ordnanceguy
Member
Gentlemen:
It has been a couple of weeks since the SWCA Symposium in Glendale, AZ concluded. It was a lot of fun. One of my finds there was unexpected, as I am not ordinarily an N-frame guy.
At the Auction I noticed that one of the consigned items was a very high condition Model 629-1. I like stainless Smiths. It caught my eye and I kept wandering back over to look at it. With a lot of encouragement from some of my pals I resolved to take a swing at it when the Auction commenced.
I came away the high bidder at what I am told was a very favorable price. It is nothing unusual and did not come with a box, papers or letter. However, I had it on very good authority that it had shipped in June of 1986.
It is a clean machine with the red ramp front sight, white outline rear sight and target hammer. It appears to have been shot very little. (The speck on the right side below the cylinder window is just a bit of dust I failed to notice when I took these quick pics.) The Goncalo Alves stocks fit well and felt right to me.
Once it arrived I took the stocks off and immediately noticed that there was an ink-stamped date of April 28, 1986 on the inside of the right stock. Hmmmm. I had never seen that before on any of my Smiths, but then again I really did not have any N-frames from that time frame.
Another good pal in the SWCA who knows stocks backwards and forwards informed me that for a few years in the late 1970s into the '80s S&W dated its N-frame stocks. Heck, I never knew that. My pal told me that this was a strong indicator that the stocks were original to the gun, given the ship date of June 1986. That's nice to know.
I don't plan to wring this one out. Instead, I will likely be shooting mostly .44 Specials in it.
I had no intention of buying a 629 at the Symposium but I'm glad that my friends pushed me to do so. I guess that the moral to this story is listen to your friends!
Regards,
Charlie
It has been a couple of weeks since the SWCA Symposium in Glendale, AZ concluded. It was a lot of fun. One of my finds there was unexpected, as I am not ordinarily an N-frame guy.
At the Auction I noticed that one of the consigned items was a very high condition Model 629-1. I like stainless Smiths. It caught my eye and I kept wandering back over to look at it. With a lot of encouragement from some of my pals I resolved to take a swing at it when the Auction commenced.
I came away the high bidder at what I am told was a very favorable price. It is nothing unusual and did not come with a box, papers or letter. However, I had it on very good authority that it had shipped in June of 1986.
It is a clean machine with the red ramp front sight, white outline rear sight and target hammer. It appears to have been shot very little. (The speck on the right side below the cylinder window is just a bit of dust I failed to notice when I took these quick pics.) The Goncalo Alves stocks fit well and felt right to me.
Once it arrived I took the stocks off and immediately noticed that there was an ink-stamped date of April 28, 1986 on the inside of the right stock. Hmmmm. I had never seen that before on any of my Smiths, but then again I really did not have any N-frames from that time frame.
Another good pal in the SWCA who knows stocks backwards and forwards informed me that for a few years in the late 1970s into the '80s S&W dated its N-frame stocks. Heck, I never knew that. My pal told me that this was a strong indicator that the stocks were original to the gun, given the ship date of June 1986. That's nice to know.
I don't plan to wring this one out. Instead, I will likely be shooting mostly .44 Specials in it.
I had no intention of buying a 629 at the Symposium but I'm glad that my friends pushed me to do so. I guess that the moral to this story is listen to your friends!
Regards,
Charlie
