29-2 front sight

[huslerdude]

Is this front sight original or do you think it has been replaced. I bought the gun like this. Any information would be appreciated. By the way, the Presentation case is not original to the gun. I bought it separately. Serial number is N357xxx for an 8 3/8" barrel.

 

[dickydalton]

What length is the barrel?

 

[cmansguns]

Yours appears to have a different finish entirely than my 29-2 which is 1980.

Other experts a lot more knowledgeable than I will probably be along shortly so hope you get a good answer, but it doesn't look original to me from the finish and I can't quite make out the attachment to the barrel.

 

[cmansguns]

OP

Check out the update post by safearm, todays date, title new to me 25-2 from last week. He got a finish challenged Model 25 and his front sight looks exactly like yours that you got on a Model 29-2.

My 29-2 was 1980 and came in wooden case with gun pointing to the right which was only done a few years. Most in cases that I see point left. Yours also seems to point right which to me would mean that you should have red ramp front sight and white outline rear on the Model 29. Check your Model number again at the yoke.....maybe it is a Model 25. What caliber is roll stamped on the barrel?

 

[Bakebfr480]

I don't think it is original! Should be a red insert!

 

[snowman]

Doc44 & others are the experts; maybe some of them will stop by soon; but as far as I know standard production 29s all were manufactured with a ramp front sight with a red insert. Your gun has a Patridge sight, or at least one with that shape(looks a little shorter than other Patridges I've seen, but maybe that is just an illusion). So my vote is that the sight, or entire barrel, was replaced somewhere along the line. We'll see what the experts have to say.

Regards,
Andy

 

[RMFnLA]

Patridge fronts were a factory offering on the longer barrels.

That's no guarantee that this is original but it is a possibility.

 

[Nightowl]

I suppose just because I have never seen a 29 with anything but a red ramp front sight, does not mean they all came that way. Possibly a special order. Only a factory letter will tell for sure.

 

[Doc44]

I know of two Model 29-2s that were shipped with McGivern Gold Bead front sights, so a Patridge front sight is certainly possible. It would be a special order requiring verification by a factory letter.

From the photo, the ramp base and Patridge blade appear to be one piece and pinned to the barrel by two pins polished flush to the barrel rib. I don't know how old the revolver is, but by the early 70s, the ramp base was forged with the barrel and the sight blade was pinned to the base with a single pin. If the 29-2 has a serial number above N75000, the sight is probably a replacement for the original. Lots of guesses here. Additional photos would be helpful.

Bill

 

[RMFnLA]

My first .44 Mag was an 8-3/8" M29 that I got around 1980 and it came with a patridge front sight.

It was in a wood box pointing left but I do not recall the -# if there was any nor do I recall how the sight was pinned into place.

I do know it was all factory; I was working as the gunsmith at Tamiami Gun Shop and grabbed it when it came in because it matched the 8-3/8" M27 I had at the time which also had a patridge front sight!