- Joined
- Dec 6, 2010
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In April 2009, I walked past a display case at a local gun show, did a double take and stopped dead in my tracks. Reposing in the case was the pistol I’d lusted after for exactly 20 years--- a round butt, snub-nosed stainless .44 magnum with combat grips. But not just any old 629 snubbie--- could it be the one I’d seen on the cover of the June 1989 issue of Combat Handguns? The pistol lay there left side up with the Smith & Wesson call out on the barrel. Correct so far. The grips weren’t the deeply-grooved Goncalvos on the CH cover, they were trimmer, tighter and flatter but still had S&W medallions. Factory issue or custom? I don’t have an eagle-eye for stainless snubbies--- it could have been an L frame for all I knew. Trying not to hyperventilate, I asked the guy at the booth, “Is that a .44 Magnum?” Affirmative. I asked to examine it, hoping I didn’t drop it through shaking fingers. It appeared to be unfired, brand new. Sure enough there was the “44 Magnum” call out on the right side of the barrel. Swung the cylinder out and read “629-1” on the frame. It couldn’t be. It was.
Even now I can’t believe I handed it back to the guy. What in hell was I thinking? Don’t let go, idiot! I walked away, head spinning, almost blacking out. The last time I experienced a burst of uncontrollable lust approaching anywhere near that intensity was over a woman. I could not think, could not breathe. I walked like a zombie from booth to booth, trying to to come to grips with the moment. I had one thousand dollars in my pocket. Ten one hundred dollar bills, earmarked for a new laptop, I wasn’t even planning on hitting the gunshow. I’d long ago given up any hope of finding quality N frames at any of this state’s gunshows. I pulled in on a whim, curious to see if there were any wood & blue 12 gauges like the one Steve McQueen used in The Getaway. I can’t stand all the trendy black tactical crap. It was Sunday afternoon, the show was scheduled to close in less than an hour. Then this. I wandered past endless Rugers, Taurus tables and plastic guns, pausing to stare at nothing and trying to get my mind to work. Bottom line: I could always get a laptop, the 629 was a once-in-a-lifetime score.
I tried not to run back to the booth. It’d been about twenty minutes. I got hot and sweaty. What if it was gone? There it was. I had it in my hands and there was no letting go. The guy wanted $800, got him down to $750, although now it seems unnecessary, almost unseemly to have quibbled over gratifying one’s heart’s desire. I would gladly have forked over the entire grand for it.
I’d saved that issue of Combat Handguns all these years, hoping for this moment to arrive. I got home, re-read the article while fondling the pistol. Lew Horton isn’t mentioned by name, only referred to as “an enterprising fellow in Massachusetts,” but there’s a reference to his earlier run of 5000 snub 24s. There’s no serial number info and no mention of “Combat Magnum.” Over the years, through online research, monitoring auctions and devouring the Standard Catalog of S&W the main question was answered. The serial number prefix--- ANC--- IDs the pistol as a Lew Horton Combat Magnum, one of 5000 produced in 1985. I don’t think it’s the same model as the one on the CH cover. As mentioned the grips are different (maybe an early factory version of the traditional S&W combat stocks on the cover) and the stainless steel has a matte finish and a light bead-blasted texture, as opposed to the standard finish on the CH cover. I’m thinking the cover gun was part of a later run of Lew Horton Combat Magnums in 1988, perhaps, as the one I recently saw listed on GunBroker claimed. That GB gun did not have the “ANC” prefix, I think it was “APJ”. Anyone who has definitive info, please chime in. I know Horton also offered 29-3 Combat Magnums. A pair of each would be ideal, with matched EPS cross-draws. A comprehensive catalog of Lew Horton offerings would be nice, too.
This is the ultimate Smith & Wesson for me. It’s not the one on the CH cover, it’s better. The first round butt, 3” 629 with the more businesslike blasted finish. The early combat stocks (if that’s what they are) are handier and fit my back pocket better than the larger, later Goncalvos, which have always reminded me of a squished banana. Earlier in the decade I’d settled for less--- a brightly polished 3” 629 from LA Guns with Magna-Ports and trashy “Trail Boss 1850-2000” etching. At the time it was the closest I could get to that CH cover gun (amazing what you can Google nowadays). I’m not into unfluted cylinders and full lug barrels--- there were plenty of those floating around back then. I bought a set of Goncalvo combat grips from a forum member to replace the Altimont grips with the flat butt. Who could lust after a flat butt? The only thing worse would’ve been rubber grips. All the flash of that Trail Boss was kind of a turn off, a .44 Smith & Wesson doesn’t need it. Which is why, for me at least, Horton’s first and best Combat Magnum has stood the test of time.
I do have a tech question. Can the older 629s handle modern hot magnum loads like Garrett’s? Bear & mountain lion have been known to pass through my yard, and when I bring in the dogs at night I carry the 629 with full house factory loads (240 gr) in my back pocket. Would a cylinder of 300 grain Garretts be too much? What about the 330s?
Even now I can’t believe I handed it back to the guy. What in hell was I thinking? Don’t let go, idiot! I walked away, head spinning, almost blacking out. The last time I experienced a burst of uncontrollable lust approaching anywhere near that intensity was over a woman. I could not think, could not breathe. I walked like a zombie from booth to booth, trying to to come to grips with the moment. I had one thousand dollars in my pocket. Ten one hundred dollar bills, earmarked for a new laptop, I wasn’t even planning on hitting the gunshow. I’d long ago given up any hope of finding quality N frames at any of this state’s gunshows. I pulled in on a whim, curious to see if there were any wood & blue 12 gauges like the one Steve McQueen used in The Getaway. I can’t stand all the trendy black tactical crap. It was Sunday afternoon, the show was scheduled to close in less than an hour. Then this. I wandered past endless Rugers, Taurus tables and plastic guns, pausing to stare at nothing and trying to get my mind to work. Bottom line: I could always get a laptop, the 629 was a once-in-a-lifetime score.
I tried not to run back to the booth. It’d been about twenty minutes. I got hot and sweaty. What if it was gone? There it was. I had it in my hands and there was no letting go. The guy wanted $800, got him down to $750, although now it seems unnecessary, almost unseemly to have quibbled over gratifying one’s heart’s desire. I would gladly have forked over the entire grand for it.
I’d saved that issue of Combat Handguns all these years, hoping for this moment to arrive. I got home, re-read the article while fondling the pistol. Lew Horton isn’t mentioned by name, only referred to as “an enterprising fellow in Massachusetts,” but there’s a reference to his earlier run of 5000 snub 24s. There’s no serial number info and no mention of “Combat Magnum.” Over the years, through online research, monitoring auctions and devouring the Standard Catalog of S&W the main question was answered. The serial number prefix--- ANC--- IDs the pistol as a Lew Horton Combat Magnum, one of 5000 produced in 1985. I don’t think it’s the same model as the one on the CH cover. As mentioned the grips are different (maybe an early factory version of the traditional S&W combat stocks on the cover) and the stainless steel has a matte finish and a light bead-blasted texture, as opposed to the standard finish on the CH cover. I’m thinking the cover gun was part of a later run of Lew Horton Combat Magnums in 1988, perhaps, as the one I recently saw listed on GunBroker claimed. That GB gun did not have the “ANC” prefix, I think it was “APJ”. Anyone who has definitive info, please chime in. I know Horton also offered 29-3 Combat Magnums. A pair of each would be ideal, with matched EPS cross-draws. A comprehensive catalog of Lew Horton offerings would be nice, too.
This is the ultimate Smith & Wesson for me. It’s not the one on the CH cover, it’s better. The first round butt, 3” 629 with the more businesslike blasted finish. The early combat stocks (if that’s what they are) are handier and fit my back pocket better than the larger, later Goncalvos, which have always reminded me of a squished banana. Earlier in the decade I’d settled for less--- a brightly polished 3” 629 from LA Guns with Magna-Ports and trashy “Trail Boss 1850-2000” etching. At the time it was the closest I could get to that CH cover gun (amazing what you can Google nowadays). I’m not into unfluted cylinders and full lug barrels--- there were plenty of those floating around back then. I bought a set of Goncalvo combat grips from a forum member to replace the Altimont grips with the flat butt. Who could lust after a flat butt? The only thing worse would’ve been rubber grips. All the flash of that Trail Boss was kind of a turn off, a .44 Smith & Wesson doesn’t need it. Which is why, for me at least, Horton’s first and best Combat Magnum has stood the test of time.
I do have a tech question. Can the older 629s handle modern hot magnum loads like Garrett’s? Bear & mountain lion have been known to pass through my yard, and when I bring in the dogs at night I carry the 629 with full house factory loads (240 gr) in my back pocket. Would a cylinder of 300 grain Garretts be too much? What about the 330s?
