & Wesson to make all of their wood grips nowadays. On certain guns, namely the Classic Series and Performance Center Models, they use authentic Walnut and Cocobola for the grips.
However, the ones on your S&W 629 Deluxe look like their Birchwood laminate grips.

I actually like Altamont grips, I have a pair on my Walther PPK/S as well as my Taurus Judge.

__________________
Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

Sweet looking 629s figured I put a picture of mine up , 629-3 , 3” barrel, just need to install the rear sights.

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Here is a friend of mine's Special Edition 629. I have always loved this gun. He got it for a steal, back in the mid 90s. Pawn shop find. Real gem.

I've got the same one. Not sure if it was worked on before I got it. Dealer just said it was new and only test fired.

The trigger and especially the hammer are the definition of butter in a revolver for me. Simply amazing. I've taken the Mother's polish to mine as I like to admire it as much as fire it. Shines up very well.

I'll quickly confess to shooting many more specials than Magnums through it. I'm in good company on that.

For range days, I swap in Hogue grips. While they offer zero shock improvement, IMO, as the backstrap is still exposed, but I like the deep finger grooves and grippier texture.

But when she's cleaned and buffed and returned to the stock grips, it's just a thing of beauty.

Hope yours is 100% now, or soon.

The grips I like on my shooters are Ahrends, which are harder to come by these days!

The top two guns have Altmont, which I hate, but they are original!
jcelect

Call S&W customer service about the grips. Prepare to send them pics. They might replace them. If they're ill-fitting and likely to cause pain when firing, they're defective. They have always been pretty good with that sort of thing, IME.

jcelect - Nice snubby collection. I especially like what you did with that presentation case.

Larry